Dance! Dance! Dance! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Royal Wedding

The pair first appeared together as supporting characters in "Flying Down to Rio". They then went on to create "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), "Roberta" (1935), "Top Hat" (1935), "Follow the Fleet" (1936), "Swing Time" (1936), "Shall We Dance" (1937), "Carefree" (1938), "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939), and "Barkleys of Broadway" (1949). Astaire starred with Jane Powell in "Royal Wedding".

Answer: The King and I

"The King and I" explores the relationship between King Mongkut of Siam and Anna_Leonowens, the British widow hired to educate his children. Despite their differences, their attraction to each other is manifested as they polka together in "Shall We Dance". Kerr did not have a strong singing voice and her songs were dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed for Kerr in "An Affair to Remember", for Natalie Wood in "West Side Story", and for Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady".

Answer: Ann Miller

Miller started dancing professionally at a very young age and was given an RKO contract at 14. She was inspired to perfect her tap dancing after watching Eleanor Powell in "Broadway Melody of 1936" and could execute several hundred taps per minute.

Answer: A cartoon mouse

Kelly dances to "The Worry Song" with Jerry Mouse from the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons. However, all of the other answers apply to dances from other movies. Donald O'Connor dances with a mannequin in "Singin' in the Rain". Fred Astaire dances with a coat rack in "Royal Wedding" and with mirror images of himself in "Blue Skies". Kelly dances with his own reflection (seen in a shop window) in "Cover Girl".

Answer: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

Robinson and Temple became the first interracial dance partners in Hollywood history. Their dance was cut out of the film when it was shown in the South. Temple and Robinson appeared in four films together:"The Little Colonel", "The Littlest Rebel", "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", and "Just Around the Corner". Robinson's final film appearance was a starring role in the 1943 Fox musical "Stormy Weather" opposite Lena Horne.

Answer: Oklahoma!

All four movies have ballet sequences, but only "Oklahoma!" involves these characters. Laurey's dream occurs as the result of taking a "magic potion" that is supposed to reveal her true love. She dreams of being married to Curley, but the dream turns ominous when Jud appears and kills Curly.

The vision is realized later in the movie, when a frustrated and out-of-work Jud sets fire to a hay stack where the newlyweds are standing. The dance was the choreographed by Agnes DeMille and was her first work in film.

It was performed by three professional dancers portraying the three main charcters: James Mitchell (replacing Gordon MacRae as Curly), Kathering Sergava (replacing Shirley Jones as Laurey), and George Church (replacing Rod Steiger as Jud).

Answer: Cyd Charisse

Charisse started dance lessons at age six to build up her strength after a bout of polio. She danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo before joining MGM. Several sources report that her legs were once insured for $5 million (sometimes the stories say $1 million each). Charisse herself said the story wasn't true but merely invented by the MGM publicity department.

Answer: George M. Cohan in "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" is a fictionalized biography of singer, dancer, and songwriter George M. Cohan. It describes Cohan's career from his early days in vaudeville until he receives a Congressional Gold Medal from President Franklin Roosevelt. Cagney himself spent several years as a dancer and comedian in vaudeville.

In addition to Cagney's Academy Award, the film won two other Oscars: Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Sound, Recording. It received nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Walter Huston), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Story.

Answer: Barn raising

The musical is famous for its unusual athletic dance numbers, choreographed by Michael Kidd. The Barn Raising sequence lasts eight minutes and includes a barn dance (where the brothers and town men jostle to partner the girls), an athletic competition (with feats such as dancing on a rolling log), a brawl, and an actual barn-raising.

The role of Doris is played by a very young Julie Newmar (who appears in the credits as Julie Newmeyer), a professionally trained ballerina who went on to fame as TV's Catwoman.

Answer: Danny Kaye

"White Christmas" tells the story of a two army buddies (Bing Crosby and Kaye) who form a song-and-dance team, pair up with two sisters who are also in the business (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen), and put on a show to save the ski resort run by their former commanding general.

Many of the musical numbers are staged productions rather than integrated into the plot. One example is "Choreography", a fun send-up of modern dance in the style of Martha Graham. Kaye sings and dances in the number, joined by Vera-Ellen and John Brascia.

It was staged by Robert Alton, as were all musical numbers in the film. Bob Fosse, who went on to have a great career as a dancer, choreographer, and director, assisted with the choreography although his participation was not credited.