Ladies Who Sing Trivia Quiz

Answer: Irene Dunne

Irene Dunne came from a musical family and took piano and voice lessons from an early age. She tried out for the Metropolitan Opera, but her voice was better suited for light opera and Broadway shows. She was a great star in movies and television until the early 1950s. Today, her best known movies (often seen on TV), are "The Awful Truth", (1937), and "My Favorite Wife", (1940), both comedies with Cary Grant. She was nominated five times for Best Actress Academy Awards.

Answer: Tammy Grimes

Tammy Grimes belonged on Broadway. Movies were not kind to her, with unfortunate roles, nor was TV. Her TV show, "The Tammy Grimes Show" was one of the shortest-lived series seen (or not-seen). She was acclaimed on Broadway however, with three awards, a Theater World Award and two Tonys, for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1961) and "Private Lives" (1970).

Answer: Marnie Nixon

Marnie Nixon was also a music teacher for many years at University level, made many TV appearances (including having her own show in Seattle) and sang in opera in various cities. She had a cabaret act, and made albums. She was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Some movies in which you may have heard her, include her earliest movie, "Joan of Arc" 1948, "The King and I" 1956 and "An Affair to Remember" 1957 (in both, singing for Deborah Kerr), "West Side Story"
i961, singing for Natalie Wood, and those are just a few.

I had the pleasure hearing her in concert in about 1976. She had the voice of an angel - in fact she was the voice of the angels that Ingrid Bergman heard in "Joan of Arc" in 1948.

Answer: Jeanette MacDonald

And her partner. of course, was Nelson Eddy. Their voices made a perfect team and according to the book "Sweethearts" by Sharon Rich, Bell Harbor Press, 1991 and 2001, they were much more than singing partners, but each married another.

Operettas they were in were "Maytime", 1937 (my favorite), "Naughty Marietta," 1935, "Rose Marie", 1936, "Sweethearts", 1938 and others.
Both before and after Eddy, she made many other movies and sang in most of them.

For a treat, go here:(you will hear her at the end)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz44SvfOetE

Answer: True

Alma Gluck was of Romanian birth, but moved with the family to the U.S. while quite young. Her family's name was not Gluck, that came from her first husband,
whom she divorced. As a young adult with a child, she studied in the U.S., then Europe. While in Europe, she met conductor Arturo Toscanini (who was quite taken with the beautiful young woman) and his influence helped her into the Metropolitan Opera. She sang there but didn't seem to care for the dramatics.
Her real forte was singing concerts, recitals and recordings, singing both classical and folk songs. You can hear her singing on You Tube.

She married again in 1914 to Efrem Zimbalist, a violinist. Her son, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, became a famous American actor. Alma continued singing
about 100 recitals a season, and making recordings.

She was a great supporter of music in America, but sadly died at the young age of 54, in 1938.

Answer: False

She was indeed, the Swedish Nightingale and the people of Sweden loved her.
Although she has gone down in U.S. history for her beautiful rendition of Steven Foster songs, such as "Beautiful Dreamer", in Sweden she was Prima Donna of the Swedish Opera.
She retired early from opera, not necessarily from singing and teaching, but the tragedy for us is that we will never hear her voice, as she sang before recordings were perfected.

Answer: Shirley Jones

In addition to the two musicals mentioned, Shirley Jones also starred in the 1962 movie version of "The Music Man", in which she sang many wonderful songs, such as "Till There Was You". She won her Oscar for the drama, "Elmer Gantry".

Shirley was married for 18 years to fellow singer, Jack Cassidy, with whom she made several albums. In her autobiography, "Shirley Jones: A Memoir" she admitted that Jack was the love of her life, although she has been married to another, since Jack's death. She continued to entertain as she grew older.

Answer: four

Hazel's mother started giving her piano lessons at age three, and Hazel started performing with her family at age four. She became known for her talent and won scholarships to Julliard School of Music and at young age appeared at Carnegie Hall. She sang at nightclubs, radio, live with Count Basie etc.
She did a great deal for women and for her race, but is perhaps not well-known today because of accusations of communism against her, something that happened to many entertainers.

If you would like to see Hazel Scott, check out 1945's film, "Rhapsody in Blue"; she is a specialty singer in a Paris nightclub that the main character, George Gershwin, visits.

Answer: Louis Prima

Louis Prima was Keely Smith's husband for eight years. They recorded many duets, and won a Grammy for their duet, "That Old Black Magic" written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. They divorced in 1961, and she went on to a solo career. As a solo artist, she was tops in jazz and popular music, and she appeared in a few movies. Her most famous movie role was in "Thunder Road" with Robert Mitchum, where she sang the haunting, "Whippoorwill". Her music has been used in other top films such as "Raging Bull" 1980, and "The Deer Hunter" 1978.
She continued living and appearing in Las Vegas.

Answer: Ethel Waters

One of the greatest blues singers was never afraid to tell of her horrible childhood. Daughter of a young teen-age rape, she was given to her grandmother
who didn't want or love her; she mostly ran wild - but she could sing!

Ethel was offered her first professional singing job at age 17. Many hard years, with their ups and downs, followed. By 1919, she moved to Harlem and became a celebrity in clubs, and in the 1920s, she began recording. At this time she also became a hit in vaudeville, considered a blues singer. Ethel introduced such standards as, "Dinah", "Sweet Georgia Brown". and "Am I Blue".
The song, "Stormy Weather" was composed by Harold Arlen for Ethel.
Later, she excelled on Broadway and movies in the 1930s and 40s. One of her greatest movies was "Cabin in the Sky" 1943, and she is remembered for others, including "Pinky".

In later life, she wrote an autobiography, "His Eye is on the Sparrow", named after her favorite hymn.

Among all of her honors, one of the greatest was for three songs in the Grammy Hall of Fame: "Am I Blue" 1929, "Stormy Weather" 1933, and "Dinah" 1925.