Quizapalooza

Ed Cecchini helps us bid farewell to summer with another of his world-famous big band quizzes. Answers below, as always:

 1. This actress ("Hello, Dolly!") and singer
    ("Takes Two to Tango") was married to a
    well-known drummer. Name both.

 2. Which Marx brother led his own big band?

 3. He was an average guitar player but a brilliant
    promoter of jam sessions that brought big-name
    performers to his New York club. Identify him.

 4. Ann Richards sang with her husband's orchestra.
    Name him.

 5. This actress/singer may be more familiar to
    young people as an animal-rights activist.
    Who is she?

 6. Tell us the mother and daughter who each sang
    lead with the Modernaires.

 7. Before becoming a legend in pictures, Judy
    Garland served a stint as vocalist with
    this leader's big band.

 8. By what stage name was Norma Deloris Egstrom
    known? 

 9. And while on the subject of birth names,
    identify the bandleader born Antonio
    Pestritto.

10. Future movie star Gloria DeHaven sang with two
    famous big bands. Name their respective
    leaders.

*************

Larry Clinton Jr. writes in from Sausalito, Calif.:

"I had an idea for a Big Band Reunion that might be less expensive to produce than the traditional format. How about a big band film festival? Segments of band appearances in such movies as "Sun Valley Serenade," fictionalized biopics like the Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman stories, old Vitaphone shorts, TV shows, etc. There's a wealth of material out there if you could get the rights to use it."

So what do you think? Would you attend a Big Band Reunion if the band were on film instead of in person? E-mail us at the address at the bottom of this post and we'll print selected replies. Thanks!

*************

And here are the quiz answers:

 1. Pearl Bailey and Louie Bellson

 2. Chico Marx
 



 3. Eddie Condon

 4. Stan Kenton

 5. Doris Day 

 6. Paula Kelly and Paula Kelly Jr.

 7. Bob Crosby

 



8. Peggy Lee

9. Tony Pastor

10. Jan Savitt and, once again, Bob Crosby

The Bandstand: November 2005

In looking through this particular issue for the first time in a long time, I felt proud of the firsthand accounts we published of the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the city of Houston. BBAA members Fred Schubert and now-deceased bandleader Manny Green (pictured) volunteered to write about the things they were witnessing, despite clearly having more pressing obligations.

After the chaos of that period, to say nothing of this year's oil leak, the ability of folks along the Gulf Coast to cope and ultimately recover is certainly beyond question:

*************

Grab a beer and slide down the emergency chute with Ollie Mitchell. The studio trumpeter, featured here on Mar. 1, is the subject of a profile in the June/July edition of Hawaiian Airlines' in-flight magazine:

www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=
DrawArticle&ArticleID=876&MagazineID=56 

*************

Next time the lady in your life says she needs you to pick up some Ella right away, don't head for Tower Records. Or wherever they sell records these days. 

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration approved "ella," a new emergency contraceptive that will offer full effectiveness up to five days following unprotected sex. Presently available morning-after pills lose efficacy if not taken within the initial 72 hours.

The First Lady of Song. And apparently of birth control, too.

Jazz Me

A couple of weeks ago, TheDailyBeast.com posted an article listing 15 ways to tell if you're having more sex -- or less -- than the rest of the population. The ninth entry got my attention:

"9. People with a strong preference for jazz are 30 percent more sexually active than the average American.

'Liking other types of music, such as rock or rap, was unrelated to sexual activity,' write the authors of the psychology textbook from which this statistic is drawn. They hasten to add that liking jazz doesn't automatically make us into sex magnets: 'Remember, a correlation between two factors does not necessarily indicate causality.' Then again, sometimes it does." 

So that'll be me cruising Ventura Boulevard this weekend with the windows rolled down, blasting Ornette Coleman.