For those who found the "Official HHW Trivia Question" today easy, here's one of my own that I posted here a long time ago that I don't believe anyone ever solved. If you can answer all the questions, email me jeffrey_kauffman@msn.com and maybe I'll have a sparkling prize of my own to send you. In a celebrated theatrical season this play was expected to be a major hit, yet it lasted barely a few weeks on Broadway. The cast reunited several stars, featured players and production crew from one of the biggest hits on Broadway from a season previous to this play. Its director, still young, would soon achieve legend status. The play's author would become famous in a field completely unrelated to show business. While touring pre-Broadway, this play had an alternate title and an extremely unusual billing situation.Though the play was not successful on Broadway, it was filmed a few years later in a highly regarded production. This production used none of the Broadway cast, but featured several stellar and well-known performers. One of these stars was quite famous in their day but is now known chiefly for their relatives. Another star, if remembered today at all, is remembered chiefly for being married to a stage and screen legend. Another performer, just starting out, would one day be a costar in one of the best-remembered and most unique television series of all time. And a bit player would go on to amass a highly respectable resume, despite having the same name of one of the best known movie stars of all time.Name the playName at least 2 cast members from the previous hit and previous hitName the directorName the author and the non-show business field they were famous forName the pre-Broadway title and unusual billing situationName the film star famous for their relatives and at least 2 of the relativesName the star married to a stage and screen legend, and the legendName the performer and the tv series they went on to star inName the bit player with the shared nameThere, that should keep y'all busy for a while.
DR Elmore:"And When I Die," by Laura Nyro, recorded by Blood, Sweat, & Tears
JMK, never read Friedrich's book on the Saturday Evening Post, but I used to read the Saturday Evening Post as a kid, plus Life and Look...alas, all gone now save for that anemic newspaper weekly supplement that masquerades as Life. All casualties to our increasingly illiterate society.
Bingo! EIGHTY APPALACHIAN FOLK SONGS, an out-of-print collection by Cecil Sharp, who left England on three trips to explore English folk song variants in the Appalachian Mountains, 1916-1918. If you've seen the beautiful film SONGCATCHER with Aidan Quinn, Janet McTeer, and Emmy Rossum, the English gentleman showing up at the end of the film is based on Cecil Sharp.I'll check the NYPL on Tuesday for a copy. The title is so familiar, I think I may have one buried in a storage carton.
DR Ginny -- I love that someone (besides myself) remembers this book by Ben Hall. Ben was a staff writer at Time, and had a great love of the ornate 20s & 30s movie palaces that were built. Ben also became a good friend and an early supporter and booster of mine, and he even wrote the jacket notes to my second LP recording that I made. He had a great townhouse on Christopher Street in the Village, and even had a small Wurlitzer pipe organ in his townhouse! He was a most interesting and delightful person......unfortunately, he met an early and unpleasant death.