This 1944 Quiz Is Surprisingly Difficult
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When people think of 1944, they naturally recall that it was the year when World War II was at its bloody height. Millions of men were fighting and dying in Europe and the Pacific, striving to lift the world from the threat of Japanese and Nazi aggression and tyranny. 1944 was the year of D-Day, the invasion of Europe, and the liberation of the Philippines.
And yet, on the home front, people still went to the movies and bought records of their favorite music artists. This year of war was also a year of great films and great music that, in some measure, helped people to forget, for a while, what was happening across the seas, often to loved ones who had marched away from their homes and would not be back until victory was achieved.
In 1944, for just a few cents, one could see musicals such as Meet Me in St. Louis, which starred the incomparable Judy Garland, best remembered for skipping down the yellow brick road in: The Wizard of Oz. John Wayne, who was just starting a brilliant career of playing both cowboys and soldiers, appeared in Tall in the Saddle. Laurence Olivier led the English to victory in Henry V. And Fred MacMurray, better known as the wise father in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons, took a darker turn with Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
Of course, the neighborhood picture show did not neglect the war. Movie goers in 1944 could see films like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, The White Cliffs of Dover, and The Fighting Sullivans. The best war picture of that year has to be Lifeboat, directed by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
Long before Elvis, Frank Sinatra was the king of popular music, his crooning and his good looks making him the heart-throb of a generation of teenage girls. The Andrews Sisters were one of the most popular girl groups, whose “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me”) were favorites, not only on the home front, but of the many soldiers they entertained on USO tours.
African-American artists such as The Ink Spots, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington had started to achieve crossover appeal, entertaining both black and white audiences. Black musicians were introducing jazz music to a wider audience and would shortly transform the face of popular music forever.
1944 was the height of the big band era, where bands led by Glenn Miller, who would disappear over the English Channel, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw played music you could dance to, slow and cheek to cheek, or that fast, physically exhausting jitterbug. Many a young man danced with his girl just before going off to war. Many of these bands would tour the war fronts, bringing the boys a little taste of home and something to look forward to when the shooting finally stopped.
Here follows a trivia quiz featuring the movies and music of 1944. How much do you know about what people watched and listened to all those decades ago?
And yet, on the home front, people still went to the movies and bought records of their favorite music artists. This year of war was also a year of great films and great music that, in some measure, helped people to forget, for a while, what was happening across the seas, often to loved ones who had marched away from their homes and would not be back until victory was achieved.
In 1944, for just a few cents, one could see musicals such as Meet Me in St. Louis, which starred the incomparable Judy Garland, best remembered for skipping down the yellow brick road in: The Wizard of Oz. John Wayne, who was just starting a brilliant career of playing both cowboys and soldiers, appeared in Tall in the Saddle. Laurence Olivier led the English to victory in Henry V. And Fred MacMurray, better known as the wise father in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons, took a darker turn with Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
Of course, the neighborhood picture show did not neglect the war. Movie goers in 1944 could see films like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, The White Cliffs of Dover, and The Fighting Sullivans. The best war picture of that year has to be Lifeboat, directed by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
Long before Elvis, Frank Sinatra was the king of popular music, his crooning and his good looks making him the heart-throb of a generation of teenage girls. The Andrews Sisters were one of the most popular girl groups, whose “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me”) were favorites, not only on the home front, but of the many soldiers they entertained on USO tours.
African-American artists such as The Ink Spots, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington had started to achieve crossover appeal, entertaining both black and white audiences. Black musicians were introducing jazz music to a wider audience and would shortly transform the face of popular music forever.
1944 was the height of the big band era, where bands led by Glenn Miller, who would disappear over the English Channel, Tommy Dorsey, and Artie Shaw played music you could dance to, slow and cheek to cheek, or that fast, physically exhausting jitterbug. Many a young man danced with his girl just before going off to war. Many of these bands would tour the war fronts, bringing the boys a little taste of home and something to look forward to when the shooting finally stopped.
Here follows a trivia quiz featuring the movies and music of 1944. How much do you know about what people watched and listened to all those decades ago?