Food of the Gods

Winners: Judy and Droppin’
(with 10 O’Clock Bill and the brownie lady)

No surprise that Droppin’ and Judy tied for first place. Tonight’s shocker was 10 O’Clock Bill tying Rhys for 2nd place. Darin served us brownies so huge that even the Driver would have had trouble finishing one if he had been here.

MikeP handled moderator duties while Mistress Daphne travels across India searching for enlightenment, spiritual transcendence, and how to be a nice person. Good luck on that.

Tonight we learned that English is the language with the most words, and that the Zika virus has been around since 1947. So why did it pick this Olympic year to hit Brazil?

For you gearheads wondering about the different type of Harley engines (that’s you Rosebud) check this out.

Good Question!: What comes from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree?

Choices: a. coffee   b. chocolate   c. cocaine   d. heroin

 

Answer: Chocolate

Cocoa trees originate from South America’s rainforests but today most of our cocoa is grown by about 2.5 million farmers, mainly on smallholdings in West Africa. Requires a shady location, humid climate with regular rainfall and good soil.

Once the flowers have been pollinated they produce large pods containing cacao (or ‘cocoa’) beans. Cocoa is prepared by grinding the beans into a paste between hot rollers and mixing it with sugar and starch, part of the fat being removed. Chocolate is prepared in much the same way, but the fat is retained.

Common uses
Today chocolate is the ‘sweet snack of the people’ but many years ago, as a part of their rituals, Mayan and Aztec nobles drank their cocoa beans ground and brewed with chillies. This is where the Latin name Theobroma cacao, meaning ‘food of the gods’, comes from.

When it first arrived in Spain in the 16th century some didn’t like it, one even proclaiming it ‘fit for pigs’. Sugar was added and it grew in popularity especially with the ladies of the Spanish court. Chocolate became a European luxury, with chocolate houses frequented by the elite springing up in the capital cities.

Debates centred around its medical value, and whether it was it an aphrodisiac. Chocolate went on to be used as emergency rations for armies, navies and rescue teams, and eventually became a ‘luxury’ that everyone could enjoy.

For a chuckle revisit Lucy’s chocolate scene:

Medicinal Uses
Chocolate is more than just a delicacy; evidence suggests that eating between 46 and 105g chocolate a day can have a moderate effect on lowering blood pressure. Yay! Cocoa has been used for an array of medicinal purposes. Unfermented cocoa seeds and the seed coat are used to treat a variety of ailments, including diabetes, digestive and chest complaints. Cocoa powder, prepared from fermented cocoa seeds, is used to prevent heart disease. It is also used widely in foods and pharmaceutical preparations, as well as being used as a rich moisturiser for the skin.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

No Speedy in Vermont

Winner: Judy

It’s been a while, but Judy was back in the winner’s circle, followed by BigJohn. Mike was Daphne’s capable replacement while she baby sat the DC twins. Tonight we learned that Starbucks is derived from the name of the chief mate on the Pequod in “Moby Dick.” Who knew?

=======================================================

Before we get to the Good Question!, how about some Good News. Two of our fave players, Nadia (the mad scientist) and John the Bod finally got married. YAY!

Best Wishes from all of us to the two of you.

===========================================================

Good Question!: What is the only state capital in the US to not have a McDonald’s?

Choices: a.Boise   b.Montpelier   c.Honolulu   d.Baton Rouge

 

 

 

 

 

 

x
Answer: Montpelier

Although it seems ubiquitous, McDonald’s is not really everywhere. The state capital of Vermont, which is also the smallest by population, has the unique characteristic of being the only state capital in the United States that does not have a McDonald’s franchise within city limits. If you want your BigMac fix, you’re going to have to drive 4.44 whole miles to the next town over. Or go to Rutland, which has the most McD of any place in VT. – 3!

The Burger Story

McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets. Founded in the United States in 1940, the company began as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California.
In 1948, they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Their introduction of the “Speedee Service System” in 1948 furthered the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that the White Castle hamburger chain had already put into practice more than two decades earlier. The first McDonalds with the arches opened in Phoenix in March 1953.

Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.
The original mascot of McDonald’s was a man with a chef’s hat on top of a hamburger-shaped head whose name was “Speedee”. By 1967, Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald McDonald.

 

 

 

 

Moving beyond hamburgers, ever Wonder What The People Of Your State Like To Buy The Most? This Map Has Your Answer:

Read Full Post »

The Iron Horse

Winner: Judy

That Judy won tonight is not much of a surprise, but look who came in second. Our old friend 10 O’Clock Bill exclaimed as the results were read: “Well you won’t have old Bill to kick around anymore.” Well done 10 O’Clock. Also finishing second were Rosebud and Double A (AA).

Tough quiz tonight where Mistress Daphne picked 20 of 30 available questions. Of course, she only picked ones that were impossible to answer. The crowd was reasonably well behaved with the exception of the Driver. He’s still upset that Connecticut Connie cleaned his clock last week.

Good Question!:
Who was the first athlete to appear on a Wheaties box?

Choices: a. Babe Ruth   b. Lou Gehrig   c. Johnny Weissmuller   d. Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Answer: Lou Gehrig

“For the past two weeks you’ve been reading about a bad break,” he said. “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
—Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig was born in New York City in 1903, the only one of the four Gehrig children to survive infancy. Gehrig studied engineering at Columbia University, played fullback on the football team and pitched for the school’s baseball team, earning the nickname Columbia Lou. In one famous game, the young hurler struck out 17 batters.

Gehrig signed his first contract with the New York Yankees in April 1923. By the following season, Gehrig was inserted into the lineup to replace the team’s aging first baseman, Wally Pipp. It set in motion a streak in which Gehrig “The Iron Horse,” established a Major League Baseball record by playing in 2,130 consecutive games.

Over the next 15 years he led the team to six World Series titles, while batting .361. His Hall of Fame career saw him score 100 runs and knock in at least that many in 13 consecutive seasons. In 1931, he set an American League record by clubbing 184 RBIs, and in 1932, he became the third player to hit four home runs in a single game.

Illness and Retirement

In 1938 the aging Gehrig turned in his first subpar season. His hard-charging career seemed to have caught up with him as his body started to fail him. But Gehrig, who was having trouble with things as simple as tying his shoelaces, feared he might be facing something more than just the downslide of a long baseball career.

In 1939, after getting off to a horrid start to the baseball season, Gehrig checked himself into the Mayo Clinic, where after a series of tests, doctors informed him that he was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating disease that strips nerve cells of their ability to interact with the body’s muscles. His diagnosis with the disease helped put the spotlight on the condition, and in the years since Gehrig’s passing, it has come to be known popularly as “Lou Gehrig’s disease.”

On May 2, 1939, Gehrig’s ironman streak came to an end when he voluntarily took himself out of the lineup. Not long after, Gehrig retired from baseball. He returned to Yankee Stadium on July 4 of that year so that the team could hold a day in his honor. Standing on the field where he’d made so many memories and wearing his old uniform, Gehrig said goodbye to his fans with a short, tearful speech to the crowded ballpark.

Following Gehrig’s retirement, Major League Baseball circumvented its own rules and immediately inducted the former Yankee into its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In addition, the Yankees retired Gehrig’s uniform, making him the first baseball player ever to receive that honor.

By 1941, Gehrig’s health had significantly deteriorated. He largely remained at home, too frail to even sign his own name, much less go out. On June 2, 1941, at age 37, he passed away in his sleep at his home in New York City.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Poor Richard’s Almanack, a Guide to Meeting Ladies

 

Winner: Judy

Tonight we were missing Darin and Mistress Daphne, but women were ably represented by the top 3 finishers. Judy played a strong, quiet game in the bay window and edged Rhys and Maddy. Ten O’Clock Bill was also seated in the bay window, but proved once again that where you sit is not a factor, even when you sit with the winner. Judy may need to give Bill some remedial trivia instruction to help him be competitive.

MikeP. stepped in to moderate the game and control a raucous crowd of 15. Those new players from Minnesota sure were noisy. Mike gets everyone’s attention with his earsplitting whistle. Might be something Mistress Daphne needs to try. We all missed Darin (and her treats) and hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Good Question!: According to one estimate, Ben Franklin had 24 what?

Choices: a. patents   b. wives   c. horses   d. illegitimate children

Answer: illegitimate children

Good Grief! Is that possible?

The best info I could find was this statement: “Benjamin Franklin was rumored to have fathered more than a dozen illegitimate children.” There is nothing more definitive and most of the biographical info leans towards old Ben having numerous relationships, but fewer illegitimate children.

The Chicago Tribune had an interesting piece on ladies man Ben in 1990:

Ben Franklin`s Dangerous Liaisons
That Kindly Old Kite Flyer Was Also A High-flying Ladies` Man

“Franklin Delano Roosevelt had Lucy Mercer.

Dwight Eisenhower had Kay Summersby.

John F. Kennedy had Judith Exner.

Benjamin Franklin had Anna-Louise d`Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy. And Madame Helvetius. And Margaret Stevenson. And Polly Hewson. And Madame Foucault. And Countess Diane de Polignac. And Countess Wilhelmina Golowkin. And Catherine Ray. And Georgiana Shipley. And Madame Le Veillard. And Madame Le Roy. And Countess Houdetot. . . .

And, of course, Deborah Read, his wife of 38 years.”

Unfortunately, there are no videos of Ben and his ladies, but we do have one of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to JFK:

“Yes, even Ben Franklin-who is ensconced in our national consciousness as a kindly, bespectacled dispenser of aphoristic advice-was a womanizer. Make that especially Ben Franklin.

Franklin often philosophized that it was important for a man to be reasonable-since it enabled him to find a reason for doing anything he wanted to do. But Franklin himself was frightened by his sexual appetite, admitting in his autobiography that “the hard-to-be-governed passion of my youth had hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way.“

Franklin`s siring of an illegitimate son in Philadelphia, and his neglect of his wife, Deborah, have been well documented by historians. But from the age of 50 until the end of his life, a period in which he spent more time on the banks of the Seine and the Thames than the Schuylkill, Franklin had a sucession of relationships with younger women. Some of the affairs were sexual and others were platonic.”

blogger’s note: This blog, “TNBE,” celebrated it’s fifth anniversary last month, and I almost missed it. You keep reading, we’ll keep writing.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Winner: Judy

It wasn’t close. After a long dry spell, Judy returned to the winner’s circle with a dominating win. Her 2 misses were far ahead of Rosebud and the Driver.

We had some new players in the bay window seats, very loud and very wrong on most questions. They finished last and for their effort they received boxes of chocolate cherries – not bad. Only Alish knew that in Ireland the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is called Pancake day.

Good Question!: Which Bond villain has been played by: Telly Savalas, Donald Pleasance, Charles Gray, and Max Von Sydow?

Choices: a.Blofeld  b.Hugo Drax  c.Dr. No  d.General Medrono

Answer: Blofeld

For some this was an easy question, for others it was, “Who was Blofeld?”

Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a  supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond.

Blofeld is head of the global criminal organisation SPECTRE and is commonly referred to as Number 1, an official numerical position given to members of SPECTRE. The character was originally written by Fleming as a physically massive man, standing around 6 foot 3 and weighing 21.6 stone (about 300 pounds), and very powerfully built.

Blofeld appears or is heard in six James Bond films: From Russia with Love (1963), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and For Your Eyes Only (1981).

Sometimes the opening title sequence is the best part of a Bond flick. Here’s one movie Blofeld appeared in: “Thunderball”

and some scenes with great James Bond quotes:

Read Full Post »

Big Boys Don’t Cry

Winner: Judy

After a surprisingly long absence, Judy showed the big boys she still has what it takes to finish on the winners podium. She was dominant with only 5 wrong. Finishing way back in second place were 10 O’Clock Bill, the Driver, and Lenny.

Lot’s of good questions about the national parks tonight:

• Don’t take your car to Zion NP. Why?
  Because cars are banned during peak season.
• Jimmy Carter more than doubled the size of the national park system.
• Yellowstone’s geothermal pools have changed colors over the years due to trash! Come on folks. Pack it in, Pack it out.

Good Question!: Which California NP is home to more than 1,000 species of plants, with more than 50 being endemics, meaning they are not found anywhere else in the world?

Choices:   a. Katmai      b. Death Valley      c. Bryce Canyon      d. Mohave

Answer: Death Valley

The Death Valley National Park  is a United States National Park that is located primarily in the southern California desert, with a small portion extending into Nevada. Many potential visitors ignore the park due to the misconception that it is simply a lifeless, empty landscape, but this 3.4 million acre (14,000 km²) park is not only the largest national park in the contiguous 48 States of the USA (although Adirondack state park in NY is larger-let’s hear it for the EmpireState) but also arguably one of the most striking specimens of Mother Earth. Nearly every major geological era is elegantly exposed here in what sometimes appears to be one of her greatest tapestries, gloriously presenting her full spectrum.

The valley itself is 130 miles (210 km) long, between six and 13 miles (10-21 km) wide and is surrounded by steep mountain ranges: the Panamint mountains to the west, and the Black, Funeral, and Grapevine mountains to the east. Its three million acres of wilderness and rich cultural history make it a lifetime’s work to explore all that the valley has to offer. (http://wikitravel.org)

Endemic Plants

Death Valley is the hottest and driest places in North America, yet it is home to over 1000 species of plants and 440 species of animals.

The Park encompasses over three million acres and ranges in elevation from 282 feet below sea level to 11,049 feet above sea level. This provides a variety of habitats in which plants and animals have become established.

Although most of Death Valley’s plant and animal species can be found growing in other places, there are a few that exist only in the Death Valley region and
nowhere else in the world. These are referred to as “endemic” to the area. To save you the trip, here are a few of Death Valley’s endemic plants:

  Mimulus rupicola; Rock Midget

Napkin Ring Buckwheat Eriogonum intrafractum

Eureka Dunes Evening Primrose Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis

Read Full Post »

“Waltzing Matilda”

Winners: Judy and Pluto

The weather warmed up and a crowd of 21 well behaved players showed up. Judy brought daughter Lauren, who was visiting from the NorthEast Kingdom in VT,  and warned us that she would be a contender. Lauren lived up to her advance billing and finished tied for 2nd with Nadia, the mad scientist. They finished just a bit behind Judy and Pluto, who was the only guy in the top group tonight.

What would a night of trivia be without a question about King Zog of Albania, Mr. Spock’s green blood, or those daring funambulists (tightrope walkers). We also learned that the Olympic flag has 5 rings, supposedly representing the 5 inhabited continents. Curiously, the founder of the modern Olympic games, Pierre de Coubertin, considered America (North & South) as one continent.

Only 3 weeks until the Games in Sochi – no Lindsey Vonn, but watch for the Americans Ted Ligety, the best giant slalom skier in the world, and Mikaela Shiffrin, who has a great shot at a slalom gold medal

Good Question!: In the song “Waltzing Matilda”, what is a jumbuck?

Choices:   a. goat      b. horse      c. cat      d. sheep

Answer: sheep

Here’s the legend:

In 1895, A.B. “Banjo” Paterson was working as a journalist in the Queensland town of Winton. Local folklore says that during his stay he was told the story of a wanted swagman who had recently drowned by jumping into a billabong to escape arrest. This story, and other local tales about swagman “waltzing their matildas” or carrying their swags, was the basis for the now immortal words of Waltzing Matilda. Stranded at Dagworth station by the Wet, Paterson put the words to a Scottish folk song, played on the Autoharp by his host. The song was first performed on 6 April 1895 at a local pub. It was an instant success and soon became the nation’s favorite song.

Here are 3 “Waltzing Matilda” videos, each very interesting. Pick your fave.

The first explains all the terms (“matilda”, “swagman”, “tucker bag”, “billy” “billabong” and of course, “jumbuck”) before a fun version of the tune:

The second, a clip celebrating Australia Day, shows why many consider this tune the unofficial Australian national anthem:

The third is a variation, one of the most affecting anti-war tunes you will ever hear:

x

The Lyrics:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,  Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?” And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled, “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?”Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong: Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee. And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag, “You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me. Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.” And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag, “You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.”Up rode a squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred; Down came the troopers, one, two, three: “Who’s that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag? You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me! Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me. Who’s that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag? You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!”Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong; “You’ll never catch me alive!” said he; And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, “You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me! Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!” And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong, “You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!”

* swagman: an intinerant farmhand, carrying his “swag” (his blankets) rolled into a cylinder * billabong: a creek (normally with a pronounced “oxbow” bend) * coolibah tree: a eucalypt (gum) tree ) * waited till his billy boiled: a billy is a tin can used to heat water over a campfire to make tea * jumbuck: sheep * tucker-bag: bag or box used to store food * squatter: farmer/grazier who simply found good land and took possession; some became extremely rich * trooper: policeman or soldier on horseback

Read Full Post »

Die Gebrüder Grimm

Winner: Judy

On  a night when we celebrated Darin’s 39th birthday, with a delicious carrot cake, Judy celebrated another convincing win. Darin’s birthday present to us was a very difficult series of questions, many about obscure corners of the animal kingdom. The pack of players who finished second were far behind Judy, probably because none knew the answer to the universal question of life, the universe and everything else – 42.

And I thought that number was important because of Jackie Robinson.

Good Question!: What were the first names of the brothers Grimm?

Choices:  a.Wilhelm and Robert   b.Wilhelm and Jacob   c.Wilhelm and Sanford   d.Wilhelm and Otto

(Pictures to Follow, when Blogger returns from FL and has his good old Mac to work on, rather than this evil library PC)

Answer: Wilhelm and Jacob

The Brothers Grimm or Die Gebrüder Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, lexicographers and authors who together collected and published folklore.

Looking for a sweet, soothing tale to waft you toward dreamland?  Look somewhere else.  The stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s serve up life as generations of central Europeans knew it—capricious and often cruel.  The two brothers, patriots determined to preserve Germanic folktales, were only accidental entertainers.

They are among the most well-known storytellers of folk tales, popularizing stories such as “Cinderella” “(Aschenputtel)”, “The Frog Prince” (“Der Froschkönig”), “Hansel and Gretel” (“Hänsel und Gretel”), “Rapunzel“, “Rumpelstiltskin” (“Rumpelstilzchen”), and “Snow White” (“Schneewittchen”).

Once they saw how the tales bewitched young readers, the Grimms, and editors aplenty after them, started “fixing” things.  Tales gradually got softer, sweeter, and primly moral.  Yet all the polishing never rubbed away the solid heart of the stories, now read and loved in more than 160 languages.

http://youtu.be/PhVldIIS62Q

Read Full Post »

“If you’ve got ’em, smoke ’em”

Winner: Judy

Tonight’s group of 27 players set a world record (or at least a MainStreetCafe Tuesday Night trivia record). The joint was loud and boisterous, and Mistress Daphne did a fine job keeping the whole thing under control.

Judy also did a fine job, returning to her winning form and dominating this one – no one was close. Droppin’ finished second, followed by Megan, Carol, Rhys, 10 O’Clock Bill, and Pluto in a dead heat.

One of the more interesting questions – Which state has only 113 divorces for every 1,000 marriages? Judy was the only one who figured it out. Her thinking: “Lots of folks come to Vegas for quickie marriages, then go home and get divorced. The answer must be Nevada.” That’s why she won.

Good Question!: What type of leaves were botanists shocked to find in the stuffing inside the mummified remains of Pharoh Ramses II?

Choices: grape leaves   tobacco leaves   palm leaves   apricot leaves

Answer: Tobacco Leaves

Well yes, they should have been shocked. Tobacco is a plant that grows natively in North and South America. We have all been taught that Columbus discovered tobacco in the New World, and that Virginia made a fortune growing tobacco and shipping it to Europe, where it was welcomed at first for its perceived medicinal purposes and then for its recreational uses.

So there’s no way that a Pharoh in ancient Egypt could have been a smoker, right?

Well, according to cracked.com, here’s the story:

In 1992, German scientists were testing their mummies when they found remnants of hashish, tobacco, and cocaine in their hair, skin and bones. Now, hashish comes from Asia, so it’s not unfathomable that a royal Egyptian would know a guy who could get him the hook-up. But tobacco and cocaine were strictly New World plants at the time of the mummification. It’d be like if some celebrity today tested positive for heroin that could only have been grown on Venus.

With all this talk about mummies we need a good old mummy monster movie clip:

So how did it happen? All we have are theories. Maybe the sites were contaminated by hard-partying archaeologists (although you’d think that if somebody had old pics of themselves snorting coke off of a mummy’s ass, they’d have uploaded that shit to Facebook by now). Or maybe the mummies themselves were fake, like maybe they were disco-era archaeologists who just took their love of mummification too far.

So the German scientists did what anyone trying to protect their reputation would do — they had an independent lab test the mummies themselves. They found the same dope. The Germans then went to work testing hundreds of ancient mummies, finding nicotine in a third of them. Not only that, but actual tobacco leaves were discovered in the guts of Ramses II (of Exodus fame, maybe).

Read Full Post »

Wedding Bells

Winner: Judy

Judy is on a hot streak.

On Sunday her beautiful daughter Lauren married Jeff, in a lovely ceremony out east in Flowerfields. Tonight she joined us for a game and a night of relaxation after all the weeks of hectic preparation as the mother of the bride. She brought along the father of the bride, 10 o’clock Bill, who looked well rested. As well he should be. His only responsibility had been to walk Lauren down the aisle.

Tonight’s game was our first after the August recess. Judy, who hasn’t played in a while, picked up right where she left off with another win. She was followed closely by Droppin’ Dave and Rosebud. By curious coincidence Droppin’ was also in wedding recovery mode as his son Matt had married the lovely Ashley in Lake Placid just 2 weekends ago.

——————————————Newlyweds Lauren and Jeff

——————————————Newlyweds Matt and Ashley

————————All of us at TNBE wish the young couples much happiness.

Good Question!: Which musical featured the song “I Feel Pretty”?

Answer: West Side Story

If this week we feature wedding bells and beautiful brides, then the “Good Question!” just had to be “I Feel Pretty”.

x

West Side Story is an American musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and conception and choreography by Jerome Robbins. It was inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

The story is set in the West 50’s and West 60’s of the Upper West Side in New York City. In the mid-1950s this was a racially mixed, blue collar neighborhood, now it is the site of Lincoln Center. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic  backgrounds. The members of the Sharks from Puerto Rico are taunted by the Jets, a white working class group. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theatre.

The original 1957 Broadway production marked Sondheim’s Broadway debut. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical in 1957, but the award for Best Musical went to “The Music Man”. They wuz robbed! 

The play spawned an innovative 1961 musical film of the same name, starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn. This time the voters got it right and the film won ten Academy Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Picture.

Most of us remember Natalie Wood playing the role of Maria in the movie (and in the you tube clip above), but few remember that it was Carol Lawrence who originated the role on Broadway, or that it was Marni Nixon who actually dubbed Ms Woods singing in the movie. Sometimes life isn’t fair.

Read Full Post »