Although she has been off the silver screen for some 70 years Deanna Durbin, the singing star of the 1930s and 40s has a devoted following. Such was her impact.
We’ve published a fair amount about Deanna — our previous DD blogs include Need To Know Deanna Durbin and Deanna Durbin – Rival to Judy, Nov. 10-11, 2011 — but an update is in order since it’s been a while since we covered this extraordinary but all-too-often forgotten star.
Although today it is hard to imagine that a film star who was so famous then can now be so forgotten, that is the fate of Edna May Durbin, known as Deanna. Still, her name creeps up in the oddest places. Not just on announcements about films being shown on TCM, but in historical and literary references.
So exactly how much DO you know about Deanna Durbin? Let’s take our updated Quiz to find out. Questions today and answers tomorrow. Here we go:
1) Question: Where was she born? 1) Des Moines, Iowa; 2) Sheffield, England; 3) Nutley, New Jersey; or 4) Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada.
2) Question: How old is she now? 1) Seventy two; 2) Eighty three; 3) Ninety; or 4) One hundred and four.
3) Question: Did she ever win an Academy Award? 1) No, but was nominated several times; 2) Yes; or 3) Yes, but it was shared.
4) Question: She made over 20 films and shorts in her 12 year career, yet only one film was in Color. Which one?
5) Question: Was Deanna the voice for Walt Disney’s Snow White?
6) Question: On which radio program was Deanna a regular feature? 1) The Charlie McCarthy Show (with Edgar Bergen); 2) Allen’s Alley with Fred Allen; 3) The Jack Benny Program; or 4) The Eddie Cantor Show.
7) Question: What’s the connection between Deanna Durbin and Anne Frank?
8 ) Question: Who gave her her first screen kiss? In what movie? And why was it front page news?
9) Question: In what novel does a character claim to have seen a Deanna Durbin film seven times, only he can’t remember which film?
10) Question: Durbin appealed to several key World War II figures who considered her their favorite star. Who are they? 1) Dwight Eisenhower, 2) Albert Speer; 3) Benito Mussolini; 4) Douglas MacArthur; or 5) Winston Churchill.
Bonus trivia bit: Deanna was off screen for so long that by the 1980 there were rumors that she was fat and unrecognizable. She sent the newsmagazines a photo to prove otherwise.
I don’t think Joe & Frank UPDATED there DEANNA DURBIN quiz enough…
It seems to be an exact copy of March 22, 2012…
So again, you don’t have to strain yourself for the answers…
1) Answer: Durbin wasn’t known as “Winnepeg’s Sweetheart” for nothing. That’s where she was born as Edna May Durbin.
2) Is this the usual TRICK question?
Well, seeing as she was born on December 4, 1921,
and she died on April 17, 2013… She was 91 when
she died.
But where’s that optional answer here?
3) Answer: If you chose No. 3, congratulate yourself. Deanna won the best the Academy Award’s 1939 Best Juvenile Award, which she shared with Mickey Rooney.
4) Answer: 1944’s Can’t Help Singing, which costarred Robert Paige and one of our very favorite character actors, Akim Tamiroff. Deanna plays a politician’s daughter in this western romance with music who follows her boyfriend West during the California gold rush.
5) Answer: Durbin auditioned as the voice of the Snow White in 1937’s animation classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but Walt Disney turned her down because she sounded too mature. She was a teenager at the time.
6) Answer: Deanna spent two years on Eddie Cantor’s radio show, making her debut in September 1936. She was, incidentally, a big hit.
7) Answer: It was a star-fan thing. Durbin was the Holocaust victim’s favorite movie star. Frank adorned her secret Amsterdam hiding nook with photos of Deanna. If you visit the Frank house you will still see a photo on the wall.
8) Answer: It was Robert Stack in his 1939 movie debut in First Love, who provided Deanna with her first onscreen kiss. As to why this event commanded front page attention, it musta been a slow news day. Says Joe: It was a big deal because it was.
9) Answer: Trout Fishing In America by Richard Brautigan.
10) Answer: Mussolini and Churchill were nuts about Deanna, and MacArthur admired her work as well. Cannot vouch for Speer, however.
At this point I usually say “keep those COMMENTS coming” but what’s the point of constantly repeating yourself?