Well you can't watch or read the news without hearing about Charlie Sheen's antics on his current tour. He got booed in Detroit and New York, but did much better in Chicago, Cleveland and Connecticut. His tour is still out there (and I mean that in more ways than one), so that got me to thinking about the name Charlie. Over the decades, there've been several songs by Charlies and about Charlies...there was even a rock group from England called Charlie that had several minor hits in the late 1970's/early '80's...so let's see how good your music trivia knowledge really is. All of these questions come from the 1950's, 60's and '70's.
And away we go.....
QUESTIONS
1. This band was fronted by a Charlie who plays a mean fiddle. For a time, he was a Nashville session musician and played on Bob Dylan's 1969 album "Nashville Skyline". His biggest hit came in 1979 about the devil and a southern U.S. state. So who is this famous Charlie?
2. From 1984 until 1990, there was a TV series called "Charles In Charge" starring Scott Baio, but he was never called Charlie. In 1976, a new hit TV series debuted featuring 3 female investigators, but you never saw the title character throughout the entire run of the show which ended in 1981. Since then, there have been several movie remakes of this series and in 1977, Henry Mancini had a Top 50 hit (but just barely) with the instrumental theme song to the TV series. Name this TV Charlie if you can.
3. "Pilot of the airwaves...here is my request" are the opening lyrics from a hit song from 1980. It was sung by a British female performer and was very popular at the time. Can you name this Charlie?
4. This songwriting/producing duo wrote and produced many, many hits from the 1950's through to the '80's. They're in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, as well they should be. The artists they've worked with include Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Stealers Wheel, Peggy Lee, Ben E. King and The Coasters. Some of their biggest hits are "Hound Dog", "There Goes My Baby", "Jailhouse Rock", "Is That All There Is?", "Love Potion #9", "Yakety Yak", "Kansas City" and "Stand By Me". In 1958, they had a number one hit with The Coasters' "Yakety Yak". The following year, they made it to number two with a song that had "Charlie" in the title. Do you know the name of this 1959 classic?
5. So far, these questions have been pretty easy. This one may not be. During the years 1960 to 1972, there was a successful TV series about a widower named Steve Douglas who was raising his family. The star of this TV series had been a major movie actor who'd acted in such features as "Double Indemnity" (1944), "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), The Apartment" (1960) and "The Absent Minded Professor" (1961). On the TV series, he smoked a pipe and was constantly having to deal with the everyday problems of his sons, Chip, Ernie and Robbie. In this series, there was an older relative who lived with the family to help out. What was this character's name? (Remember the theme of this trivia quiz)
ANSWERS
1. Charlie Daniels is the Charlie we were looking for. The Charlie Daniels Band biggest hit (# 3 on the singles chart) was "The Devil Went Down To Georgia". The Charlie Daniels Band was featured in John Travolta's 1980 movie, "Urban Cowboy". For Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album, Charlie played guitar and bass.
2. The Tv series and the subsequent movies were called Charlie's Angels. The TV series starred Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jacklyn Smith. In 2000, the first "Charlie's Angel" movie was released starring Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz and Bill Murray. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" came out in 2003 with Barrymore, Liu and Diaz reprising their roles. This time, Bill Murray was gone and Bernie Mac was in. Later this fall (maybe), there's a new "Charlie's Angels" series set to hit TV starring Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh with Ramon Rodriguez as Bosley. The new voice of Charlie is rumored to be Robert Wagner since the original voice of the 70's TV series, John Forsythe, died a year ago this month. By the way, the 1977 Henry Mancini theme song only made it to #45 on the singles chart.
3. Charlie Dore is the female singer in question. She was born in London, England and she was also an actress and songwriter. Her debut album was released on Island Records, who thought she'd be Britain's answer to Emmylou Harris. As an actress, Charlie has appeared in number British television programs as well as films such as "The Ploughman's Lunch". From 1990 til'96, she had a comedy/improv group in London. With a partner, she's written the scores to several BBC television productions. In 2009, Charlie Dore released an album of American hillbilly music, western swing and popular standards from the 1930's called "The Hula Valley Songbook".
4. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are the hit making duo. Leiber & Stoller were born one month apart in 1933. The song we were looking for was the Coasters 1959 smash "Charlie Brown", "Fe Fe Fi Fi Fo Fo Fum, I smell smoke in the auditorium. Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown. He's a clown, that Charlie Brown. He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see. Why is everybody always pickin' on me?"
5. You really have to know your TV trivia from the 1960's to know that Uncle Charlie was a character on the TV series, "My Three Sons" starring Fred MacMurray. Uncle Charlie O'Casey was played by William Demarest from 1965 until '72. Demarest had replaced William Frawley, who'd played 'Bub' from 1960 until '65 when he retired due to poor health. Frawley, who died in 1966, had played Lucille Ball's apartment building neighbour Fred Mertz on "I Love Lucy" from 1951 until that series ended in 1960. William Demarest, a former professional boxer, who played Uncle Charlie, began his career in vaudeville. He acted in 140 films and was nominated
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