NMLQOTM #12 Answers

Quiz #12
Answers, Results & Commentary

Congratulations to Gabriella Ziegler winner of this edition of NMLQOTM with a perfect score of 500 points! Trailing Gabby by only one point was Debra Woolaver with 499 points. Kathy Krycia came in a close 3rd with 496 points, followed by Bunny Zukowski with 486 points.

I'm not sure why, but the most common error in this edition of the quiz was ascribing "Me And My Arrow" to "Harry" Nilsson. Though that was certainly his given name, all of Mr. Nilsson's songs were released as "Nilsson". Check the album cover for the album "The Point!", which can be viewed at CDNow. While you're there, you can hear a sample of the "Me And My Arrow" song, if you're not familiar with it.

Other than that, there were a couple of "Nenah"s, rather than "Neneh", and only a typo on the word "Travelling" cost Ms. Woolaver a perfect score. "Good Day Sunshine" was written by Lennon and McCartney, and appeared on the Beatles' album "Revolver", but only Claudine Longet's recording fit alphabetically within the list.

Here are the correct titles and artists with year of release and highest charting position on the Billboard Hot 100:

01> Carlisle, Bob - Butterfly Kisses
02> Cherry, Neneh - Kisses On The Wind (1989) <8>
03> Diamond, Neil - Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show (1969) <22>
04> Donovan - Sunshine Superman (1966) <1>
05> Drifters, The - There Goes My Baby (1959) <2>
06> Everly Brothers, The - Bird Dog (1958) <1>
07> Four Tops - Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) (1973) <4>
08> Gaye, Marvin & Kim Weston - It Takes Two (1967) <14>
09> Heart - Dog & Butterfly (1979) <34>
10> Henley, Don - The Heart Of The Matter (1990) <21>
11> Jackson, Michael - Got To Be There (1971) <4>
12> James, Etta - Trust In Me (1961) <30>
13> Joel, Billy - A Matter of Trust (1986) <10>
14> Longet, Claudine - Good Day Sunshine (1967) <100>
15> Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (1974) <19> re-released as a live version (1976) <38>
16> Nilsson - Me And My Arrow (1971) <34>
17> Petty, Tom, And The Heartbreakers - Change Of Heart (1983) <21>
18> Rascals, The - People Got To Be Free (1968) <1>
19> Rufus - Tell Me Something Good (1974) <3>
20> Scorpions - Wind Of Change (1991) <4>
21> Stevens, Cat - Two Fine People (1975) <33>
22> War - Me And Baby Brother (1973) <15>
23> Washington, Dinah & Brook Benton - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) (1960) <5>
24> Wilson, Al - Show And Tell (1973) <1>
25> Wings - Arrow Through Me (1979) <29>

THEME:

Almost every one of the entrants discovered the quiz theme this time around - each song in the quiz could be joined to the title of another song, to create one long chain of song titles.

One possible ordering looked like this:

Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) To Be There Goes My Baby (You've Got What It Takes) Two Fine People Got To Be Free Bird Dog & Butterfly Kisses On The Wind of Change of Heart of the Matter of Trust In Me and My Arrow Through Me And Baby Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show and Tell Me Something Good Day Sunshine Superman

TRIVIA:

A famous celebrity murders his significant other, then relies on a botched prosecution and a high-priced legal team to avoid a homicide conviction! OJ Simpson, 1994? No, Claudine Longet, 1976. If you don't remember this famous celebrity moment, you weren't around in the late 1970s.

Claudine Longet was born in Paris in 1942, and by age 19, she was the lead singer/dancer in the Las Vegas production of Folies Bergère (still playing at the Tropicana in its 40th year, the longest-running production show in Vegas.)

In 1961, Longet (19) met and married 42 year-old singer Andy Williams, who was still a year removed from hosting his own television variety show. Their publicists went to a great deal of trouble to cast the courtship and marriage as a modern day fairy tale - Williams "remembered" being enchanted by a mysterious "eight or nine year old" that he used to see skating every day near the Louvre in Paris. What do you know? That mysterious young skater later turned out to be Longet!

Derek Taylor, whose name some of you may recognize as a friend and employee of the Beatles, was working as a music publicist when he wrote these liner notes for Longet's album Love Is Blue. (Williams and Longet supposedly met when Williams happened upon Longet's broken-down car, while walking one evening). Have a barfbag close at hand:

Slender tender clever, bright-eyed young and fine,
To Vegas Claudine Longet came, arriving just in time
To Dance, to act, to be -- to shine.
Schooled in ballet, drama-trained, she worked until
Her car broke down. "Hello," said Andy Williams,
Passing by. "Pardon?" said Miss Longet. "Help have I,"
Said Andy, and in a little while, the car was fixed
And the two were wed and then, and by and by,
two children came
And Claudine said, "Bye Bye" -- farewell to
footlights, arclights, fame.
Well, "au revoir" was what she meant, for in a
year or so
She sang a song on Channel Four and Alpert said, "Hello!
"There's magic there -- and honesty;
"We'll sign her, seal her, albums make."
Thrice one LPs there are by now -- this one is
Number Three;
A lovely thing -- a joy to hold, to hear, to know, to see.
Slender, tender, clever -- still bright-eyed young and fine,
Claudine's here for ever now. She's Andy's, yours
-- and mine.

Longet "retired" from show biz to be a famous pop-star's wife, and they had the first of their 3 children (Noelle). On New Year's Eve in 1963, Claudine appeared on The Andy Williams Show, which led to appearances in a few minor movies and television shows like "Hogan's Heroes" and "Dr. Kildare". A starlet was born! When Herb Alpert heard her sing on "Run For Your Life" in 1966, he realized her utter star potential, and she was soon signed to a recording contract with A&M Records.

Sadly, the prince and princess didn't live happily ever after, and Williams and Longet were divorced in 1970. (Hmm...the same year Williams recorded "Happy Heart" and "Can't Help Falling In Love".)

Vladimir "Spider" Sabich was a handsome playboy slalom skier, who was born in Sacramento, but grew up in the small California town of Kyburz. Spider attended the University of Colorado, where he skied on the university squad with Billy Kidd. Sabich, Kidd and three other Colorado skiers became members of the 1968 US Olympic ski team, and Sabich finished fifth in the Grenoble Olympics slalom race.

By 1971, Sabich was skiing professionally, and moved to Aspen, Colorado, which was just beginning to develop a reputation as a Hollywood celebrity hotspot. THE jetsetting ski bum of Aspen met Claudine Longet at a Bear Valley competition in 1972. Longet soon moved in to his Starwood home.

On March 21, 1976, Spider Sabich went home in the late afternoon. Longet had spent the morning skiing and the afternoon drinking at a local bar, while Sabich was only stopping in to change clothes and get ready for a date with another woman. He had apparently already asked her to move out.

According to Longet's testimony, Spider Sabich was showing her his gun worked (!), when it went off accidentally, shooting him in the abdomen. He died enroute to the local hospital. A ballistics expert would later testify (for the defense) that the gun was so over-lubricated that it could have gone off without the trigger being pulled.

Longet hired a high-priced legal team that included Los Angeles attorney Charles Weedman and Aspen lawyer Ron Austin. Amidst charges that the Aspen DA's office horrendously botched the case, a jury convicted Longet of criminally negligent homicide, and sentenced her to 30 days in the county jail.

A few oddball notes:

Longet served her 30 days after returning from a court-approved 3-month vacation in Mexico.

The prosecuting District Attorney was later convicted of fraud and embezzlement and kicked out of office in 1978.

Longet's attorney, Ron Austin left his wife and family and married Longet.

In 1977, six months after the Longet conviction, Ted Bundy was captured in Aspen, but escaped both from the Aspen courthouse and the nearby Glenwood Springs jail.

Some of you may remember the April 24, 1976 "Saturday Night Live" episode, which featured a skit called "The Claudine Longet Invitational Ski Tournament". Skiers were pictured crashing down the hill, accompanied by the sound of gunshots.

Longet's talents can be heard on the Rhino Records album Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher Songs Of The Beatles, singing her medley of "Jealous Guy" and "Don't Let Me Down". For the full effect, find a copy of her 1972 album, featuring those songs, as well as "Let's Spend The Night Together", and the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows".

Claudine Longet still quietly lives in Aspen.