BARBERSHOP HISTORY-GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ

author: Mark Axelrod, editor of "Blue Chip Chatter," Teaneck, NJ.

Questions:

1- During WWII, how did the Society help the war effort?

2- What did individual chapters do to help the war effort?

3- In 1944, the year in which barbershoppers raised the one-year-record-amount during the war, how much was raised?

4- What was done with the money raised in 1944? For extra credit, answer this - the "things" that the money was used for were given names. What were those names?

5- Name the most famous barbershop quartet in the European Theater of Operations and its personnel.


Answers:

1- By passing proclamations (not such a big deal) and by raising tons of money (a very big deal - see question #3)

2- By providing quartets to entertain the troops stationed in the USA, and at war bond drives

3- $1.2 million, which is approx. $12.5 million in 2004 dollars

4- It provided funding for two (!) B-29 bombers. Wow! The planes were appropriately named "The Spirit of Harmony" and "Close Harmony"

5- Its name, if it had one, and the identities of the bass and the tenor are lost to history. You may have heard of the lead and the baritone, however. Respectively, they were Bing Crosby and Dwight D. Eisenhower


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