THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100238
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Twist of Trivia
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Today's trivia subject has a bachelor of music degree in voice from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a master of music degree in voice and Artist Diploma in opera from the University of Cincinnati.
Recipient of a School of the Arts Service Award from VCU in 1978, he was first-prize winner in the Corbett Opera Competition in 1980.
Our subject taught piano and voice and performed with the National Opera Company in Raleigh, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera and the Miami Opera Association and others.
Today, business is his focus, as he works with a New York City investment firm.
``He hasn't left singing permanently, but right now he's not into performing,'' said his mother, Katharine, of the Crittenden area of Suffolk.
Profiled in The Sun in 1983, he was 33. He was singing bass with the National Opera Company, traveling the country doing comic operas.
They were sung in English, but he also had sung in German, Italian and French.
Our subject also worked as a music researcher, sang and played piano in restaurants and cocktail lounges, and even arranged shows for a group of singing waiters in a German restaurant - in Cincinnati.
Who is this talented young man?
He holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from the College of William and Mary.
More trivia questions:
1. Two major movie actresses from the golden days of Hollywood are sisters. They did not care much for one another, but each achieved a great deal of success. They are - ?
2. Danny Kaye, Dan Dailey, Gene Kelly and Phil Harris all turned down a role in a major movie musical. Who said yes and - which musical? Weird hint: Think of Heinz and add 19.
3. What did President Grover Cleveland refer to as ``Death and Destruction?''
4. Which African-American songstress was a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in the 1970s?
5. Believe it or not, all these folks have a common denominator from their youth: Ralph Bellamy, Hugh O'Brian, Cloris Leachman, Rock Hudson, Ann-Margret and Charlton Heston. As if that isn't enough, when he was a few years older, Heston also had something in common with Patricia Neal and Ralph Meeker. What's the link?
Our trivia subject, a John Yeates High School graduate, was into classical music while his peers were interested in rock 'n' roll.
He was 12 when his family got an FM radio and he listened to Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.
His appetite for the classics was heightened when his sister won a book containing photos about operas.
He once worked for a brokerage firm in Richmond. He now works for an investment firm.
Today's trivia subject was born and raised in Chuckatuck.
He is Matthew Spady.
Answers to today's other questions:
1. The actresses who enjoyed fame but not each other were Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine.
2. Danny Kaye, Dan Dailey, Gene Kelly and Phil Harris all said ``no'' to the starring role in ``The Music Man.'' It went to Robert Preston, now indelibly identified with that production. As for the hint - 57 in Heinz 57, plus 19, equals 76 as in - ``Seventy-Six Trombones.''
3. President Grover Cleveland called it ``Death and Destruction.'' It was his favorite rifle.
4. Pearl Bailey was a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in the 1970s.
5. And, for the big finish: Ralph Bellamy, Hugh O'Brian, Cloris Leachman, Rock Hudson, Ann-Margret and Charlton Heston are all graduates of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill.
Heston, Patricia Neal and Ralph Meeker were classmates at Northwestern University's School of Speech. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
President Grover Cleveland
Photo by ROY BLAKEY
Former opera Singer Matthew Spadey works for an investment firm.
by CNB