ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: What was the first film based on a musical?

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: What was the first film based on a musical?

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QUESTION What was the first film based on a musical?

In 1927, The Jazz Singer marked the end of the silent film era. It featured six popular songs performed by Al Jolson.

Musical films were immediately popular and 1929 saw the appearance of several made-for-film musicals, such as the Oscar-winning The Broadway Melody as well as Gold Diggers Of Broadway and Sunny Side Up.

On April 17, 1929, an early version of Show Boat was released. This was not based on the successful Florenz Ziegfeld Jr-produced Broadway musical, but on the 1926 Edna Ferber novel.

However, many of the songs from the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II stage show were featured in a special prologue that was added to the picture before it was released.

Rio Rita, which debuted on September 15, 1929, was based on the 1927 Ziegfeld-produced stage musical, with music by Harry Tierney and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy. It's the light-hearted story of Texas ranger Captain James Stewart, who pursues the bandit 'The Kinkajou' over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita, the bandit's sister.

The film was the first talkie role for Bebe Daniels (Rita), starred John Boles as Stewart, and launched the film career of the comedy duo Wheeler & Woolsey. Its best-known tune was The Rangers' Song.

Two other films based on Broadway musicals debuted in 1929. Paris, starring Irene Bordoni, debuted on November 7, 1929 and was adapted from a 1928 Cole Porter musical. Sally, which debuted on December 23, 1929, was based on a 1920 Ziegfeld-produced musical by Guy Bolton with some lyrics by a certain P.G. Wodehouse.

Paul Weston, Redditch, Worcs

QUESTION I've read that wave mechanics admit the possibility of a cosmos coexisting with ours. Can this be true?

What is 'truth' and is that the same as 'reality'? The scientific process is to form a hypothesis that fits current observations, then use that hypothesis to predict the outcome of new experiments or observations designed to stress-test the hypothesis. If the hypothesis succeeds, then it is accepted as current understanding, i.e. theory — effectively 'the truth' until such time as it is disproved.

Photons of light appear to have characteristics of particles in some experiments and waves in others, and sometimes both at the same time. But we cannot examine a photon directly; all we can do is measure the effect it has on other things.

The same applies to parallel universes or multiple dimensions. They might be used to explain mysteries at the extreme end of physics, such as why gravity is so much weaker than the other fundamental forces of nature, such as electromagnetism.

But unless they can be observed, they remain a mathematical device rather than palpably real.

Ken Wood, Newport, Gwent

QUESTION Why are FC Metz known as the Graoully Dragons? What other strange club nicknames are there from around the world?

French football club FC Metz has two nicknames. One is Les Grenats (The Maroons), the other is Les Graoullys.

In local legend, Saint Clement of Metz vanquished a terrifying wingless dragon known as the graoully, which lived with countless snakes in the town's Roman amphitheatre and tormented the locals.

This legend symbolising Christianity's victory over paganism is perpetuated today in processions during which an effigy of the dragon is paraded in triumph through the town.

The writer Francois Rabelais described being terrified in his youth by the graoully's huge eyes, enormous head, wide jaws and grinding teeth. Today it remains one of the major symbols of the town, depicted in the cathedral and on the heraldic emblems of the town's football and ice hockey teams.

The Zacatepec football team in Mexico are known as the Sugarcane Growers because of their green and white stripes (green being the colour of the local cane, white the sugar), and Spanish team Cadiz as the Yellow Submarine.

Other nicknames mention the major industries of the area. Malaga are the Anchovies, a nod to the local fishing industry, and Alemannia Aachen the Potato Beetles, in reference to their insect-like striped shirts. Spanish team Leganes are the Cucumber Growers.

More unusually, Hartlepool United FC's nickname, the Monkey Hangers, references an unconfirmed story that residents of the town hanged a monkey during the Napoleonic wars, believing it to be a French spy.

Ian MacDonald, Billericay, Essex