Word: yodel
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Last week, 40 years after his first swing on a back-lot liana, Tarzan of the Apes ooo-eee-ooed the famed yodel, dropped from the treetops into his 32nd movie. Since the other 31 were all financial successes-a combined total gross of more than $500 million and a total audience of 2 billion people-the new Tarzan's Fight for Life showed the sort of promise most appreciated by Cinemogul Sy Weintraub, new head of Sol Lesser Productions, owner...
Different in many respects, perhaps, but not in the basic one. Sure, some of them are Olympic vets-you can tell them because they schuss the slaloms, roll up their shirt sleeves, wear goggles, and usually flash a toothy grin and yodel something in Austrian at you-they are the ones that know how. Or else they're earnest. You can tell this type because they refuse a cocktail at noon and always rush off to the slopes like Greta Garbo-"I vant to be alone!" They do parallel christies all the way down the slope, stand at the bottom...
...yodelers performed singly and in groups, dressing up Swiss songs of summertime and young love with decorative hooting & hollering. Four judges sat and graded them on four points: 1) general impression, 2) tone and pronunciation, 3) rhythm and "dynamism," and 4) the purity of their singing as a whole. After two days and two nights of it, the singers stopped and awaited the verdict on their work. Ears ringing, the judges declined to choose a winner. Instead, they gave out little silver buttons classifying the wearer as first class (awarded to 95 of the soloists), good (85), or fair...
...yodel used to be highly functional as one of the best ways of signaling friends in the Alps. Now that they have telephones, the Swiss use their ability mostly to entertain themselves. It still warms their hearts to hoot and hear the sound bounce back...
...jaded music lovers, looking for relief from the cultivated festivals that stipple the map of Europe, the Swiss National Yodel Festival last week was just the right rustic contrast. In the valley city of St. Gall (alt. 2,200 feet) gathered 2,800 apple-cheeked yo-di-li-o experts, the pick of Switzerland. The event was partly a competition, partly just a good chance to have...