Name several prominent Broadway songwriters of the 1920s.

• A. Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Gershwins, Harold Arlen, Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter
• B. Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Johannes Brahms
• C. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger
• D. Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert

Answer: (A)

Broadway in the 1920s was defined by songwriters who shaped the sound of American musical theater and Tin Pan Alley, turning stage tunes into enduring standards. The names listed—Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Richard Rodgers—were central to that era, composing the melodies and lyrics for groundbreaking shows and songs that defined the Jazz Age Broadway sound. Their work includes iconic collaborations and a string of hits that helped establish Broadway as a home for polished, memorable songs. By contrast, the other options come from different musical worlds—classical composers from earlier centuries or later pop/rock figures—so they don’t fit the 1920s Broadway songwriter tradition.