Arts

On-air challenge: Every answer consists of a made-up two-word phrase in which the first word starts with CH, and the second word is pronounced the same as the first except with an SH sound. (The spelling may or may not change.) For example, given the clue "some Central African fish," the answer would be "Chad shad."

Princess Marty says the most important thing a princess has to do is smile and be in character — always.

"You can never ruin it for a child, even if you're coming home from work ... and you're in your big dress," she says. "If a child sees you, you have to be a princess for them. You can't say, 'Sorry kid, I'm off the clock.' "

Her highness — known outside the big dress as Mary Alice LeGrow — is a professional party princess. She uses her best princess voice and dresses up in full regalia to charm children.

In last week's interview with actor Christopher Plummer, host Scott Simon jokingly asked if he still sings "Edelweiss" once in a while. Several listeners wrote to point out that Plummer's singing was over-dubbed by Bill Lee. In an outtake from the interview edited for time, Plummer explains why the moviemakers decided to insert the voice of another singer.

Larry Hagman, who played the villain J.R. Ewing on television's long-running, prime-time soap opera Dallas, has died. He was 81.

A source close to Hagman confirmed his passing to NPR but would not speak on the record at the request of the family.