"Ready, Professor?"

[twickster]

Here it is – and I’m not sure. Popeye says “Are you ready?” and “Music, professor!” – is it possible I’ve gotten the line wrong all these years? (oh, noes!) If it is it, I see where I got the idea that there were a bunch of characters, though.

ETA: mobo – thanks v. much for the brilliant detective work!

[PharmBoy]

@Roderick_Femm

There was a pretty common meme (sorry, I couldn’t think of another word) in movies and radio in the 30’s. If someone was going to sing in front of a band or orchestra, the bandleader would be called “Professor” (I don’t know why). So “Ready, Professor?” would be asked to say “Are you ready to accompany me while I sing?” I think this would happen in vaudeville, where the performers wouldn’t know the name of the bandleader because the performers were always moving from town to town.

This is mostly from fairly vague memories of old movies, but I think it’s pretty accurate.
Roddy

This sounds right to me. I’ve read a lot of history of jazz music, and the musicians who could actually read music were often called “Professor”. So, the conductor (who might have actually gone to music school" would also get that moniker.