Drawing on meticulous research, sharp wit, and insightful analysis, Richard Barrios illuminates the origins of the movie musical in this extensively revised and updated edition of his highly acclaimed A Song in the Dark. From Warner Bros. and Jolson, to the Oscar-winning Broadway Melody and
beyond, here is the whole funny and peculiar history of these films, their creators, and their audiences. Ranging from the smash hits of The Singing Fool and Sunny Side Up to bizarre flops like Golden Dawn and Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan, they form a body of work unlike anything else in the
history of popular entertainment. Here too are legendary performers, directors, and composers: from Fannie Brice, James Cagney, and Mae West, to Busby Berkeley, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, and countless others. With many new rare photographs, some not published in
nearly 80 years, this new edition traces the rise and fall, and rise again, of this quintessential piece of the American experience.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Vitaphone Prelude
2. The Sound Barrier
3. "You Were Meant For Me"
4. On With the Show!
5. Finding a Voice
6. Dueling Mammies
7. Hollywood, Revued
8. Broadway Babies
9. "With All Its Original Stage Enchantment"
10. Just
Imagine
11. The Cuckoos
12. Of Viennese Nights and Golden Dawns
13. Is It a Musical?
14. The March of Time
15. Voices in the Wilderness
16. "We're in the Money"
17. The Past as Prologue
Finale
Appendix One:
Notes on Lost Films
Appendix Two:
A Selective
Discography: Early Musicals on Record
Source Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Richard Barrios has lectured extensively on film, served as a commentator on numerous DVDs, and co-hosted a series on Turner Classic Movies. He currently lives outside Philadelphia.
Making Sense - Margot Northey and Joan McKibbin
