The introduction of movies with sound - known at the time as "talkies" - brought about a revolution in Hollywood. The Songs of Hollywood explores how music, and more specifically, songs with words in them, shaped the movies they appeared in. Furia and Patterson explore the relationship between movie studios and sheet music publishers, the careers of many famous songwriting teams (many of whom are perhaps more well-known for their musicals) and the experiences of the performers who made their names singing and dancing on the silver screen.

Early directors and producers were unsure of using songs in movies; the idea of a character bursting into song to explain his or her feelings was too different from real life and it was thought that audiences wouldn't like to see that on screen. It wasn't until much later when several visionary directors began to really incorporate the songs into the characters and stories that movies were able to use songs in a setting other than a performance, ie, the character is a singer and is auditioning or performing a song in the course of the show.

It was very interesting to see how attitudes towards songs changed between the first talkies in the '20s and '30s and the way songs are used in movies today. The number of famous songs and famous singers and songwriters who came out of Hollywood is astonishing, particularly because I associate so many of them with settings other than the movies. This is a well-written and fascinating history.