All Talking All Singing All Dancing

by John Springer

The story of the movie musical, as told by John Springer in pictures and text, actually begins before movies learned to talk --- back in the theme-song days of "Ramona," "Charmaine," and "Jeanine, I Dream of Lilac Time." The revolution which took place when Al Jolson broke the sound barrier with The Jazz Singer was followed by the first days of movie musicals-- The Broadway Melody era, when every theatre advertised: "100% All Talking---All Singing---All Dancing!" All the stars of those early musicals---Nancy Carroll, Janet Gaynor, Ramon Novarro, Buddy Rogers, and the rest--are here, as well as detailed coverage of performers from other mediums who appeared in films: Maurice Chevalier, Eddie Cantor, Lawrence Tibbett, and many others.

After a period of loss of popularity, Forty-Second Street returned movie musicals to top favor, and we have the stories of this film and all those which followed, such as the Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler pictures, with their fantastic Busby Berkeley production numbers. Then comes the film career of Fred Astaire--the man who brought magic to the musical movie--with special emphasis on his films with Ginger Rogers, The spectacular career of Bing Crosby is traced, from the time he was an unknown member of a singing group through today.

After covering the movie operetta, the movie biographies based on the lives of composers, and the filming of Broadway hit musicals, the book deals with the "Golden Era" of musicals movies--the films of Gene Kelly and the "original" ones by Kelly, Astaire, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and others. Today, with the success of West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and the films of the Beatles and Julie Andrews, a rebirth of excitement over musical movies is taking place

Each chapter in All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!" includes a list of the top songs and composers in the films of the particular period covered

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966