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Research Project: Broadway and Hollywood

15878
MUSIC 730 – 26 April 2017
From Proscenium to Cinema: The Long-Distance Relationship Between Broadway and Hollywood
by Jerry Kavinski
Summary
            In the 1920s, the Broadway Theater District exhibited a thrilling atmosphere that swept through the streets around curtain time, one that was exclusive to New York.  Performing talent was one of the primary forces behind Broadway’s success.  The fact that Al Jolson replaced George Jessel in the film version of The Jazz Singer was probably not an accident, even with Jessel having originated the lead role before the play turned musical.
Following the immense success of The Jazz Singer, other film studios took note and began to engage Broadway composers to write for their motion pictures. Using The Jazz Singer as a point of departure, several questions arise regarding the relationship between stage and screen:  How did Broadway react to the influx of musical entertainment that was affordably priced and readily available?  By writing songs for movie musicals, did Broadway composers gain a greater influence over the popular music of that time?  And finally, were these cinematic productions a natural extension of the American Musical as seen on Broadway, or something entirely new?
          In addition to Berlin, the songwriting teams of George & Ira Gershwin and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart were called upon to compose songs for the motion picture industry.  From 1929 to 1930, the first years where sound films were the norm, a popular tag line touted, ‘All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing.’  In the early 1930’s, however, an abundance of musicals – especially poorly executed ones – spurred an audience boycott. With the popularity of the movie musical on the decline, the new mantra ‘All Talking, No Singing’ ushered Broadway’s best composers back East.
          The 1930s did not bear much fruit when it came to new innovations on Broadway.  There were some notable productions in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (1934) and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (1935).  There were innovations in the relationship of choreography to the content of shows, as well as the invention of the revolving stage.
          Shifting the focus back to Hollywood, with the vocals being recorded in close proximity to a microphone, a style of singing specific to movie musicals gained in popularity.  Crooning, as it is known, is a vocal technique that produces less resonance.  This technique is not suited for live, acoustic performance, and so it established a clear stylistic gap between movie and stage musicals.
In essence, Movie Musicals and Broadway Musicals, though similar in essence and penned by many of the same composers, are actually separate musical genres.  It is clear that Broadway’s composers had tremendous influence on the popular music of the day.  Individual songs were often extracted from movie musicals and Broadway shows.  Irving Berlin for one, strove to write ‘songs good enough to chart’ in his works for stage and screen. Through their work on musical scores for the motion picture industry, Broadway composers achieved great success and widespread notoriety due to the far-reaching dissemination of their work, the likes of which they would not have achieved had it not been for the new genre of the Movie Musical.
 

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  1. Literature Summaries & Research Abstracts Steven Gerber

This page has tags:

  1. Person: Gershwin, George Steven Gerber
  2. Person: Gershwin, Ira Steven Gerber
  3. Person: Jolson, Al Steven Gerber
  4. Person: Rodgers, Richard Steven Gerber
  5. Person: Kern, Jerome Steven Gerber
  6. Work: Porgy and Bess Steven Gerber
  7. Work: Jazz Singer Steven Gerber
  8. Topic: Genre/Form Steven Gerber
  9. Topic: Musical/Theatrical Features Steven Gerber
  10. Person: Berlin, Irving Steven Gerber
  11. Person: Porter, Cole Steven Gerber
  12. Work: Anything Goes Steven Gerber
  13. Topic: Successors Steven Gerber

Contents of this tag:

  1. Participant: Kavinski, Jerry