Critic Roy Hemming's one-of-a-kind book chronicles the careers and complete movie work of 16 songwriting legends. Includes 162 evocative photos and stills, many of them rare, and lists more than 800 movies and 2,000 songs in records, video and compact discs.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
YA-More comprehensive on composers than lyricists, this volume offers a lively but thorough look at the movies and songs of 10 great songwriters including Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Rodgers. A biographical sketch leads the discussion and provides a historical context for the chapters that follow. Hemming covers both the composers' original works for Hollywood and the movie versions of their Broadway shows. An exhaustive listing of film titles, CDs, and audio collections follows each profile. Of value to students in many curricular areas, this highly readable resource, enhanced by more than 100 photographs, will deepen readers' knowledge of this popular field.
Margaret Nolan, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Margaret Nolan, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
A unique and highly valuable work. . . . An authentic guide to an important aspect of American musical creativity in films. -- Adolph Green
An absolutely lovely guide and everything a fan could desire from a critical and cultural historian, including good sense and great taste. These are the classic composers-Hollywood immortals all-whose songs come back like a lump in the throat or a big bloomy feeling in the chest. . . . Hemming examines not only the film scores but their Broadway originals when there was one, what got dropped, what survived, and what new was added. -- Kirkus Reviews
An outstanding, accurate and joyful exploration of the work of the great songwriters for Hollywood's great musicals! . . . I love this book. -- Michael Feinstein
Roy Hemming displays the racy phrasemaking of a '30s lyricist. . . . A buoyant book, a crystallization in print of the frothy elegance that characterizes musicals at their best. -- Smithsonian Magazine --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
An absolutely lovely guide and everything a fan could desire from a critical and cultural historian, including good sense and great taste. These are the classic composers-Hollywood immortals all-whose songs come back like a lump in the throat or a big bloomy feeling in the chest. . . . Hemming examines not only the film scores but their Broadway originals when there was one, what got dropped, what survived, and what new was added. -- Kirkus Reviews
An outstanding, accurate and joyful exploration of the work of the great songwriters for Hollywood's great musicals! . . . I love this book. -- Michael Feinstein
Roy Hemming displays the racy phrasemaking of a '30s lyricist. . . . A buoyant book, a crystallization in print of the frothy elegance that characterizes musicals at their best. -- Smithsonian Magazine --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Songwriters move to Hollywood,
This review is from: The Melody Lingers on: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals (Paperback)
I was fascinated to learn about successful tunesmiths' careers in Hollywood movie musicals. This is a great read with extensive archival pictures of hits by such greats as Porter, Kern, Hammerstein and others. Well worth the price, especially when you get a great deal on a used paperback.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book and WONDERFUL service!,
By RD2B (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Melody Lingers on: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals (Paperback)
Howdy Great Books, this is a beautiful product! It looks almost brand new and it is a priceless collection of musical history. I have been looking for it for a long time! Thank you for taking such great care of it. I will treasure it always.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Is a Really Magnificent Book!,
By John Howard Reid (Wyong, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Melody Lingers on: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals (Paperback)
An astonishingly detailed and fascinating reference book that deserves to take pride-of-place on any music-lover's reference shelf, "The Melody Lingers On" is absolutely packed with vital information on just about all the song writers I admire from Harold Arlen through to Richard Whiting. In all, 16 composers and/or lyricists are represented. I know you can always pick faults in a book like this by drawing attention to omissions rather than focusing on what the author has achieved in the limited apace his publisher allowed him. The book already runs to 400 pages and has just reached the size where it is already a little too heavy to lift comfortably. Author Roy Hemming deserves the thanks and congratulations of everyone who regards Hollywood and Broadway musicals as the best in the world.
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