The first major analyses of Busby Berkeley's career on stage and screen. Showstoppers emphasizes his relationship to a colorful, somewhat disreputable tradition of American popular entertainment: that of P.T Barnum, minstrel shows, vaudeville, Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, burlesque, and the Ziegfeld Follies. Rubin shows how Berkeley absorbed the declining theatrical tradition during his years as a Broadway dance director and then transferred it to the new genre of the early movie musical. With lively prose and engaging photographs, Showstoppers explores new ways of looking at Busby Berkeley, at the musical genre, and at individual film.
(Jerome Delamater, Hollywood Musical )Book Description
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Impressive and admirable. . . ."Showstoppers" is film scholarship and analysis of a very high order.
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Rubin has demonstrated the degree to which 'Busby Berkeley' has become a catchword for a great number of contributors to the look of musicals. An exhaustively researched work, it is nonetheless lively and readable and will delight both movie buffs and general readers.
(Andrew Sarris, author of The American Cinema )
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Busby Berkeley Spectacular!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Showstoppers: Busby Berkeley and the Tradition of Spectacle (Hardcover)
The "Berkeleyesque" dance number is one that "depends on sheer spectacle, on the deployment of hordes of chorus dancers in a grandiose setting." Ever since I became aware of Busby Berkeley's spectacular musical productions during a film history course in college 20 years ago, I've longed for a comprehensive look at his films and career. Showstoppers is the Berkeley Bible! Showstoppers is divided into three parts, the first of which describes Berkeley's inimitable style, the elements that distinguish his work from others, and it's roots. Part II looks at his Broadway theater career during the second half of the 1920s. The meat of the story is presented in Part III, comprising 3/4 of the book, which describes in 7 chapters his cinema career spanning from 1930 to 1962. Each of his films is examined and includes references to the photos which are presented in two groups. Showstoppers contains 248 pages of text plus 62 pages of production still photos of Berkeley's numbers. Although the black and white photos are not enlargements of actual frames from the films, they depict real sets and actors and, in some cases, show production equipment not visible in the film such as camera tracks in one instance. They are professionally lit, well printed and the captions informative. I highly recommend this book to any Berkeley buff, film fan, or lover of the musical spectacle on film.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
In analyzing the production numbers of Busby Berkeley (of those of any other musical/dance director), it is important to consider those numbers not only in terms of themselves but in terms of their relationship to the musical work as a whole. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
backstage format, esque spectacle, spectacle style, spectacular revue, climactic number, spectacle space, revue form, overhead patterns, realistically motivated, dance direction, backstage musical, busby berkeley, dance director, water spectacles, movie numbers, stage revue, musical numbers, surrounding narrative, musical spectacle, movie musical, film numbers, camera cranes Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Gold Diggers, Warner Bros, New York, Lullaby of Broadway, Footlight Parade, Dick Powell, Busby Berkeley, Shanghai Lil, The Words Are, Ruby Keeler, Earl Carroll Vanities, Strike Up the Band, The Black Crook, The Shadow Waltz, Performance Realistic, All's Fair, Honeymoon Hotel, Judy Garland, Remember My Forgotten Man, Ball Game, Performance Unrealistic, Take Me Out, Mickey Rooney, Hollywood Hotel, The Lady New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In analyzing the production numbers of Busby Berkeley (of those of any other musical/dance director), it is important to consider those numbers not only in terms of themselves but in terms of their relationship to the musical work as a whole. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
backstage format, esque spectacle, spectacle style, spectacular revue, climactic number, spectacle space, revue form, overhead patterns, realistically motivated, dance direction, backstage musical, busby berkeley, dance director, water spectacles, movie numbers, stage revue, musical numbers, surrounding narrative, musical spectacle, movie musical, film numbers, camera cranes Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Gold Diggers, Warner Bros, New York, Lullaby of Broadway, Footlight Parade, Dick Powell, Busby Berkeley, Shanghai Lil, The Words Are, Ruby Keeler, Earl Carroll Vanities, Strike Up the Band, The Black Crook, The Shadow Waltz, Performance Realistic, All's Fair, Honeymoon Hotel, Judy Garland, Remember My Forgotten Man, Ball Game, Performance Unrealistic, Take Me Out, Mickey Rooney, Hollywood Hotel, The Lady New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 92
books:
See all 92 books this book cites
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