Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s (Hardcover)

by Ethan Mordden (Author)
Key Phrases: barefoot boy, sweet land, bench scene, New York, Show Boat, Pal Joey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Once again establishing that he is as impressive a nonfiction writer as he is a novelist (How Long Has This Been Going On?; Buddies), Mordden analyzes the many notable hits (and egregious flops) of the 1940s, and describes how they figured intoAand indeed establishedAthat period's importance to the Broadway musical theater. It was a decade of many milestones, chief among which was the emergence of Rodgers and Hammerstein with 1943's unlikely groundbreaker, Oklahoma ("all Broadway gaped as these two partnered up"), followed in 1945 by Carousel ("the piece that truly tells us what a Rodgers and Hammerstein show was"). Mordden's references are up-to-the-minute (he cites the late 1990s Encores! series of revivals at New York's City Center) and his research is meticulousAin his chapter on a particularly significant '40s development, "The Cast Album," he trounces the widely held notion that Oklahoma was the first show to be recorded (it was 1900's Floradora). His gift for the piquant phrase is delightfully evident (Harold Arlen's music for a Bloomer Girl duet is "a slithery wisteria jazz"), as is his fondness for the direct approach (Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty "was a total disaster... a bomb with two wonderful elementsAthe score and the dancing"). And though he delivers the expected encomiums to such stars of the decade as Agnes de Mille and Ethel Merman, he frequently airs provocative, somewhat unusual opinions, as when he says of the composer of Lady in the Dark and Lost in the Stars, "the Broadway musical would not have been what it was without Kurt Weill." Nor would it be nearly as enjoyable without this perceptive, witty and informative guided tour. (Oct.) America, following 1997's Make Believe (the 1920s) and 1998's Coming Up Roses (the '50s).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
For Broadway musicals, the decade of the 1940s opened with Oklahoma! and closed with South Pacific. In Mordden's opinion, Oklahoma! was a breakthrough and defining moment in musical theater due to its introduction of strong characters, atmosphere, and the integration of dance and song into the fabric of the story. Mordden (Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920s and Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s) uses the first third of his book to establish this belief, with explanations of other musicals that had innovative elements from the 1920s and 1930s. He also analyzes other 1940s musicals, such as On the Road, Annie Get Your Gun, Finian's Rainbow, and Brigadoon as well as lesser-known works. Recommended for theater collections.AJ. Sara Paulk, Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, GA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2nd printing edition (October 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195128516
• ISBN-13: 978-0195128512
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #404,740 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another masterpiece, even when walking the edge, October 21, 1999

By	John McWhorter (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ethan Mordden is my favorite author of all time -- his breadth and depth of knowledge and critical acumen are utterly unsurpassed among writers on vintage American popular culture. In this book as in all of his others, the way he can, in a few quick, masterful strokes, make you feel like you are at an obscure, unrecorded musical which now exists only as yellowing files in a few libraries is nothing less than astounding. His combination of erudtion, wit and insight never fail to take my breath away. The decade-by-decade series of which this book is the third helps make life worth living, this one helping make sense of a particularly challenging ten years in musicals' history. Near the end, Mordden does indulge in some nervy speculations that could use some more backup, though. Was homophobia really the reason WHERE'S CHARLEY didn't get a cast album? If Porter's music for KISS ME, KATE was so good because he knew the score would be preserved on a record, then why didn't he keep writing at this level afterwards? Since SOUTH PACIFIC came at the end of the decade, we'd like it to be an apotheosis of the developments over that time, but would we really say that of this fine but chunky piece of work if it had come along in 1945? If the invention of the cast album was really why shows started running longer, then why have runs continued getting even longer since? Yet Mordden is such a treasure that one simply takes these as questions you wish you could take up with the master. Overall, no one writing in his bailiwick even approaches him; this book, like all of his work, is a national treasure.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Stars Shone ON Broadway With Songs., August 31, 2006

By	Betty Burks "Betty L. Burks" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

The American musical on Broadway is invented in the 1920s, suffers an artistic setback in the financially oppressed and conservative 1930s, but at last reflowers for good in the 1940s. This is called the Golden Age of drama and music bonded together. Before, it was fit but primitive; it has become rich and sophisticated and has status, a powerful economic base, and became known globally important, like Coca Cola. The musical is American: democratic, fast-moving, and innovative.

They started as "revues" with a multitude of stars, like Jane Froman from Missouri, Ray Bolger, Jimmy Durante, Jackie Gleason, Ilka Chase (seems I remember seeing her on a game show in the 50s), Emmet Kelly, Ed Wynn, and Eddie Cantor. Eddie was in "Banjo Eyes" and was nicknamed such because of his outlandish makeup a la Al Jolson in the minstrels. Eddie was my star member of the Fisher Notes, the Eddie Fisher fanclub. Cantor is the person responsible for discovering Eddie in the Catskills and making him known to the teenbobbers of America. In the early 40s, Carol Channing was Dolly in "Hello Dolly" (one of Chuck's favorite songs to play) and Ethel Merman, the one with the very loud voice, was Gypsy Rose Lee's Mama in "Gypsy." She went from "Girl Crazy" in 1930 to "Gypsy" in 1959. A long career on Broadway and in the movies/

Some of the best songs came from this era: "Wunderbar," "So In Love," "Happy Talk," "This Nearly Was Mine," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," and "A Cockeyed Optimist" are some examples of the variety in the Broadway musicals. The greatest was "Soliloquy" in 'Carousel,' and "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" from 'Oklahoma,' formerly the drama named "Green Grow the Lilacs." 'South Pacific' won the Pultizer Prize for drama but had some fantastic musical numbers. I loved the Irish 'Brigadoon' of the lost Shangrila which comes alive only one day each year. I loved Howard Keel as he appeared in 'The Vagabond King,' and Gene Kelly in 'On The Town.' 'Finiagan's Rainbow' was another Irish tale with jolly songs. "Only Make Believe" in 'Showboat' was moving and real. And who could ever forget 'Kiss Me Kate." There were black musicals totally like 'Carmen Jones,' and 'Cabin in the Sky.'

Helen Morgan was great in 'Showboat" (Howard Keel was the male star in the movie) and Mary Martin shone as nurse Forbush in 'South Pacific.' These are just a few of the music shows we will always remember, as those songs are still played on the radio today. The Forties on Broadway was just the beginning as things picked up considerably in the Fifties, and these were made into Technicolor movies for us who loved music to enjoy in air-conditioned comfort.

4 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A lot of air but little substance, March 23, 2000

By	"[e-mail]" (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Ethan Mordden's theater-related writing has been on a steady decline, especially in this verbose and increasingly obtuse decade by decade series on 20th century Broadway musicals. It has reached a point where once can learn more about musicals from Mordden's fiction. Come on Mr. Mordden -- we came to expect much more from you than this kind of tired rehash.