As the world’s most avid Hollywood musical fan, I can’t help feeling like a person stranded in the desert, aching for a drop of water. I think this genre offers the most fun at the movies, but more and more I’m relying on old videos or newer DVD versions of such classics as Singin’ in the Rain and Easter Parade to get me through the dry spells. In days of yore, moviegoers didn’t have to wait long for a musical to appear at their neighborhood theater. Now, we’re lucky if we see one a year at our local multiplex. How did this happen? To answer that question, taking a little trip might help -- so why not join me in my time machine? Good. We’re off!

First stop, the year 1927. Sound makes its bow in motion pictures as Al Jolson shouts “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet,” then belts out Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” in The Jazz Singer -- and the movie musical is born. Studios that previously turned out silent films start adding songs and dances for viewers who are intrigued with those newfangled “talking pictures.”  

All aboard for the Great Depression years, beginning with 1929. This is a time when people want escapist entertainment, and what better way to cheer them up than with musical extravaganzas? Backstage musicals, operettas, kiddie musicals, and backyard musicals also take center stage -- er screen. Stars like Ruby Keeler, James Cagney, Dick Powell, Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Powell, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland show off their singing and dancing talent in movies like The Broadway Melody, 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, The Desert Song, Naughty Marietta, Poor Little Rich Girl, Swing Time, Babes in Arms and The Wizard of Oz.  Before we leave this time period, look at the set to your far right and you’ll see choreographer Busby Berkeley rehearsing another spectacular production number for his latest film.

Next stop, the 1940s. World War II viewers still want to escape. They’re tired of a daily dose of battle news, rationing and more serious sacrifices involved in the war effort. Musicals do the trick again. Judy Garland grows up and enchants moviegoers in Meet Me in St. Louis ; G.I. pin-up girls Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth captivate audiences with their sexy vocals and dancing skills, especially in Coney Island and Cover Girl, respectively. After the war, musicals remain highly popular, thanks mainly to Arthur Freed’s group at MGM, a creative production unit responsible for Ziegfeld Follies, The Pirate, Easter Parade, On the Town. Talented stars like Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron and Frank Sinatra appear in Freed’s brilliantly entertaining offerings during this period.

We’ve arrived at the 1950s. Hooray! It’s the Golden Age of Movie Musicals. The Freed unit is better than ever, as An American in Paris, The Band Wagon, Gigi and Singin’ in the Rain prove. Terrific musicals from other studios are also in production. Here are examples: With a Song in My Heart, Call Me Madam, White Christmas, A Star Is Born, Daddy Long Legs, Oklahoma, Funny Face, South Pacific, Porgy and Bess. But watch out for that dark cloud circling overhead, for it brings new a technology – called television -- to rain on our musical parade. 

Our fifth stop is the 1960s. Although a few wonderful musicals (The Sound of Music, Oliver, Mary Poppins, West Side Story, My Fair Lady) hit the big screen, they require large budgets -- and the studio system that supported this type of film is in decline. Also, viewers have fallen in love with television, which they can enjoy with their families in the privacy of their own living rooms. And most of them have become too sophisticated to accept such casting goofs as a singing Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon. Vicious, untrue rumors spread about Eastwood killing the Hollywood musical.                

Finally, here we are at 1970 to 2007. Fewer and fewer musicals grace our movie theaters each year, but the ones that do are choice: Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Cabaret, All That Jazz, Beauty and the Beast, Footloose, Evita, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Idlewild, The Phantom of the Opera. During the latter part of this period, fans are forced into watching MTV or television broadcasts of old movies and shows like So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars while waiting eagerly for news about upcoming adaptations of such Broadway successes as Hairspray, Mamma Mia! and Sweeney Todd. Some of them enjoy music videos on the Internet or on their iPods. But most turn to videos and DVDs of their favorite musicals from days gone by.

What does the future hold for the Hollywood musical? Sorry, my time machine only travels back to the past. However, when I find a reliable crystal ball, I’ll post my predictions. Stay tuned.

(Click here and here for more ReelTalk articles about the Hollywood musical.)

Photo by Bryan Kelsen for The Pueblo Chieftain.