Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17
What Is Wrong About the
Musical Shows in Films?

not, In order to have them made into
singing and talking movies. Price was
q secondary consideration.
A mad scramble to produce in guam
tity followed. Time and the factor OF
demand and supply being essential, any
body who could tinkle the piano or
write lyrics on Broadway was signed up
field, with no standard pattern. no
form of portraying musical shows hav-
ing been invented, every studio had 70
invent its own method.
Songs, the primitive form Of a muSi-
cal score, first were simply employed.
Stars with no voices at all were made
to sing. And they sang songs written
overnight about any understandings,
spoons, moons, flowers, shoes. No pic
ture, no matter what the subject, could
go without song being interpolated.
Successful operettas and musical
comedies, bought under the previously
described conditions from Broadway
producers; operettas which were world
hits, playing in London, Paris, Berlin,
Australia, besides the United States and
Canada, were being operated upon and
broken down In order to conform TO
movie technique. Everything was
changed in a hurry in order to satisfy
the looks of q star or the mood OF
director. The score which made that
operetta popular and which was the
essential backbone of a production was
changed over night by song writers
with new songs. =
Did the movie producers realize the
difference between a score and song2
Did any OF them stop TO think that
score Is q unit Of melodies, written after
careful consideration by graduation to
bring an audience into a certain mood
or frame OF mind, as the book may
require? Nobody knew or cared that in
score composer from the opening
note to the closing bar for two and a
half hours through skillful nanipula-
ton of different tempos with different
instruments, through different songs,
plays with an audience and sells them
something so satisfactory that by the
end Of the evening they go out whist
ling his numbers and recommending
the show to their friends.
Songs Versus Scores.
Songs, Of course, are part Of q score.
But not even q successful song will
make bad score good, while in clev-
erly manipulated score one or two good
songs, written, Of course, by the same
composer who writes his own score, will
satisfy the demand. To compare O
shack with 10-story building would be
about the same ratio as comparing q
song with score.
At first the sound of music, the nov
city, surmounted the handicap. But the
sameness and monotony Of singing and
dancing in the wrong place at the wrong
time and in the wrong way got past the
mark OF endurance, and people refused
to 60 to see movie musical shows.
The song writers were the ftrgt 10
realize that something was missing.
Unfortunately, nobody wanted TO listen
TO them. The staggering figure Of 400
or 500 new songs month also
reached condition impossible TO gxMm.
utterly impossible to sell to ones audaS
ence.
The Broadway producer Of Haassinua
shows who took his show on the RnA6
before bringing 1t to New York o0Eld
change music II his author or compose
were wrong, could change his cast and
keep changing until the best results
were obtained, He then brought . I'M
ished production into New York.
Not so with the movie producer, Onca
something was recorded and photo
graphed 1t had to stay, because the
clamor Tor pictures was SO great and the
demand Tor supply 30 vehement that
everything had to be released at once.
Gradually every studio head realized
that their procedure was wrong; that
in order to produce q successful musical
oAAO" P1SbuAC uultTGub teCIlfllQue ANQ
knowledge must be employed; that It Is
one Of the hardest problems with the
spoken word; that every emotion in the
picture requires thought, and that only
people with experience who have made
1t life study are the right people to
undertake 1t.
complete change Of policy resulted.
Instead OF producing 90 musical shows.
each studio will produce three or four
per year; instead of having six or
seven writers, lyricists and song writers
write something for the same picture.
men like Jerome Kern, Oscar Straus.
Rudolph Friml, Richard Rodgers and
myself, all experienced writer's in this
neid, are composing original scores for
pictures, to which the original books
are made by such outstanding authori-
ties In this line as Oscar Harnmerstein.
"a; Otto Harbach, Ernest Vajda, Her
bert Fields, Anne Caldwell, etc.
VIII the movie audiences like this
new type Of work? Time alone will
tai. But at least it will be tried by
those who have had special training
and experience.