The American musical film song encyclopedia

by Thomas S. Hischak

Following the successful The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia (Greenwood, 1995), this new encyclopedia reviews, in-depth, individual songs written for American musical films over the past seventy years. From Jolson to Elvis, operettas to rock musicals, Irving Berlin to the Beatles, the comprehensive scope of this work gathers over 1,800 songs from more than 500 musical films from 1927 through 1998. In addition to detailing the songs' authors, original singers, and initial film appearances, the encyclopedia also explains how the songs were used in the film, lists subsequent film and stage appearances of the songs, and notes memorable recordings.