The Broadway Melody, also known as The Broadway Melody of 1929, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the early musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929–1930. Today, the Technicolor sequence survives only in black and white. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical.
Broadway Melody of 1936 is a musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935. In New York, the film opened at the Capitol Theatre, the site of many prestigious MGM premieres. It was a follow-up of sorts to the successful The Broadway Melody, which had been released in 1929, although, there is no story connection with the earlier film beyond the title and some music.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1929.
Gustave Edwards was an American composer, songwriter and film director. He also was a vaudevillian, organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.
Ignacio Herbert "Nacio Herb" Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s. Amongst his most enduring work is the score for the 1952 musical film Singin' in the Rain.
Richard Armstrong Whiting was an American composer of popular songs, including the standards "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop". He also wrote lyrics occasionally, and film scores most notably for the standard "She's Funny That Way".
Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition. The film stars Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor and features Buddy Ebsen, George Murphy, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley and Binnie Barnes.
Harry Akst was an American songwriter, who started out his career as a pianist in vaudeville accompanying singers such as Nora Bayes, Frank Fay and Al Jolson.
Paris is a musical with the book by Martin Brown, and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, as well as Walter Kollo and Louis Alter (music) and E. Ray Goetz and Roy Turk (lyrics). The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1928, was Porter's first Broadway hit. The musical introduced the song "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" sung by the show's star, Irene Bordoni. The story involves a young man from a very proper family in Newton, Massachusetts whose mother is horrified by his intention to wed a French actress.
The Show of Shows is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost almost $800,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor.
Going Hollywood is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby. It was written by Donald Ogden Stewart and based on a story by Frances Marion. Going Hollywood was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on December 22, 1933.
Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 American musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper, Eve Arden, and Philip Dorn. The film, which features musical numbers by Busby Berkeley, was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Herbert Pope Stothart was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a prominent member of the top tier of Hollywood composers during the 1930s and 1940s.
"You Were Meant for Me" is a popular American song with music by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Arthur Freed, published in 1929.
Mitja Nikisch was a classical pianist and dance band leader, born in Leipzig, Germany on 21 May 1899 and died in Venice, Italy on 5 August 1936.
Harry David Kerr was an American songwriter, lyricist, author, and lawyer. Kerr became active in music at age 15 (1895). The practice of law had been his prime avocation until 1920, when he decided to focus on songwriting. But he still continued to use his legal training in music. In 1922, while living in New York City, Kerr prepared the incorporation documents for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), of which he had become one of 90 charter members at its founding in 1914.
Ethelind Terry was an American stage and film actress.
Marianne is a 1929 pre-Code romantic-musical film set at the end of World War I. Marianne is French farm girl who, although her French fiancé is away, fighting, falls in love with an American soldier. It is a remake of a silent film that was released earlier in 1929. Although the films feature mostly different casts, Marion Davies starred in both versions. This was Davies' first released talking movie. The pictures were released less than eleven years after the Armistice, and the title would have had a profound meaning for European audiences. “Marianne” has been a beloved personification of France and the battle for democracy—and the courage of French women in particular—since the Revolution. She was a key figure in French propaganda, and American men who served in Europe in 1917-1918 would have seen representations of her all around them, in public buildings, on posters and in newspapers, on coins and postage stamps.
"Should I?" is a song with music by Nacio Herb Brown and lyrics by Arthur Freed, first published in 1929. It was originally written for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Lord Byron of Broadway (1930), where it was introduced by singer and actor Charles Kaley. The song became a major hit, charting at number 3 on Billboard for 11 weeks in 1930.
