The Golden Age: The Most Popular Musicals Of The 1950's

When I read “What We Really Miss About the 1950’s”, Stephanie Coontz provides many data and reports to support the positive side and negative sides of the 1950’s. On my first impression, the 1950’s sounded a pretty good era. People just get through the World War II. Many young men came back home or just build their new home.After so many years, American people can do everything at once again. However,every coin has two sides.Some heavy things such as racism, woman’s rights,and McCarthyism. I have to ask myself a question “ Do we really miss those old days?”. Or more specific, “why some time we said those old days are good?”. I do want to argue which era is the best. I just want to focus on why sometime people said old days are better and we

Music as a whole blends together. One style leads to another, the music becomes more progressive. It evolves to fit the new generation, leaving the old generation behind. From the spritual songs of the late 1800s to the gospel of the early 1900s. Then it changed into rhythm and blues, and when the 1950s rolled around it became Rock’ n’ Roll. With the invention of new iconic instruments like the Fender Precision Bass and then the Fender Stratocaster, the sound of the music changed. The sound that was soft and low was now crunchy and loud. While it did not sit well with the adults, it was a hit among the new generation. Even the African American roots of the music didn’t deter the youth listening

Compare and contrast the American musical theatre in the 1920s with that of the 1930s. How did each reflect and absorb its era? What forms & styles were dominant, what was the same, what was different and why? Do we see elements from these decades in shows today? Use examples from specific musicals.

Broadway was one of the first forms of entertainment. Before there were television programs, or movies, there was Broadway. Broadway originated in New York in 1750, when actor-manager Walter Murray built a theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street. A musical would show about once every weekend. The shows were very male based, and would commonly show a relationship between young boys and their fathers. Women were slowly integrated into Broadway, and as society changed its point of view on women, so did theatre.

At the end of World War I, an excited America was poised for a cultural renaissance; patriotism was on the rise, the strong concept of Manifest Destiny had passed its peak of influence, and, most importantly, there had not been a clear shift in culture for decades. The Jazz Age of the 1920s was about to dawn, bringing with it youthful, risqué morals and a carefree look on life. From these ideals, a new, strongly American form of entertainment would emerge: musical theatre. Most commonly found in New York City on Broadway even to this day, musical theatre became an escape from reality and an entry into the imagination. The grand and splashy components that make up what is considered a classic Broadway musical can ultimately be traced back to Cole Porter. Porter’s writing, albeit at times controversial or raunchy, was able to harness the frantically beating heart of the Jazz Age and turn it into treasured shows. Using his unique melodies, romantic or idealistic lyrics, and his pioneering of writing about the human experience, Cole Porter shaped American music and theatre from the 1920s through the 1940s.

The 1940’s was recognized as the era of the common household names such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como. Jazz was the strongest music genre in the 40’s era with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong taking the lead. Radio was the most common way to listen to music back then, but phonograph players were just starting to get affordable for the average wage.

The 1930’s was a decade of extremely hard times, following the stock market crash and an extreme depression. In spite of the tremendous hardships in America during this decade, it also became a time of great music that is still remembered today. Jazz music was highly popular in this time, and Billie Holiday was a famous jazz performer. She stood out from many other musicians because of her intense and passionate performances. Jazz arose from “unacceptable” segments of society, but quickly grew like wildfire. We often think of the 1930’s as the decade that jazz became civilized, and famous throughout popular culture through the work of pioneering artists like Billie Holiday. People did not own televisions or cable, so radio was their main source of entertainment, and music during this decade was both up beat and a source of relaxation. “Strange Fruit” defied musical category because it was considered too artsy to be folk, and too explicitly political to fit into jazz. This is why “Strange Fruit” became such a powerful phenomenon. Many other artists later took on this song, changing the genre but still portraying the same message. Nina Simone dramatized “Strange Fruit” in the context of the Civil Rights Movement. More important artists like Jeff Buckley, Rene Marie, Labor Camp Orchestra, and many others made their own rendition on the song, still leaving all of their audiences moved by the powerful imagery of the lyrics.

the rest of the century. As you watch these videos notice how musicals come to represent

This paper will be an updated version of my last paper which talked about a portion of Barry Gordy's background, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations and their start at Motown. How Motown was the first American music label owned by an African-American, the first music label to successfully market black artists to white mainstream audiences. How Motown was responsible for discovering, mentoring, and perfecting a lot of American popular music's most influential and successful artists and the best albums and artists and what new artists have entered Motown.

Throughout history sound has been used to help convey a story. As early as the 1900’s, without today’s technology, movies would often be accompanied by a soundtrack played on a piano or record players. In 1927 The Jazz singer was released, a warner bros movie that featured music and dialog on the actual filmstrip. This film is

Jukebox musicals began in film and later shifted to theatre. They had begun to make theatre more popular with the public, which had begun to gravitate towards film and music. By combining the two, they gain some of the same as well as a whole new audience. I will discuss how this came to be by speaking of the shift that occurred.

During the 1950s African Americans migrated into the urban cities for jobs, which caused for African Americans and whites to be in close proximity to each other. This closeness created overlap in various fields including music. With the arrival of rock and roll a revolution started brewing in the world of popular music. Rock and Roll, a combination of rhythm, blues and country music took the younger generation by storm. Bill Haley and His Comets became the first group to be labelled rock and rollers. Their “Rock Around the Clock” (1955) was a smash hit. Chuck Berry was another noted black performer who blended country with rhythm and blues in “Maybellene”. Other musicians were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P Richardson and Fats

An award-winning writer and internationally recognized expert on the family, Stephanie Coontz, in her article, “What We Really Miss About The 1950’s,” states that “In a poll by the Knight-Ridder News Agency, more Americans chose the 1950’s than any single decade as the best time for children to grow up.” However, Coontz has her own view of the 1950s, and she illustrates her own opinions about this decade using strong and logical facts. While the nostalgia of the 1950s is vastly strong in some people, some fail to notice the negativity and the reality of it.

The musical film has always held a special place for me. From my time as a drama student in high school, my eyes have been opened to the amazing world of the musical and especially the musical film. The musical film is a film genre in which the characters sing songs that are integrated into the overall story. Since musicals first began in theaters, musical films usually contain similar elements. These elements often simulate that there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the film viewers become the audience members, at a theater production, as the actor performs directly to them. Due to the popularity of musicals in the theater, the style was quickly brought over into film. In 1927, the musical film genre began

He continued to say that with their first collaboration, Rodgers and Hammerstein ushered in a new era for the musical theatre. This beautiful folk play realized fully that which the earlier Rodgers and Hart musicals had been striving to obtain: a synchronization of all the elements of the musical theatre into a single entity. At best Oklahoma! could lay legitimate claim to have carefully woven a new element, dance, into the artful fabric of the modern musical. No longer would singers sing and then go into their dance, a purely decorative dance at that. (248)