Melody Lingers On: The Great Songwriters and Their Movie Musicals »

Back in print in a handsome, elegant paperback with 166 evocative photos and movie stills, many of them rare, this is the only illustrated book on the golden age of movie musicals from the composers' point of view. This unique book, a perfect gift and an asset to every film and music library, includes: separate chapters on the careers and complete movie work of Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jimmy McHugh, Cole Porter, Ralph Rainger, Richard Rodgers, Harry Warren, and Richard Whiting; shorter studies of Nacio Herb Brown, Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Loesser, Arthur Schwartz, Jule Styne, and James Van Heusen; and a detailed filmography for each songwriter, listing more than 800 movies and 2,000 songs.

Library Journal

Brief biographical sketches and long enthusiastic filmographic essays on Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and ten others are presented in this warmly affectionate book. Hemming has seen nearly all the films he discusses and gives readers detailed descriptions of scenes in the films that showcase the work of each songwriter. Informed opinion as well as handy lists of each man's movies (indicating what is available on tape and disc) should make the book irresistible to fans of old-fashioned movie musicals. The hard facts are available elswehere so this is not needed as a reference item in most libraries. For film history rather than biography collections. Movie Entertainment Book Club and Nostalgia Book Club selections. Bonnie Jo Dopp, Dist. of Columbia P.L.