Free and Easy? A Defining History of the American Film Musical Genre

Introduction -- Overture: musical traditions before cinema -- You ain't heard nothin' yet: the sound revolution -- Face the music and dance: the depression -- Singing a song of freedom: World War II -- There's beauty everywhere: MGM and the freed unit -- Something's gotta give: the postwar musical -- Bustin' out all over: the rise of the musical blockbuster -- In a minor key: the B musical and beyond -- The sound of money: musicals in the 1960s -- Whistling in the dark: a genre in crisis -- Can't stop the music: musicals and the new Hollywood -- Just like Scheherezade: reviving the musical film genre