The Great Depression did not stop Broadway – in fact, the 1930s saw the lighthearted musical comedy reach its creative zenith. The Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing (1931) was the first musical ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Rodgers & Hart (On Your Toes – 1936) and Cole Porter (Anything Goes – 1934) contributed their share of lasting hit shows and songs. [MS, el musical negre va declinar, per la depressió i perquè el claqué va deixar d’estar de moda per un ball més tipus ballet)] Les revistes de Ziegfield van perdre interès i un dels responsables de renovar-ho fou el director i coreògraf Hassard Short. Taking a cue from the London revues of Charlot and Cochran, Short tossed out the overblown sets and curvaceous chorines of the 1920s, relying instead on stronger scores and innovative visual ideas that could please audiences without bankrupting producers. [contenció de costos en època de depressió] George Gershwin (d’origen jueu Lituània) moria el 1937, víctima d’un tumor cerebral, als 38 anys.
- 1930 Hot Rhythm (n), Bill Robinson (n)
- 1930 Singin’ the blues Four flash devils + lindy hoppers (n)
- 1930 Brown Buddies (n)
- 1930 Three’s A Crowd, Schwarts i Dietz. Libby Holman sang “Body and Soul” while Clifton Webb danced. Short kept the production simple and the skits fresh, resulting in a major money maker at the height of the Great Depression. Under Short’s direction, this was the first Broadway musical of the 20th Century to eliminate footlights, replacing them with floodlights suspended from the balcony. The practice soon became an industry-wide standard.
- 1930 Strike Up the Band, Gershwins, a political satire that had the United States and Switzerland go to war over high chocolate tariffs. The jaunty title march and the ballad “I’ve Got a Crush on You” became popular favorites.
- 1930 Girl Crazy, Gershwins, told of a rich New York playboy falling in love with an Arizona cowgirl. The show starred Ginger Rogers but was stolen by Ethel Merman, a stenographer from Queens who made a sensational Broadway debut belting out “Sam and Delilah” and “I Got Rhythm.”
- 1930 The New Yorkers, Cole Porter, had Jimmy Durante as a bootlegger and nightclub owner romancing a wealthy socialite. the score included the controversial “Love for Sale,” in which a prostitute sings of walking the streets and selling herself. Although banned from airplay, the song became a popular hit.
- 1931 Of Thee I Sing, Gershwins, satirical tale of a President who gets elected (and almost impeached) because he marries the woman he loves. It was the first musical ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
- 1931 The Band Wagon, Schwarts i Dietz. This witty revue offered “I Love Louisa,” the sensuous “Dancing in the Dark,” and Adele and Fred Astaire in their last joint appearance. Short staged the show on a pair of gigantic turntables, making swift scene changes in full view of the audience – the first use of this technology in a Broadway musical. Some critics suggested that no revue could top The Band Wagon, but that challenge wouldn’t go unanswered for long.
- 1931 The Cat and the Fiddle, Kern i Harbach, a romantic operetta with a contemporary setting and score. The story involved two music students (one into classical, the other into jazz) who love each other but cannot abide each other’s compositions. Reflecting this, the score alternated the sweeping passion of “The Night Was Made for Love” with jazzier numbers like “She Didn’t Say Yes.”
- 1932 Music in the Air, Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. An idealistic small town school teacher confronts the cynical ways of modern show business when he writes the hit song “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star.”
- 1932 Face the Music, Irving Berlin i Hart, It followed The Band Wagon into the same theatre, so Short was able to use the double turntable stage again, to even more dramatic effect. There was a thin excuse for a plot (a corrupt cop pours graft money into a Broadway revue), but the result was more of a revue. Topical humor in the songs and scenes aimed at such diverse targets as high society, show biz tradition, and Albert Einstein. Berlin’s “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” depicted socialites impoverished by the Depression dining with the poor at the automat.
- 1932 Gay Divorce, Cole Porter, featured Fred Astaire as a novelist who accidentally gets mixed up in a acrimonious divorce case. Always acclaimed for his dancing, Astaire’s straightforward singing showed off Porter’s songs to extraordinary advantage. Despite a limited vocal range, Astaire had a flawless instinct for delivering a lyric. Radio made his recording of Porter’s throbbing, sensual “Night and Day” a hit, and helped the show overcome tepid reviews. It was Astaire’s last appearance on Broadway; his legendary Hollywood years are discussed elsewhere on this website.
- 1933 Roberta, Kern i Harbach, which told the unlikely tale of an all-American football fullback who finds love and success when he inherits his aunt’s dress shop in Paris. Most critics dismissed Roberta as a bore, but fueled by the success of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” the show managed a profitable run. Beloved comedienne Fay Templeton made her final Broadway appearance as the aging aunt, introducing the haunting “Yesterdays.”
- 1933 As Thousands Cheer, Berlin and Hart, the most acclaimed Broadway revue of the decade. They used a newspaper format to satirize current events and celebrities. Marilyn Miller (in her last Broadway appearance) dazzled audiences by playing Joan Crawford, heiress Barbara Hutton, a newlywed, and a little girl – among other roles! Berlin’s masterful score included “Easter Parade” and “Heat Wave.” “Easter Parade,” had the chorus dressed in shades of brown and tan, invoking the look of sepia-toned photo magazines (then known as “rotogravures”). “Suppertime,” a disturbing ballad inspired by racist lynchings in the Southern US, was sung to shattering effect by African American vocalist Ethel Waters.
- 1934 Anything Goes, Cole Porter was the definitive 1930s musical comedy, but it had a rocky gestation period. Although financially wiped out by the Depression, veteran producer Vinton Freedley managed to sign up William Gaxton, Victor Moore and Ethel Merman for the cast, and convinced Porter to write the score. With that powerhouse line-up, Freedley was able to raise money for this tale of mistaken identities and unlikely romance aboard a luxury liner. The show required ongoing revisions, with former stenographer Merman taking down the changes in shorthand during rehearsals and typing them up for the rest of the team. Anything Goes restored Freedley’s finances, cemented Porter’s place in the front rank of Broadway composers, and became the most frequently revived musical comedy of the 1930s. The score included “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “You’re The Top,” “Blow Gabriel Blow” and the vibrant title tune.
- 1935 Jubilee, Cole Porter, was an affectionate send-up of British royalty that introduced Porter’s memorable “Begin the Beguine,” one of many Porter songs that featured his trademark transitions between major and minor keys.
- 1935 Porgy and Bess, Gershwins, adaptació de la la novel·la de DuBose Heyward, about poor blacks living in the dockside tenements of Charleston. It had passion, infidelity, rape and heartbreak — all the makings of grand opera. George Gershwin’s score offered a singular blend of classical, popular and jazz styles that was possible only on Broadway. Most Depression-era critics and theater goers were less than enthusiastic about such a serious show, so the original production was a financial failure.
- 1935 Jumbo, Rodgers i Hart
- 1936 On Your Toes, Rodgers i Hart, amb ballet clàssic coreografiat per George Balanchine, Slaughter On Tenth Avenue Ballet.” The score boasted “There’s a Small Hotel” and “Its Got to Be Love.”
- 1936 Red Hot and Blue, Cole Porter, involved one of the most idiotic plots in theatrical history — a nationwide search for a woman who sat on a waffle iron when she was four. (Seriously.) Ethel Merman introduced Porter’s “Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor,” and sang the show-stopping “Delovely” with newcomer Bob Hope.
- 1937, Babes In Arms, Rodgers i Hart, had stage struck teenagers putting on a show to raise money for their impoverished vaudevillian parents. Alfred Drake and The Nicholas Brothers were in the youthful cast, and the hit-drenched score included “My Funny Valentine,” “Where or When,” “Johnny One Note” and “The Lady is a Tramp.”
- 1937 I’d Rather Be Right, Rodgers i Hart was a political satire starring George M. Cohan as a singing, dancing President Franklin Roosevelt. The most memorable number was “Have You Met Miss Jones?”
- 1938 Leave It To Me, Cole Porter spoofed international diplomacy, with Victor Moore as a bumbling American ambassador trying to get recalled from Soviet Russia. Mary Martin made her Broadway debut singing the coquettish “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”
- 1938 I Married An Angel, Rodgers i Hart.
- 1938 The Boys From Syracuse, Rodgers i Hart, was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, with two sets of long-lost identical twins getting caught in hilarious identity mix-ups in ancient Greece. Rodgers & Hart’s superb score included “Sing for Your Supper” and “Falling in Love With Love.” Eddie Albert made his musical debut singing “This Can’t Be Love.”
- 1938 Hellzapoppin, Sammy Fain i Cahrles Tobias. The longest-running Broadway production of the 1930s, 1404 representacions, a rowdy hodgepodge of skits and routines created by the brash vaudeville comedy team of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. They had no previous Broadway hits, and several other attempts by former vaudevillians to create revues had failed. So Olsen and Johnson caught critics and audiences off guard with this insane show. The effect was definitely one of barely controlled insanity. Opening with a mock newsreel in which Hitler spoke with a Yiddish accent, Hellzapoppin’ combined zany slapstick stage acts with wild audience participation gags. Midgets, clowns and trained pigeons added a circus touch. New bits were constantly added to freshen the mayhem, delighting return customers.
- 1939 DuBarry Was A Lady, Cole Porter, told the story of a nightclub men’s room attendant (Bert Lahr) who pines for the club’s sultry vocalist (Ethel Merman). Knocked out by a drugged cocktail, Lahr dreams that he is King Louis XV of France and that Merman is his infamous but disinterested mistress, Madame DuBarry. The two stars stopped the show with “Friendship” and the bawdy “But In The Morning No”.
CINEMA
- 1930 Der Blaue Engel amb Marlene Dietrich
- 1930 Morocco, Marlene Dietrich
- Samuel Goldwyn amb Eddie Cantor van fer musicals com Whoopee (1930), The Kid From Spain (1932), Roman Scandals (1933), Kid Millions (1934) and Strike Me Pink (1936). In accordance with the Hollywood star system, these films followed a set plot formula, with Cantor playing nervous weaklings who somehow outsmart tough bad guys and gets the girl, along the way offering such hit songs as “Makin’ Whoopee,” “My Baby Just Cares for Me” and “Keep Young and Beautiful.” This series gave Broadway choreographer Busby Berkeley his first opportunity to work on film, developing the techniques he would later perfect at Warner Brothers.
- 1932 Love Me Tonight, Rodgers Hart, dir Robert Mammoulian, Mauric Chevalier, cançó “Isn t It Romantic?” Cada cançó transporta en l’espai i el temps.
- 1932 Harlem is Heaven amb Bill Robinson.
- 1933 Forty-Second Street, amb el coreògraf Busby Berkeley i càmeres mòbils que sabien filmar millor les escenes de dansa. The score had just four songs by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me,” “Young and Healthy,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and the catchy title tune all became hits. Berkeley was the first to take full advantage of synchronizing a filmed image to a previously recorded musical soundtrack. Since microphones were not needed during the filming of musical sequences, Berkeley realized that cameras no longer had to be imprisoned in sound-proof booths during production numbers. For the first time since the introduction of synchronized sound, fluid camera motion and intricate editing were once more achieveable. Berkeley revolutionized screen musicals by exploiting these possibilities.
Altres produccions de Berkeley a la Warner serien: The Gold Diggers (1933, “We’re In the Money” “Lullaby of Broadway”), Footlight Parade (1933, By a Waterfall,” “Honeymoon Hotel”), Hollywood Hotel (1937, “Hooray for Hollywood”). Amb cançons de Harry Warren, Al Dubin, Richard Whiting, and Johnny Mercer. La idea no era tant integrar cançons i música en un argument com oferir un seguit de números atractius. - 1933 Flying Down To Rio, RKO, Astaire i Rogers en un paper secundari que va encantar el públic. Stanley Donen explica: “I was nine, and I’d never seen anything like it in my life. I’m not sure I have since. It was as if something had exploded inside me. . . I was mesmerized. I could not stop watching Fred Astaire dance. I went back to the theatre every day while the picture was playing. I must’ve seen it at least twenty times. Fred Astaire was so graceful. It was as if he were connected to the music. He led it and he interpreted it, and he made it look so effortless. He performed as though he were absolutely without gravity.”
- 1934 The Gay Divorcee (1934), RKO, Astaire i Rogers protagonistes, they danced and romanced, inventing what became their standard formula – in a high society setting, a charming playboy and a sweet girl with spunk get into a tangle of mistaken identities, fall in love on the dance floor (to something like Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”), resolve their misunderstandings in the nick of time, and foxtrot their way to a black and white “happily ever after” ending. [ la majoria de les coreografies serien d’Astaire i Hermes Pan]
- 1935 Top Hat (1935), RKO, Astaire i Rogers, which embodies the series at its best. There is a a variation of the “mistaken identities” plot with stylish comic support from Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore and Helen Broderick, and a solid-gold score by Irving Berlin. “Isn’t This a Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain,” “No Strings,” the title tune and the unforgettable “Cheek to Cheek” are deftly integrated into a story of mistaken identities set in an eye-popping black and white art deco vision of Venice. The dialogue is breezy and clever, and the atmosphere one of sophisticated delight.
- 1935 Roberta, RKO, Astaire i Rogers included Jerome Kern’s “I’ll Be Hard To Handle”
- 20th century Fox va trencar una barrera quan el 1935 a The Little Colonel va aplegar Shirley Temple amb Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.
- La Universal va filmar el 1936 Show Boat amb Paul Robeson cantant Ol Man River. Amb Deanna Durbin va fer Three Smart Girls (1936), 100 Men and a Girl (1937), and Mad About Music (1938).
- 1936 Born to Dance amb Eleanor Powell (Her “Begin the Beguine” with Fred Astaire in Broadway Melody of 1940 is arguably the best tap duet Hollywood ever filmed. Powell retired in the 1940s to marry and raise a family, making a brief nightclub comeback in the 1950s.)
- 1936 Follow The Fleet, RKO, Astaire i Rogers had Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”
- 1936 Swing Time, RKO, Astaire i Rogers boasted Jerome Kern’s Fields “The Way You Look Tonight”, “Pick yourself up”
- 1937 Shall We Dance, RKO, Astaire i Rogers offered George and Ira Gershwin’s
- 1937 A mile from heaven, amb Bill Robinson
- “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”
- 1938 Carefree, RKO, Astaire i Rogers included Berlin’s “Change Partners”
- 1939 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, RKO, Astaire i Rogers
- Bing Crosby i Mae West a la Paramount Mississippi (1935), Pennies From Heaven (1936) and Sing You Sinners (1938).
