Jun 11, 2016

Attention TCM Fans: The Decline of Musicals in American Cinema--What Happened

It seems to me that musicals are much less common in the American Film Industry these days in comparison to the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Of course, I'm not saying that they never make musicals (e.g. Disney/Pixar films, Baz Luhrmann films, etc...), but it seems like they used to make a lot more a long time ago.
When did this shift away from musicals occur? What are the factors which led to the apparent decline? Why don't we see very many american musical films?
shareimprove this question
   
I don't know the logistics of when, but it all comes down to the mighty dollar and what people want to see. When the majority of people aren't looking for musicals, the production companies will quit making them. If there is a resurgence for musicals, they will come back into vogue. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Dec 12 '13 at 2:38 
   
@Paulster2: Even if that were true, it doesn't really explain the essence of why people stopped wanting to watch; when there is a clear trend of commercial viability in the past. – Paul Dec 12 '13 at 3:55
   
Pixar's never made a musical, it makes more sense to just say Disney films, or even animated as non-Disney production houses had fair amounts of success with musicals. – vastra360 Feb 24 '14 at 20:47
up vote18down voteaccepted
The reason why musicals are less popular now, or more prolific back in the first half of the century is pretty long, but hopefully engaging and interesting. It certainly was to me when I studied it. There are tons of academic books written about the downfall of musicals, but here's the short(er) version:
Musicals (along with Westerns) were very much a staple of the now defunct Star System that American studio's used to participate in. As such, if you could make a Musical Western, you were laughing all the way to the bank.
enter image description here
As you have correctly pointed out, these days Musicals (and Westerns, for that matter) are only produced as Prestige Pictures, and there are reasons for that...
The 1920's saw a technological leap forward that would change cinema forever: Namely, the introduction of sound. The Jazz Singer featured the first sequence of synchronized sound in a widely distributed feature film, and was met with immediate success. From its very inception, the use of sound in cinema was linked with music, and more specifically yet singing, so the connection to musical theater was recognized and explored immediately.
The Star System was already in place, and as such singing and dancing were added to actors feature lists to make them all rounders. Early successes of the pre-sound cinema, like Florence Lawrence, the 'Biograph Girl' fell to the wayside in favor of more musical fare. Appropriately, the Biograph Girl's story was turned into a musical itself, and both The Artist and Singing in the Rain borrow elements from her story. The studios enjoyed great success from the stars they promoted into musicals, and there was global appreciation for them for many years.
It wasn't until the late 1950's that things within the Star System started to fall apart, and it was just as much the studio's fault than it was that the audiences didn't want to see musicals anymore.
You see, for a long period The Studio System enjoyed Vertical Integration, meaning that they owned and controlled their entire production, distribution and exhibition processes themselves. This level of control may seem beneficial, but it whittled movie production into only 5 competing studios, 'The Big Five': MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and RKO. (There was also'The Little Three', but as their nomenclature would indicate, they weren't as big!)
The result of this set up meant that Studios were only really competing with a small market, and as they had all more or less decided to keep out of each others pockets, very little even there. This meant that there was no competitive market to decline or bargain for movies, so the only thing that could influence what sort of film was being made was a studio executive in his office, who were hardly representative of the masses!
It wasn't until 1948 that the Supreme Court ruled that this system should be broken up, and it was itself only delayed because of the focus on the war. This meant that the studios' control was finally broken up, but it had very little real effect to the Big Five who had used their time wisely to consolidate their assets into a firm grip on the industry.
However, for the time being, the studios continued to prosper. Different Genre's came in and out of popularity, and so not being a genre itself, but more of a method of application Musicals survived by simply adopting the genre a la' mode and wearing it like a mask for a while.
WWII nostalgia films become popular? War Musicals.
enter image description here
Warner Bros. have a spate of successful Gangster movies? Gangster Musicals.
enter image description here
It didn't matter whether or not people actually wanted to see these movies, there was no choice in the matter and as a result of that, they enjoyed the illusion of popularity, not to mention being genuinely popular anyway as a means of family entertainment in a very conservative America.
The real killing blow to musicals came with the same blow that threw the entire industry into crisis: advent of Home Television. It was a slow death however, over a number of years. For the most part, the Industry didn't even realize it was dying. People had been provided with Choice for the first time, and for an industry who's unofficial motif was "You'll get what you're given", this was bad news...The motto slowly became its epitaph. Some Studio's began to experiment with Television, and set up sister studio's in the rival industry, but even this did little to change their programming output.
The rise of Suburbia also struck its blow, as people were expected to take long journeys into cities to see movies, and the Television was already sat in their living room. It would have to be something pretty impressive to budge them, so in a way they were voting with their feet.
Still, the studio's remained stubborn in their refusal to adapt. Whatsmore, the Hays Code was still very much in place, not only prohibiting certain types of film but encouraging Studios to stick to what they knew already, stifling any creative experimentation.
When this all finally came to a head in the late 60's, the industry was in crisis. It didn't know, or more accurately didn't care, what their audiences wanted anymore.
The only solution to this was tantamount to almost total replacement. Crew and Cast from leading men to lighting operators, Directors to set designers were systematically replaced for younger, fresher and more in touch counterparts. This became known as The New Hollywood, and produced what many people consider the greatest movies of 20th century's second half.
This came at its price...
The Directors had to fight for years, and continue fighting, to wrestle creative control from the old guard. They heavily resented the former ringleaders of the industry, and poured scorn on their pitiable output of incessant Musicals.
Furthermore, many of these directors looked up to the writing of Cahiers du Cinema, and the European cinematic giants who wrote for it: Bresson, Goddard, Truffaut to name a few. These were figures that hated Musical Cinema, not only for what they considered to be unoriginal copies of stage productions, but for the American Imperialistic intent these films harbored as they washed over Europe. This hatred found its way stateside and embedded itself into the New Hollywood.
The Hays code was finally lifted in 1969, giving these film makers a freedom no one had experienced since the mid 1920's. And what did they do with this freedom? They ran as far away from Musical cinema as possible.
The only studio to continue exploring Musicals as a prolific statement is Disney, for obvious animation reasons. It is for this reason that they are able to credibly produce programmes like Glee and movies like High School Musical: They have a fair claim to owning the Modern Musical Mastership, and they pretty much kept it breathing for the last part of the 20th century.
So, until the late 60's, audiences were forcibly saturated with Musicals, and came to collectively loathe them, even if it took a bunch of pretty spiteful up and comers to point this out to them.
These up and comers ended up taking on their own downfall, however, proving history repeats itself. But that is a story for another time!



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shareimprove this answer
   
Isn't there also a parallel with stage musicals? Both forms appear to have dwindled in popularity at around the same time/rate. – coleopterist Dec 12 '13 at 13:54
   
@coleopterist as I said, saturation is probably the key player there. Stage Musicals still enjoy wide success, but their territory is largely Broadway and the West End, as opposed to Hollywood. – John Smith OptionalDec 12 '13 at 14:13
4 
If only all questions could be answered this well. Bravo good sir! – MattD Dec 12 '13 at 17:21
   
Thanks Matt. I'm on a bit of a spree at the minute, trying to lead by example and contribute interesting answers! – John Smith Optional Dec 12 '13 at 17:26
   
I very much enjoyed reading your answer. +10,000 if I could! – System Down Dec 12 '13 at 17:33
1 
@SystemDown thankyou, that's cool to read. I think the reason I was able to give an interesting answer is because it was an interesting question, and sometimes we're way to quick to close down questions like this without giving them time to blossom into discussion. I hope other people have different contributions/research to add, but sometimes we close in on questions before they have a chance... I'll step down off my soapbox, now. – John Smith Optional Dec 12 '13 at 17:40

Jun 9, 2016

Art Bell vs George Noory: The Conversation Continues

Talking about George Noory and his paranormal/political radio talk show..........


What day did Coast to Coast AM, the whacky, entertaining, perfect to fall asleep by, UFO, ghost show become a political show?

Was that the day George Noory took over from long time ultra popular nighttime radio host Art Bell or was it when George's ego morphed into something so giant he thought he was someone qualified to run for President of the United States.

What is going on here in night time radio land........

So, as usual, my girl Hillary Clinton achieved a place in history by any one's standards by becoming a candidate of a national political party to run for President, the first woman, wow--amazing.

But instead of focusing on Hillary's achievements and hard work George Noory had to mention his friend and frequent guest has a book due out soon that will be so monumental in bashing the Clintons the political world as we know it may end.

The problem for this radio listener and blogger--I love Hillary Clinton.

Your show is ultra offensive and one-sided.

George very infrequently has a guest from the other side to talk about the good things the dems have done.  Jerome Corsi runs the extreme right wing newspaper World Net Daily, not exactly an unbiased friend of the Clintons.

In the first place why is George giving us politics on Coast to Coast and in the second place why not have both sides--equal time, etc,

George Noory may want to consider in his wildest dreams and smaller ego we are not interested in his political bias and we do not want it forced on us in the night when we are half asleep.

Perhaps, instead of entertaining thoughts of his own political grandeur, making money through a dating service he should study the interviewing skills of Art Bell--maybe he should listen to the guest.  does George Noory know that listening to an old rerun of Art Bell is actually more entertaining that listening to his live show.


Why is that George........

Art had the knack of the interview equally shared by Larry King and George Strombo.  They listen to the guest and they give the appearance that this individual is the most important person in the world and that the listening public will better off with this new information.  Larry King could make the average every day guy sound like what he had to say was monumental.

That is the skill of the host.

The show is about the guest, not the host:  rule 1 in radio talk show interview.

It is not just me:
her we go with some old and new info and thoughts about the skill of Art Bell--the conversation continues--yes, we still miss you, Art Bell

http://knpr.org/headline/2015-12/citing-threats-art-bell-ends-radio-program





Jun 2, 2016

Voice of Merrill Daughter, Sierra Interviews Joe Nelson of SanDiegoRadio.org

from sandiegoradio.org.........

Wednesday, June 1, 2016


SanDiegoRadio is Interviewed

By Joe Nelson
   I have interviewed many people in the radio and TV industry over the years. Tuesday I was on the other side
for the first time.

   By now I think everyone knows for the last year my daughter & I have been living with Iheart's Chris Merrill
and his wife, "Mrs. Voice of Merrill" LuAnn. Also their daughter Sierra and dog Dutch as well as newcomer
Milli the puppy.

   Sierra is a senior and was to interview someone 'with a passion'. She came to me and of course I had to accept.

   At the end of July we will be moving our separate ways but this has easily been one of the most enjoyable years
of my life, not to mention how much confidence my daughter Katie has gained through the guidance and
mentoring the Merrills have provided. This is a GREAT family!

(Chris can now be heard on KFYI in Phoenix via the Iheart app Mon-Fri)

And now, the interview:



Sierra Jones
P-5

Show Me the Passion

Joe Nelson is the Editor-in-Chief of SanDiegoRadio.org. He is someone that I look up to
because he is so passionate about everything he does, especially radio. Joe has been a close
family friend for almost five years now, so really he is more family than a friend. Being
editor-in-chief Joe has several responsibilities; photographing, interviewing, writing and
researching. He has been working on SanDiegoRadio.org for five years, it was his experience
and opportunities to get involved in radio that got him involved and kept him interested
ever since. Joe puts in at least 20 hours into his work every week, but that isn’t much
considering how much he enjoys what he does. Meeting people, socializing, and everything
that he learns on a daily basis are some of the things he enjoys the most.

Joe says; “People have jobs and careers, but when you truly find something that touches you
deeply it becomes a passion and not a job.” He is thankful that he has found his passion in
his life. Even if he won a $100 million lottery, he would continue doing what he is doing
because it has been his passion for many years. In the past Joe saw himself as a baseball
player but he knew he had a knack for writing and radio so he made something out of it.
There are very few things that Joe does not enjoy about his job. But there are challenges
and lessons to be learned from every career. Joe occasionally receives information about
a person's’ fate, such as if they are going to lose their job, even before they are aware.
He has to make the difficult decision to either keep this information to himself or publishing
it for fear of hurting other people. Besides that Joe loves what he does, he hopes to continue
this career because of how rewarding it is.

There have been many people in Joe’s life that have inspired him.

Firstly Jim Ladds’ book, Radio Waves has inspired his life he carries this book with him
almost everywhere. His daughter also plays a huge role inspiring and helping move forward
his career. She has been there from the start, she is always a huge help and it has produced
some great father-daughter bonding time. Joe has met a lot of people from his career,
people who have become life-long friends. People such as Shotgun Tom Kelly and Dave Rickards.

Meeting these people have been the highlight of Joe’s career. Growing up Joe's role models
were his parents, as he got older everyone he met and worked with in his job became
important role models because of the positive influence they had in his life. Now everyone
that is in local radio or TV are his role models because of the close relationships that
he has made with them and the impact they have had on his radio career.

Joe is the only mediawriter in San Diego. He has created something that is entirely his own
and the impact is great on the community because it is his own voice. Joes’ advice to a
high school student preparing for the future? “If you find your passion, go at it 100% and
your heart will always thank you.”

IMG_3250.JPG
-It's not surprising that she is wearing swim goggles or that there is an Amazon box on the porch. 

That's the crazy we love with, and love-

Joe Enjoys long walks on the beach, Disneyland, and mexican food.

You can find him frequently at Cafe Coyote in Old Town. If Joe wasn’t doing radio
he would be building sets for Hollywood movies. And if he were a dog, he would be
the president's dog so he could protect the leader of this great nation.  

................................................................................................

Love this story as I am passionate about radio, as well.  It is nice that there is a blog about San Diego Radio.  So outraged, in the past, by some things that were said on the radio here in San Diego in the morning.  Not believing the words going over the air waves for everyone's consumption this blog lady was forced to write about it--even starting their own blog.

Here is the crazy thing about the radio......

Unless it is Dr. Laura or Rush Limbaugh it seems like the radio personality is preaching to the choir.  In other words, no matter what they say and how obnoxious it is, no one cares.  It that because of ratings, or what?

Still have not quite figured it out but unless major sponsors are backing out of the deal, as in the case of Dr. Laura and Motel 6 re: her racist comments, the folks on the radio can get away with anything.

Right or wrong?  What do you think?

There is really not any blog or Internet newspaper that pertains to local radio that I could find and I looked extensively at one time.

Well, still do not completely understand what actually makes the radio tick--particularly local talk radio.

So one day at the dog park in a conversation with a local radio personality one tried to work these points into the conversation.  It was said that it was only entertainment, not really a call in talk show as touted, and one could simply change the station or turn the radio off if they were offended.  Really....not to this blog person.
Grape St Dog Park San
Diego

You had said earlier that you no longer wanted to have comments as your interest was not other people's opinion in writing your blog, but personally, We are lucky to have your blog even though it is more geared to jobs as opposed to one's opinions about certain shows.

But where does one talk about a show if they have an idea or different view or a complaint.  Does anyone actually care about local right wing talk radio--does anyone really listen to it with a different view?

Love Merrill and miss listening to him in the evening but I like Ernie Brown, also.
Baby owls at the Grape St dog Park

Ladona and Ted Garcia are the best incarnation of KOGO's morning drive and they also have great interviews.

Thank you for your good information.

Chloelouise, The Ronnie Republic

If you do not mind I will put your interview in my blog because I like to write about San Diego Radio, also.

Yes, I love to write about food, too.
Have you tried Desert Donuts in Phoenix--It is worth the trip.