The Hollywood musical stands with jazz as the most authentically American of all the popular arts. Its history is the story of our popular imagination—it boosted morale during the Depression and through the war, and helped shape American culture by defining classless elegance (Fred Astaire), proletarian moxie (Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell) and aggressive self-esteem (Gene Kelly) as the choice American styles. From The Jazz Singer to All That Jazz, from Rio Rita to The Rose, it reflects the dreams of America, even as it discovered itself as a new art form.

With wit and an easy elegance, Ethan Mordden traces the musical's sense of itself as both entertainment and art. From its chaotic beginning in "the disaster that was sound," through its colorful, often bizarre, exuberance in the '30s and '40s, its decline and near death in the '50s and '60s, to what may be a resurgence of creativity in the '70s, Mordden presents the story of one of the liveliest arts of our time.

History, nostalgia, and analysis all at once. The Hollywood Musical is as much fun to read as the films are to see. Particularly valuable are the photographs, some of which have not been published before, the selective discography and bibliography, as well as the author's outrageous list of special awards for excellence and idiocy.