Music of the Movies

Originally Aired: September 23, 1936 Cavalcade of America #50, "Music of the Movies," takes listeners on a musical journey through the evolution of motion picture soundtracks, from the humble nickelodeon to the sophisticated film scores of the 1930s. The episode traces how movies transformed from silent pictures accompanied by a lone piano player improvising to the perils of Pauline, to Warner Brothers' revolutionary 1928 all-talking, all-singing picture The Singing Fool featuring Al Jolson. Along the way, conductor Don Borges and his orchestra perform memorable songs that defined cinema's golden age. The narrative highlights key moments in film music history, including the first theme songs like Charmaine from The Big Parade, the advent of musical talkies with stars like Maurice Chevalier and Dick Powell, and Walt Disney's infectious "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf." The episode celebrates how partnerships between Hollywood and composers like Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and others elevated motion pictures into a sophisticated art form, bringing everything from operetta to grand opera to mass audiences through improved sound recording technology.