Hollywood Rhapsody: Movie Music and Its Makers, 1900 to 1975

New York: Schirmer Books. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. (c.1997). First Edition. Hardcover. 0028645952 . [very slight bumping to bottom corners, otherwise a nice clean as-new copy; jacket shows the tiniest trace of surface wear, minor wrinkling at top edge of rear panel]. (B&W photographs) This book is "a history of American movie music, from the days of the silent movies to the maverick productions of the seventies. It tells the story of how talented, if sometimes invisible, musicians, composers, and lyricists have created some of the most memorable movie music of our time." Particularly interesting is how the book examines the "house styles" of the major Hollywood studios -- there are chapters devoted specifically to Paramount, Columbia, 20th Century-Fox, and MGM -- during the heyday of the studio system. There are also individual chapters devoted to, among other topics: the creative interaction between Fred Astaire and some of the great songwriters of his era; emigre composers; iconoclastic figures such as Jerome Moross, Bernard Herrmann, Alex North, Aaron Copland, and others; the relationship between the Screen Composers' Association and HUAC during the blacklist era; music for western films; the advent of jazz as an element of movie soundtracks; rock 'n' roll in films; Henry Mancini; composers for animated cartoons. .