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Cinema and Popular Song:The Lost Tradition RII|(ßLTI,IR11

Most writing on film music has concentratedon the practicein early cinemaofunderscoring a film segment'snarrative or emotivecontent with light classicalmusic in the Europeantradition. Historiographically,this approachto film accompanimentfalls short on threeseParate counts: (t) It neglectsthe auditory practices of earlycinema, thereby failing to recognize cinema'sinvestment in a competingpopular song tradition. (z) It unius' tifiably limits our notion of the principlesoperative in musicalaccompa' niment to thosecharacterized by European-inspiredlight classicalmusic. $) It oversimplifiesthe complexdialectic between disparate musical tra' ditions that undergirdsthe historyof film music.

IllustratedS ongs ond Nickelodeon Accomp animent

Traditionalaccounts of silentfilm soundhave assumed that early film exhibition borrowedits soundpractices directly flrom the nineteenth-century theater,and thus featuredaccompaniment like that of the later silent period.'Treatingnickelodeons as the first theatersspecifically dedicated to films, critics typicallyassimilate nickelodeons and their music to iater purpose-builtfilm theaters.However, a closerlook at nickelodeonpro' gramssuggests radically different conclusions. As facadephotographs readily altest, the highlight of manynickelodeon programswas the illustratedsong, a live entertainmentfeaturing a Popu- lar songillustrated by colorfullantern slides.Accompanied by the piano, the singerwould typicallywarble two versesand two choruses,then the audiencewould join in while the chorus-lyricsslide was projected. First lnventedin the mid-r89os, illustratedsong slides grew rapidlyin popu-

-- AND POPULAR SONG 2I 20 RICK ALTMAN CINEMA

ized companieswith nameslike ChicagoTransparency Company, A' L' Simpson,DeWitt C,Wheeler, or Scottand Van Altena, song slides featured many actorsand actresseswho would becomefamiliar silent film figures iFrancisX. Bushman,Alice Joyce, Mabei Normand, Anita Stewart,Norma Talmadge,Florence Turner, Lillian walker). Sung on the vaudevillestage "song by big-name illustrators"like Adafones and MeyerCohen, or teams like Maxwelland Simpson,song slides would later givetheir first chances to the likes of GeorgeJessel and Al |olson'In-nickelodeons, however, the singerwould often be the owner'swife, daughter,or niece' - i{ There are many reasonswhy illustrated song slides have been ne' glected.Even when theyweren't broken by the intenseheat of projection, away ,:l the extremelyfragile 3 ,fo" x 4" glassslides were often simply thrown like yesterday'spublicity. Considered as a differentmedium, songslides rf almost " havebeen ignoredby film archivesand film scholarship,and are :g nevershown as part of a film program.Conversely, the few heroic collectors who havepreserved song slides-people like fohn W. Ripleyand Margaret and NancyBergh-are not film scholarsand thus tend to showsong slides within a lantern-slidecontext rather than in coniunction with films. Our "made 1 rgoz Searscatalog ad for a songslide outfit up witha specialview to the ignoranceofillustrated song slides and their relationshipto frlm exhibition afteraddition of movingpicture effects." [Author's collection] has seriouslycompromised our ability to make senseof the nickelodeon period. larity as music The activepresence of illustratedsong slides in nickelodeonPrograms g sheet publishersrecognized their publicityvalue, exhibi :{ what effect did the illus- ,ü torsexploited their hand-coloredbrilliance, and audiences appreciated the suggestsmany different avenuesof research. x trated song preferencefor balladsand other narrativeforms have on chanceto participate.With therise of nickelodeons,illustrated song slides .i becamea standardpart of theprogram. Since the projectors of theperiod film's mid-aughtsturn toward narrativel Was the contemPorarysong- .:] serveddouble duty for moving prcturesand lanternslides, song slides writer CharlesK. Harris right to claim that songslide scenarios provided offereda convenientand inexpensivemanner to occupyaudiences while thebasic model for,,the moving picture play scenario"l' Before Hollywood .,ilvented,,background thefilä waschanged. In lact,the enormous popularity of songslides sug. projectionand long beforetelevision devised the geststhat filmi offeredrespite for the singerbetween song slides, rather blue screenprocess, song siideshad blazedthe trail with a black back' d,fl thanvice versa. Song slides held their popularity until aroundr9r3, when ground techniquefor combining studio-shotinteriors with locationex- .sfl a secondfilm projectorwas installed in most projectiorr_bogqg,ali911!g ieriors. How did the compositingtechniques developed by the songslide influence Hollyuvood'sconstitutive foreground/background sepa. films* to alternatewith films ratherthan with slides. industry The typicalillustrated song slide set includeda title slide made from ition? The earlyteens have been seen as a watershed,with the spreadof the sheet-musiccover, twelve to sixteenlive-model slides corresponding largepurpose-built theaters, the installationofa secondproiector, and the to two versesand two choruses,and a chorus-lyricsslide that remainedon riseof featurefilms, but whatof the activerepression of a cinemaof attrac- icreenwhiie the audiencebelted out the chorus,often many times over. tions through industry criticism of song-slide-spawnedaudience partici' I Initiallydistributed gratis by music publishersas a form of publicity,slide pätion?These and other basicquestions are raisedby the i4le-qpediality { setswere eventually sold or rentedfor modestsums. Ads for songslides of nickelodeonprograms. appearedregularly in tradejournals like Viewsand FilmsIndex and Mov- when consideredfrom the standpointof sound Practice,illustratec ing PictureWorld and ViewPhotographer. Produced by small,undercapital- songssuggest a totally different set of issues.close inspectionof the --

cINEMA AND POPULAR SONG 23 22 RICK ALTMAN music li lantern-slideimages that songslide manufacturers accepted as appropri image.Far from simply recyclingnineteenth'century melodrama to silent fea' ate matchesfor song lyrics suggeststhat nickelodeonaccompaniment and prefiguringthe accompanimentstyle typicallyapplied standardsmay havebeen very different from later criteria. As Film lndex tures,nickelodeons depended heavily on popularsong' insists,"it is to be questionedwhether a pictureof a bird on its nest truly when "Classical" illustrates a line to the effect that the hero will return the birdies \he Structureof PopularSongs and Music nestagain, but usuallythe slidegets a hand,the women murmur Ain't it sweet'andthe slidemaker makes some more of the samesort becausehe For decades,scholars have neglectedillustrated songsand the nickel' to is in businessto fill a demand,not to furnish an art educationwith eachset odeon'spopular song aesthetic.In order to revivethat tradition, and of slides."'Unlike later practice,which emphasizesthe emotivevalue of understandits continuingrole throughout the history of cinema,we must musicaltexture, song slides and earlyaccompaniment often stressverbal first highiight the differencesseParating popular songs from the music only the lyrics count, used for late silent films and through-composedsound films. For sim- matches.A deafman could makesong slides, since "classical," I will adoptRoyal S. Brown'suse of the term in In fact, a deaf man did: EdwardVan Altena'spartner fohn D. Scotthad plicity'ssake, deaf since the ageof four. quotationmarks, to designatethe varioustypes of music includedin the been "classical" A closerlook at prewarsound practices suggests that earlyaccompani- lattercategory.'I thus am using the term to designatenot two in ment may havebeen directly influenced by illustratedsongs, film's audio- centuriesof musicaltradition, but only the stylescommonly employed visual partner in the nickelodeonbusiness. Repeatedly, we find producers late silentfilm accompanimentand in through-composedsound cinema. would in' recommendingpopular songs to accompanytheir films. Edisonsuggests The categoryof classicalmusic, without the quotationmarks, "lf "classical" marks, the following familiar tunes to accompanyA WesternRomance: a Girl cludeart songand opera;my category,with quotation "On LikeYou Loved a BoyLike Me,""School Days," "l'm GoingAway," the doesnot include those forms, sincethey are not regularlytrsed in film "Pony "Temptation "l'm music. RockyRoad to Dublin," Boy," Rag," a Bold Bad "classi- Man,""Wahoo," "So Long,Mary," and "EverybodyWorks but Father."'As Film music critics typicallystress the Wagneriantendency of ltli lateas rgrz a forward-lookingshowman like S.L. Rothapfel(Ro"y),even in cal" film music to employrepeated leitmotifs and themesin connection importance an upscaletheater like Chicago'sLyric, would lacehis programwith such with specificcharacters or situations.nWhile not denyingthe of old favoritesas'Auld LangSyne,"'A Hot Time in the Old TownTonight," ofthis technique,I will hereconcentrate instead on morebasic aspects "He's "Tramp, "Oh "classical"music. For the of a comparisonwith popularsong, it is A )olly Good Fellow," Tramp,Tramp," You Beautiful Purposes incon- Doll," 'Annie Laurie,""Rosary," and "Good-bye."5As Clyde Martin con- essentialto recognizethe fundamentalmuteness, indeterminacy, "classical" theeffects firms in r9ro, "half of the musiciansin the country. . . will pick up a pub- spicuousness,and expansibility of music,along with lisher's catalogueand get nomesof songsthat correspondwith the scenes tlat thesecharacteristics have on listeners. "classical" portrayed[my emphasis]."6 muteness.Though piecessometimes have titles, they achieve To connectthe music to the image,nickelodeon accompaniment de- audiovisualmatching by generalizedparallelism between the emo- pendednot oniy on popularsongs, but on their titles and lyrics.One par- connotations'ofparticular musical textures and the contentof "kept tive ticularlyadept house pianist, affirms Martin, the housein laughter specificimage sequences, rather than throughverbal content' with his selectionsin accompanimentto picturesof a flirtation. He made indeterminacy.Whereas the title and lyrics of a popularsong usually 'There's "classical" the Lothario say: something about you dear that appealsto me; overdeterminemeaning, the significationof music is far my wife'sgone to the country-won't you comeover to my housel You're more dependenton the imagesand situationsto which it is linked. "classical" just my style.I like you. How'd you like to spoonwith mel'The fellow's inconspicuousness.By this term I do not mean simply that wife brokein upon the flirtation, then left him in a rage.The piano sym- musicis"unheard,"asClaudiaGorbmansaysofnarrativefilm 'Gee, pathized. I Wish I Had My Old Girl BackAgain."" Nearlya cen- music.Gorbman'spointrelatestotheway"classical"musicisde- tury later,we still recognizein this accountthe titles of no lessthan eight ployedin the cinema,whereas I am referringto a fundamentaldif. popularsongs, evoked seriatim to reinforcethe narrativepresented by the

L 24 RICK ALTMAN cTNEMA AND POPULAR SONG 25

ferencein saliencybetween wordless music andpopular songs. Lan- predictobility.Buiit out of standard four- or eight-bar units, popular guageis processeddifferently from instrumentalmusic (evenwhen songs at regular intervals reach rhythmic closure,reinforced by a reminiscence that only of languageremains, as with an instrumen- linguistic structures, such as the placement of rhyming lyrics at :d "classicai" :I tal versionof a popularsong); music is thus by its very the end of phrases.Based on regular melodic repetition, popular ll natureinconspicuous, even before being inconspicuously applied to songsestablish and satisfyaudience expectations of return to famil- .,ii Hollpvood films. iar melodicmaterial. Because they systematicallyemploy standard expansibility.In terms of its difference "classical" $ from popularsong, rv-v-r harmonicprogressions, popular songs also establish and sat- !q music's expansibilitylooms large.Variable phrase length and de- isfy audienceexpectations of predictableharmonic closure. Not only layed "Classical" :i closurecontribute heavily to this feature. music's do popular songsprivilege repetition and regularity, but they align d s expansionmethods include development by variation,modulation, linguistic and musicalsystems to takeadvantage of multiple simul- d minor or modaltreatment, and change of instrumentation,register, taneousclosure cues. 5 or volume.To delayclosure, "classical" music empioysdeceptive ca- singability.Popular songs are hummable becausethey imply reduc- ä dences,where a v-vr harmonic structureextends the piecerather ibility to their melody,which is restrictedto an accessiblefrequency "authentic" than closingit offthrough the expectedv-r cadence.The range.They are singable because they have easily pronounced lyrics $ "classical" s multilayerednature of music offersmuitiple opportuni- arrangedin convenientand readily understandable breath groups re- . tiesfor extension,any separate layer potentially justifying continua- producingcommon speech patterns. Careful matching of musicand . tion, evenwhen the othershave reached closure. lyrics further reinforcespopular song's singable nature. "classical" quietlistening and mentol involvement.Though musicdepends rememberability.Composed of short, standardized,repeated compo- on the samedrive toward tonic resolutionas doespopular song, its nents,popular songs are easy to remember,both musicallyand lin- lackofrepetitive and predictableclosure diffuses rather than unifies guistically.Through repetition ofverse and refrain, the songis easily "classical" ü audiencereaction. Because it operateson multiple levels, taughtto eventhe most unmusicalaudiences. This return to famil- music rarelyoffers a separablehummable melody, and neverpro- iar materialgenerates anticipation of further repetitionthat popular videssingable lyrics, thus encouragingquiet and attentivelistening songsamply satisfy. .ä ratherthan activeparticipation. As such,"classical" music involves active phy sical inv olv ement. Predictable, singable, rememberable, appar- ;t audiencesmentally more than bodily,inviting them to internalize ently reducibleto melody and lyrics, and often basedon familiar q ratherthan externalizetheir reactions.The conventionofsilent lis- dancerhythms, popularsongs typically inspire toe-tapping,whis- "classical" teningto concertmusic, established well prior to music's tling, humming, singingalong, and other typesof activeparticipa- debutin film exhibition,provides strong cultural reinforcement for tion. this tendency.'o Of course"classical" music at times borrowselements from popular In contrast,popular song depends on language,and is predictable,sing- song.When a studio arrangerlike vcr',r'sRoger Edens needed bridging "classical" "classical" able,rememberable, and physically involving in waysthat music music, he would often createit by applyingthe principlesof usuallyis not. music to melodymaterial derived from one of the film's songs.In other "classical" words,neither the principlesof music nor popularsong strate- linguisticdependence. The musicalaspects of popular songsmay sug- "classical" as insulatedfrom eachother. By and large,however, gestemotive or narrativeconnotations just as musicdoes, giesshould be seen the tendenciespresented here are strongand clearlydifferentiated. but musicalmodes of meaning-makingare typicallyoverwhelmed "classical" they in associationwith images, music and by popularsong's tendency toward direct linguistic communication. When are used popular song revealyet anotherimportant difference.Because it has an Titles and lyrics so dominatepublic evaluationof a popularsong's coherence,with eachline clearlyconnected to the overailstruc- emotiveor narrativecontent that a song rarelysignifies separately obvious linguisticconclusion, from its linguisticcontent. ture anda universallyexpected musical cadence and

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z6 RIcK ALTMAN popular songnever allows listeners of the song'sindividual parts to es' capefrom the whoie.As such,the popularsong always remains a coher- ent block that appearsto be authoredseparately from whateverimages it Available at "classical" iiompanies, whereas music'smeandering capacity often con' 8.mo!r Pl.Y.r.-LrtLY iääls overallstructure, implying that the music is generatednot by some Firit N.ti6rl "Classical" lldrlcoldwYn globalvision, but by the imageat hand. music thus more easily not by a comPoser,but by the image' ln UnltGd Arli.rt convincesus that it is authored Priho thediscursive nature ofan early Attocirt.d Erubiion ihis sense,the popular song aurally recalis . vitr8rrPh "ciassical" well into the Produc.rr Dl.lribullnt cinemaof attractions,while music fits especially Wrrn6 Broth... P, B, O ol Am.'lc! impersonalnarration of classicHollywood cinema. Pr.lcrr.d Picturd Chrdwick Pictut.r Pnncip.l Piclü6 Chtonicld ol Am.!ic. Arrow Fih PopwlarSong and the Historyof Film Music C. B. C, Pilm srl.. la..gr.d[ord "classical" M.J. MINTZ Brnn.a Productlon. Film music scholarshiphas concentratedalmost exclusivelyon - Oril.inator and Patentce of th. . Bur. Pictutd .THEX,4ATICMUSic cUE SHEET Lume trilE music.Yet the influenceof the nickelodeon'ssong-oriented accompani- R.y-Art Ju. PicrurB ment practicesfiisibt. throughoutthe history of film music. From the theme songcraze of the mid-twentiesto the compilationsoundtracks of the last two decades,popular song has continued to sharecinema sound "classical" -E-EEFE€II' spacewith music.Several genres depend wholly or primarily on cameraand disc record- the songmode. These include 9a1lysync sound ings; r93os animationseries based on popular songsavailable through recentlyacquired music publishers;Soundies and other pre'rv attempts to_provide an audiovisualversion of popular songs;and mus!9 yideos spawnedby urv and its imitators. Morecomplex, and in the long run more interesting,are the many fea' ture film attemptsto take advantageof popularsong's ability to perform "classical" certainoperations better than music.Two of thesein particular "classical" Jänd out. While music is particularlyable to provideroutine commentaryand to evokegeneralized emotional reactions, popular song is often capableof servinga more specificnarrational PurPose. Thus fohn Fordregularly used folk songsto establisha specificmood in his westerns, historicalmo- historicalfrlms often employ period songs to signifyspecific CltvteoMusrc SenvrcE Copp. 'lHdMAtrc ments,and film noir regularlyinterrupts loveless male-dominated narra- Mu,rc cvE sHE€T ll2-llEwEsr 44rrST. NEw YoqK tives with nightclub songsoffering an oasisof romanceor female Power. From Hi.ghNoon to Miller's Crossing,nondiegetic popular song lyrics pro- "Thematic 4 t9z5 Film Dailyad for CameoMusic's MusicCUe She^ef' a opportunity to editorialize and to focus audienceattention. vide unique service,featuring a typical examplemüing popular songsdrawn from particularly common Theme songsused over initial credits constitute a Victor Herbert operettaswith classicalfavorites by Schubertand exampleof this strategy. Rachmaninoff collection] "classical" [Author's A secondcapacity not fully sharedby music is popular song's nyyi11u5of its regroducibility by a piano and ama- ::p119-.tkt!,tttf

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flI' iltilar{ ftttt[r iT J0ICIC0t{p10il Extraordinary [08r[Tcliltr[6t 5 As Twentieth Century Fox's 6 internaldocument in whichBalaban and Katz musical director krbH b.H-d*8,, mostprecious commodities, H. L. Spitalnyexplains to localconductors how to combinesong slide techniques ltd@h starsand songtitles share top with a talkingtraiier in orderto featureWar Nurse's theme song. Public bt!dL*dH!ö [Chicago STARTSTODAYI billing on this r939 posterfor Libraryl ^ ADISON Roseof WashingtonSquare. [Author'scollection] One of the film music problemsmost requiringattention involves the "classical" interactionbetween music and popularsong in films that in- teur singers,popular song for decadescarried on an intensesymbiotic re- clude both. Is a songmeiody thematized and turned into a leitmotif I Is lationship with the sheetmusic industry. Short, inexpensive, and easily part ofa songexpanded, developed, and used according to "classicai"prin. distributed,popular songs also made ideal auditory commodities when ciples?In short,is the popularsong made to changecolors and participate recorded "classical" ,o,ncylinders, discs, or tape. Sincethe American cinema is a in the work of the soundtrack?Or arelyrics and a title imposed for-profit "classical" "classical" industry,films regularlyrenew attemptsto take advantageof on materiall Is a themeso often repeated in conjunc- the commercialopportunities associated with popularsong. Even before tion with a particularstructure and cadencethat it emulatesa popular sound, "classical" orchestraleaders understood the benefitsofthis strategy,privileg- songl In short,is the film's accompanimentforced into accom- ing certainmusic cues and building them into potentiallylucrative theme plishingpopular song goalsl songs. Bythe fifties, the film andrecording industries were so tightly inter- When we considerthese questions historically, we recognizethe im- twined that themesongs *iie often releasedas singlesin advinceof the portantrole playedby the soundcomponent ofearly exhibitionpractices. ,film'sopening. With the triumph of albumsand the developmentof com- Nickelodeonsestablished many expectationsand techniquesthat would ':j pactdiscs, the singletheme gave way to the compilationsoundtrack built ultimatelyeither be overtlyadopted by Hollywoodor repressedand carried Ii 1I..1Y9", ofpoplll'gl_g-L: covertlywithin dominant filmmaking practice.In order to understand '$'l H * it,i

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JO RICK ALTMAN

Hollywoodsound more fully,we must begin to addressthe.dialectic that simultaneouslyrelates and separates"classical" music and popularsong. :tr iVe must aisorecognize the extentto which this relationshipserves as a vehiclefor essentialoppositions between spectacle and narrative, between discoursand histoire, between static dual-focus forms and dynamicsingle. Focusmodes, between bodily reactionand mental processing,between lim asparticipatory mode and as spectator form, betweenEuropean inspi- iation and Americanpragmatism. None of theseimportant dichotomies tan be properlyunderstood independently of the ongoingand complex SurrealSymphonies: relationshipbetween "classical" music and popularsong. LlAged'or and the Discreet Charms Notes of ClassicalMusic r Fora critiqueofthis position,and for severalother points ofparticular rele. vanceto the subject ofthis article, see fuck Altman, "The Silence ofthe Silents," PRISIILLflBRRLOIIJ MusicalQuarterly 8o. z (t9 97\: 6 48-7t8. z CharlesK. Harris,"Song Slide the Little Father of Photodrama,"Moving Picture World,ro March19r7, r5zo. "Unique 3 Effectsin SongSlides," Film lndex,6 May r9rr, rz. SalvadorDali 4 Kinetogram,r5March r9ro, rr. In their rg3o film coliaboration,L'Age d'or, Luis Buiuel and "Music 5 Reportedby ClarenceE. Sinn in for thePicture," Moving Pi.cturc WorA, aimedat surpassingthe scandalthey had attemptedto createwith their 9 July t9rz, 49. Un ChienAndalou, released the previousyear' LJn Chien Anda' "Playing first film, 6 the Pictures,"Film Index,r9 Novemberrgro,27. andenjoyed an eight-monthrun in "Playing lor wasan enormoussuccös de scandale ClydeMartin, the Pictures,"Film Index,zz April r9rr, rJ. paris.Bufluel endedup earningseven or eight thousandfrancs from the 8 RoyalS. Brown, Overtonesand Undertones:Reoding Film Music (Berkeley:Uni the surprisecritical and commercialsuccess of this first versityofCalifornia Press, r9g4l, j8-39. film, Following gratifiedat the responsero L'Age See for example Claudia Gorbman, UnheardMelodies: Nonotive FiIm Music collaboration,Bufluel must havebeen for six days.At (Bloomington:Indiana University Press, t9871, 26tr. dbr, which was screenedfor packedhouses at studio z8 For Europeanaudiences'turn toward silencein the early nineteenth century, that point, a right wing claquedisrupted a screening,set off stink bombs' wereon seefames H. fohnson,Listeningin Paris: A CulturalHislory (Berkeley: University shouted,,Deathto the Jews,"and slashed Surrealist paintings that ofCaliforniaPress, 1995). For the silencingofAmerican audiences in the latter displayin the lobby.Eventually the policeconfiscated the film' half of the nineteenth century, see LawrenceW. Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: whereasthe film becameinfamous almost immediately, one aspect of it TheEmergence of CulturalHierarchy in Ameica (Cambridge:Harvard University hasreceived very little attention,and that is its soundtrack.At first glance, Press,1988), esp. r79 ff; and JohnF. Kasson,Rudeness ond Civility:Manners in first listen,the music might appearto be merelyan assortmentof Nineteenth-CenturyAmerica (New York: Hill & Wang,r99o), zr5 ff. or rather, piecesfrom the classicaland Romanticsymphonic rePertory, selected primarily for the ironic contrastbetween what one hearsand sees.However, Bufluel'sdecision to usethis music must be understoodin the contextof his desireto outdo the shockingeffect of IJn ChienAndalou. Because he aimedto shockthe bourgeoisie,he usedthe most shockingmusic pos' sible,which was the most familiarand irreproachably bourgeois music one imagine.The soundtrackis comprisedprimarily of music by Mozart, can "popu' Beethoven,Mendelssohn, and Wagner' Ironically enough, jazz, the