The Broadway Melody

Broadway is auditions, struggle and heartbreak where moxie counts above talent and the show must go on. Beloved showbiz scenarios could finally be heard as well as seen in this Academy Award-winning Best Picture. History's first All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! Movie was also All Hit, drawing enough 35-cent admissions to pile up an enormous $4-million box office. The film's sound-technology innovations were revolutionary, the performances had gusto (including Bessie Love's effective turn as a hard-luck older sister), the Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown songs became irresistible standards, and when all was danced, acted and voh-doh-de-oh-dohed, a new American art form emerged: the movie musical!