N E W YO R K C I T Y A N D T H E H O L LY WO O D M U S I C A L Dancing in the Streets MARTHA SHEARER Screening Spaces Series Editor Pamela   Robertson Wojcik Department of Film, Television, and Theatre University of Notre Dame Notre Dame , Indiana , USA Aims of the Series This series engages the interdisciplinary fi eld of space studies with p articular emphasis on cinematic and televisual representations of space and place. This series emphasizes the way in which space and culture are mutually imbricated and mutually productive. Books in this series will be interested in the ways in which the meaning of space and place are fought over in the realm of cultural politics and, equally, in the ways identity co nstruction and negotiation occur in and through space. Cinematic texts will be seen as not merely emerging from or refl ecting a space, but as producing and shaping that space. Thus, works in the series will not just discuss how a space or place is represented on screen, but how pa rticular modes of rep resentation and particular spaces or places work together to produce, refl ect, and refract a culture. Issues of identity–including an interest in gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and regional identities–will be taken up as key elements in understanding cinematic renderings of space and place. Spaces and places under consideration might range from relatively large spaces, such as a city or region, the rural or the suburbs, to more narrow places, such as the home, the offi ce, the gym, the bathroom, the church, and more. This series will be especially interested in interior spaces such as the offi ce, the library, the toilet, the store; spaces claimed by particular groups, such as children’s spaces, gay spaces, African American spaces, women’s spaces; and spaces that reconfi gure public space such as memorials, public art, parks, and streets. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14491 Martha   S hearer New York City and the Hollywood Musical Dancing in the Streets Martha   Shearer King’s College London London, UK Screening Spaces ISBN 978-1-137-56936-3 ISBN 978-1-137-56937-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-56937-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016952794 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image © Stephen Barnes/ Transport / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS So many friends and colleagues during my time at King’s College London have provided meaningful support and directly or indirectly informed my thinking. Most of all, I am immensely grateful to Mark Shiel for all his suggestions and guidance, but I must also single out Michele Pierson, Lawrence Napper and Sarah Cooper for their help and guidance at critical stages. I want to thank all the brilliant students I’ve taught on courses on Hollywood cinema, popular cinema, fi lm history and various city-related modules over the last few years, but a special thanks to the students on my Hollywood musical module at King’s in the autumn of 2015 for all their insight and new perspectives. I am also indebted to Barry Langford and Jon Lewis for their very helpful feedback on earlier drafts of parts of the book. My thanks to Charles Perrier and the staff at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library, to Jenny Romero and the staff at the Margaret Herrick Library and to Jonathon Auxier and the staff at the Warner Bros Archives. Thanks to Chris Penfold, Lina Aboujieb and Harry Fanshawe at Palgrave Macmillan, and to Pamela Robertson Wojcik for her helpful comments. And thanks to all my friends and family for their invaluable support over the many years I’ve spent researching and writing this book. I’m particularly grateful to Emily Howard for her graph advice, Joe and Julie Goldstone for their hospitality in New York and Kathy and Jonny Burton for their ‘writer’s retreat’ in the fi nal stages. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Parts of this book include material revised from the following articles: ‘Sax and the City: New York, New York (Scorsese, 1977), Urban Decline and the Jazz Musical’, T he Soundtrack 6, no. 1 & 2 (March 2014): 53–66; ‘A New Way of Living: West Side Story , Street Dance and the New York Musical’, S creen 56, no. 4 (Winter 2015): 450–470. C ONTENTS 1 Introduction: A Wonderful Town? 1 2 Urban Space and the Origins of the Musical 15 3 The Neighbourhood Musical 45 4 The Nostalgia Musical 75 5 Fabulous Invalids: Broadway and Times Square 113 6 A New Way of Living: Post-war Musicals and the New New York 153 7 Epilogue: Death or Metamorphosis? 193 Appendix 215 Index 219 vii L F IST OF IGURES Fig. A.1 US-produced feature fi lms and musicals released by major studios, 1929–65 216 Fig. A.2 Musicals as a percentage of feature fi lms released by major studios, 1929–65 216 Fig. A.3 Musicals and musicals with New York settings released, 1929–65 217 Fig. A.4 Musicals with New York settings as a percentage of all musicals released, 1929–65 217 ix