Going to the movies has been a popular pastime since the turn of the last century. In an era without television or radio the theatre...

Going to the movies has been a popular pastime since the turn of the last century. In an era without television or radio the theatre and the parlor piano were the entertainment options for a family. As silent movies grew in popularity it was a sure thing that Tin Pan Alley would jump on the bandwagon and write topical songs about going to the movies as well as songs written for the silent movies’ scores played on everything from a single piano to a theatre organ to a full orchestra. Popular songs on the subject of moving pictures were an international phenomenon from about 1900 through the coming of sound in the late 1920s, and constitute a body of work that has yet to be fully documented and examined. Their lyrics offer amusing evidence of contemporary attitudes toward the cinema; and in their published form, as sheet music and recordings, these songs are among the earliest forms of motion picture merchandising and exploitation. Now, for the first time, these early recordings are saved from obscurity giving us a window into a world long disappeared. These twenty-six recordings feature every variety of instrumentation and feature top bands and vocalists of the era.