Check it Out! Vintage Hollywood Commissary Menu Prints

There is a store for just about everything online. A few days ago I was thinking how interesting it would be to track down an original menu from a Hollywood studio commissary and, after doing a quick online search, came across this gem of a business: Vintage Menu Art. 

Someone already took the time and money to collect menus from the studio commissaries ( as well as lots of other great Los Angeles area menus ), scanned them, and is now offering them as prints to frame on a wall. What a neat idea! This would make for excellent kitchen wall decor. ( Click on the images below to view at a larger size.)

Menus were so much simpler in the 1940s-1950s. They didn't have pages and pages of food to choose from. Usually, one page featured it all, and hamburgers, cream of tomato soup, steak, cottage cheese, and bacon and eggs could be found on just about every menu. Paramount Pictures had a nice selection of more unusual items however, like Scotch Lamb Broth with Barley Soup, Veal Goulash and Swiss Bratwurst, Sweetbreads (!!), and a really nice choice of 10-cent desserts. That helps to emphasize their menu's slogan, "Eat, drink, and be merry for ye shall be a long time dead."

Below you will find the links to the studio commissary menus that Vintage Menu Art has to offer. But it is well worth checking their other menus out as well. Ozzie's Seafood sounds especially appetizing!

Paramount Studio Cafe - 1936 Menu

Paramount Pictures Italian Kitchen - 1955 Menu

Paramount Pictures Cafe Continental - 1956 Menu

The Brown Derby - 1957 Menu

MGM Studios - 1958 Menu

Warner Brothers Studio Commissary - 1963 Menu 

Book Review - Hollywood in Kodachrome

Over 35 years ago John Kobal assembled a number of excellent coffee table books featuring stunning photography from Hollywood's golden era. Among these books was "Hollywood Color Portraits", which presented a beautiful collection of Kodachromes of some of Hollywood's biggest stars of the 1930s-1950s. Since the publication of this book there have been very few books offered to film fans that re-published the gorgeous color portrait photos of Hollywood's stars. 

That is, until 2013, when David Wills assembled "Hollywood in Kodachrome", a hefty collection of stunning color glamour photographs from 1940-1949, many of which were originally published on the covers of ( and as inserts in ) Motion Picture, Photoplay, Modern Screen, Movie Stars Parade, and Movie Story magazines. This five-pound 352-page hardcover book was beautifully printed by It Books, showcasing the images the way they were originally meant to be seen. 

Glamour icons such as Veronica Lake, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Jane Russell, and Hedy Lamarr are all given ample coverage, but unfortunately many of the biggest actors of the time have few photographs. There were numerous color images made of Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and yet few appear in this collection. Robert Taylor, William Powell, Ronald Colman are not even present in the book...nor are actresses such as Alice Faye, Ann Sothern, or Vivien Leigh. 

While "Hollywood in Kodachrome" does not offer the best selection of box-office stars of the 1940s, David Wills does give readers a background history of these color photographs and intersperses the images with some black-and-white behind-the-scenes shots showing the photographer and his subject in action. Small images of the printed covers of the magazines the photos appeared on also compliment the text. 

Hollywood in Kodachrome by David Wills and Stephen Schmidt is available for purchased for $24.86 through Amazon.

Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel Restaurant

"The first thing I'll do when I get back is sink my teeth into a nice juicy steak." Skipper - 1965

After Gilligan's Island was canceled in 1966, Alan Hale Jr. ( "Skipper" ) continued guest starring on numerous television series ( he even starred with Bob Denver in the short-lived series "The Good Guys" in 1969  ), but he ventured into other fields as well.....including opening his own restaurant. This venue was entitled Skipper Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel, and it became a very popular seafood restaurant along N. La Cienega, Hollywood's restaurant row, throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

For fifteen years the Skipper bade welcome to guests eager to sink their teeth in a nice juicy lobster ( steaks were always available too ). Hale loved being associated with his character "The Skipper" from Gilligan's Island and till his death in 1990 he wore the famous seaman's hat and blue-topped deck shoes. New visitors to the Lobster Barrel were often given a hearty table-side greeting by Hale, who always made time to chat with his guests or sign autographs. 

Inside, the restaurant was decked out in wood with palms for decor, resembling a typical seafood house. There was even a tropical bar....Mr. Howell would have appreciated that. 

The Lobster Barrel menu was quite large and offered a wonderful selection of fresh seafood, as well as some rarer specialties such as Bouillabaisse Marseillaise, Paella Valenciana, and Escargot. Soups and salads included the Mariner Salad with Bay Shrimp, French Onion, Lobster Bisque, and Boston Clam Chowder soups. The Skippers Galley featured all the surf-and-turf selections that the Skipper himself would devour : King Crablegs and Steak, Stuffed Shrimp and Steak, Salmon Alfredo, and even Lobster Tail with Steak priced at $17.95. Yes, this was no roadside diner establishment. The menu prices of the 1970s match most major franchise restaurant prices of today, so one can imagine what a high-end restaurant this was. Take the Shrimp and Lobster Newburg, for example, at $15.95, it is the equivalent of $69 in today's money. That's quite a dish of fish! 

In 1982, Alan Hale no longer participated in active ownership of the restaurant, but it continued on as Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel until it closed its doors in 1990. Hale tried his hand at other ventures then, including owning a travel agency ( Anyone want to take a three-hour boat tour? ). He also appeared in several commercials, such as this Ensign Chrysler Plymouth ad in 1986. 

This post is a part of our latest series entitled "Did You Know?".....sometimes we just feel like sharing interesting fragments of television and movie history and now we have a place to do just that. If you have a hot tip that you would like us to share on Silver Scenes, drop us a line!

Hollywood Home Tour - Norma Talmadge

"Everybody pile into the bus now! If we take any more lunch breaks like we have, we will still be on this bus in twenty years time. Once again, we'll be taking a slight detour to see an exceptionally beautiful home....the estate of that star of the silent era, Norma Talmadge. Fasten your seat belts and off we go!

649 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles

"On your right you will see the beautiful Spanish stucco St. Vincent de Paul church built in 1925. Just a few steps away is Norma's charming Tudor-style mansion, which is probably one of the most famous movie star homes in Los Angeles, not because Norma lived there, but because it passed hands between so many silent film stars of the 1920s. Originally it was built by Randolph Huntington Miner, a developer, and his wife, socialite Julita Miner, in 1904. Sumner Hunt was the architect who designed it. They lived here for about fifteen years and then sold it to that seductive vamp Theda Bara. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle bought it in 1921 but moved on after that scandal with the young starlet left his career in ruins. He sold the house to director Raoul Walsh and his wife, Miriam Cooper. Alla Nazimova also resided here for a spell."

"How long did Norma Talmadge live here then?"

"Not long at all. One whole winter season to be precise. Miss Talmadge and her husband, producer Joseph M. Schenck, purchased this house in October 1924 and were gone by February 1925. They went on to own many estates, but this one has long been associated with the Schenk's because it was featured on the front of a postcard bearing their name and was the first home they owned. 

"Inside is as beautiful as the exterior. There is a well-stocked library with a reading alcove which Norma enjoyed, and a drawing room featuring heavy beamed ceilings, ruby red velvet furniture and an antique writing desk where Norma would stack her piles of fan mail to respond to. The dining room features carved teak-wood furniture imported from China with embroidered curtains and bronze ornaments from the Orient as well. There is also a sun parlor among its fifteen rooms." 

Up-to-Date Note: To see the Talmadge estate today ( now called the Randolph Huntington Miner house ), simply click here for a street-view. It is still looking great!

What Price, Hollywood?

Debbie Reynolds was one shrewd cookie. On May 3, 1970, David Weisz Co. auctioned off the contents from seven sound stages at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios which included 350,000 costumes. While this 20-day auction event was being held, Miss Reynolds' fellow thespians were lounging comfortably in their palatial Beverly Hills homes lamenting the final curtain call of MGM studios, while the actress herself was emptying her bank account - some $600,000 - and attending each auction, buying up all the costumes and props she could afford. She wanted to preserve some of the treasured mementos from the greatest film studio in Hollywood. 

"They literally threw away our history and I just got caught up in it", Reynolds explained. She also had the foresight to recognize that the props and costumes which were termed "worthless" would be worth quite a penny in the near future. 

Reynolds wasn't the only person to savor the thrill of owning a piece of film history and its investment potential. Movie memorabilia collecting existed long before MGM's famed auction. Why, as far back as 1938 my grandmother was saving the posters from the films that were showing at the Serbian theatre that she worked at as an usherette. Alright, she didn't realize they were of any monetary value, instead her mother used them as wallpaper in their outhouse ( she often claimed they had the prettiest - and warmest - outhouse in their village ). Nevertheless, collecting memorabilia is good business and, even if it weren't, it is too fun an activity for the average film fan not to participate in. 

Through online auction sites, you can - for as little as $1.00 - own a piece of history. Now how cool is that? We're not talking about collectibles here - that's an entirely different field ( and one not worth spending money on ). Memorabilia are genuine articles used in the promotion or making of a motion picture. Collectibles are all the knick-knacks that various companies manufacture to cash in on popular films or celebrities. That Elvis Presley lamp hiding in your uncle's basement is a collectible. If Elvis owned it himself ( how vain! ), it would be memorabilia.

When it comes to memorabilia there are several different buying routes you can explore. You can purchase original material used for publicity purposes ( movie stills, lobby cards, posters, fan cards, tickets, pressbooks ); items used in the making of the film itself ( props, costumes, set pieces ); behind-the-scenes memorabilia ( scripts, clapboards, film cameras, office memos ); or even personal items owned by a celebrity ( like Richard Burton's diary ). 

Since we're in the movie stills business, we recommend that a novice collector begin their purchasing quest buying movie stills, publicity photos, lobby cards and the like. They are inexpensive, easy to maintain, and great to frame. Movie stills were distributed by studios to newspapers, magazines and movie theatres for the promotion of their upcoming releases. They were also assembled in "key books" and archived within the studios' own libraries. With most films, several hundred photos were taken, so it is very likely that you will find a still from a favorite scene. 

Other publicity photos include posed shots of actors in costume for their roles. These are not from scenes in the films and are therefore a bit rarer. They usually include the leading couple getting cozy for the camera or a staging of one of the key scenes in the film, sans the props. Studio artists used these photos as reference when painting the poster artwork. 

The next best memorabilia to begin with would be scripts. Original scripts were printed in limited quantities ( generally less than 50-75 copies ) and therefore their price can range from $10 ( for a new film's script ) to $5000 ( eg. for a script used in the making of Gone with the Wind ). Scripts are good investments since they are made of paper. As the years go by it gets more difficult to find scripts in really good condition, hence they become rarer. 

Scripts from Battleground, Bad Day at Black Rock and Undercurrent

If you are not interested in owning a script then why not purchase a small prop? These can include items such as handkerchiefs, office memos, stationary, cuff-links, watches, etc. Small props are easy to store as well and - although their value does not increase too much - it's just neat owning a piece that was actually used in a movie. 

Once you start buying small props, it is very easy to get lured into the big game...the ultimate props. These are the iconic items that you see predominately in your favorite motion pictures. If you have a few hundred grand to spare, then these are great items to have around the house. However, since most of us cannot afford to buy Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat or Terry-Thomas' spare teeth, we thought we'd share photos of these iconic items instead ( along with the prices that they sold for ). The workers at those film studios never knew what treasures they were handling on a daily basis! 

Harpo Marx gifted Debbie Reynolds with one of his beloved hat and wig combos but after keeping it for years Debbie realized she had no use for Harpo's wig since she wasn't planning on donning his garb and honking at anyone. The wig went up on auction two years ago and sold for $22,500. Now she has something to honk about!

The great Paul Lukas wore this beautiful tweed coat in his role as Professor Bhaer in the original 1933 film version of Little Women starring Katharine Hepburn. Walter Plunkett designed the coat for the picture and oddly enough, it only sold for $275. It costs more to buy a coat like that new. 

Mae West's dazzling ensemble fetched quite a bit more than Professor Bhaer's coat. It sold for $8,500....$3,500 more than anticipated. Travis Banton was the creative mind behind this design, which was worn by Miss West in Belle of the Nineties ( 1934 ).

If you think that amount is a lot to spend on one costume, someone paid $150,000 to have just the head of Gort the robot. The famed alien helmet from The Day the Earth Stood Still ( 1953 ) was made of wood and fiberglass and held up very well over the years. Aliens always did know how to keep their heads intact.

This prop is more in line with our budget. In the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, Max Zorin ( Christopher Walken ) pulls out his checkbook and write a $1,000,000 check paid out to Stacye Sutton ( Tanya Roberts ). Stacey promptly tears it up so we're assuming that prop no longer exists, but someone saved a clean Zorin check...just in case she made a mistake! This one sold for $300.

If there were any two stars who could take the cake for wearing the most elaborate costumes it would be Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. This beautiful Adrian-designed military outfit was worn by Eddy in the 1938 operetta Sweethearts. It sold for $1,100.

The ten commandments .....unbroken! Can you imagine telling your friends that you purchased the original ten commandments? No, these aren't the ones that the Lord engraved, but they are second to it in fame having appeared with Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments ( 1956 ). Some lucky buyer purchased these fiberglass tablets for the mere sum of $60,000 ( cough-cough ).

The person who bought the ten commandments must have also bought the ark of the covenant ( where else would you store them? ). This wooden construction cost the tidy sum of $13,000 and looks just as good as the day it appeared in David in Bathsheba ( 1951 ).

While we're on the subject of Old Testament memorabilia, here is King David's tunic from the same film. When Gregory Peck wore it, the tunic had a whiter shade to it, but then everything yellows over time. This tunic sold for $3,000.

Not all of us have the room to store a beautiful designer gown, so for those who don't want to invest in clothing...there are costume sketches to be had! This beautiful rendering by Helen Rose was created for High Society ( 1955 ), MGM's remake of their own A Philadelphia Story ( 1940 ). It sold for $4,000.

Of all the memorabilia from past auctions this piece amazed us the most. This is the title lettering artwork for My Fair Lady ( 1964 ). It was painted on a 22 x 31 inch plate of glass with the white letters in "Warner Bros Pictures" being painted on the front and the black shading on the back of the glass ( to give it depth ). This plate of glass sold for $10,000... Yikes!

Jerome Courtland used this clapboard while directing an episode of Walt Disney's The Wonderful World of Color in 1978. You would have thought that they wiped the names of the crew cleaned and just reused the clapboards, but perhaps they thought this one was old enough to retire as is. It sold for $2,250 on auction. 

The vamp of the silent era - Theda Bara - wore this bejeweling brassiere in the 1917 silent classic Cleopatra. By itself it doesn't look like much, but on Theda..wow. Someone obviously thought they could pull off wearing it just as well as she did and forked over $8000 to buy it. 

The ultimate Star Wars prop would probably be Darth Vader's helmet, but second best would be this DL-44 blaster owned by Hans Solo ( Harrison Ford ). He zapped a whole ton of space slugs and Vader villians with this baby. Although it doesn't "blast", someone thought it worth dishing out $200,000 for. 

Lastly, a treasure to behold! The entire cast - and many of the crew members - of The Adventures of Robin Hood ( 1938 ) gathered together to sign a 1936 Rand McNally edition of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. A truly collectible item and it sold for a truly collectible price - $8,000. 

So there you have it...a few gems that were put up on the auction block and currently enshrined in the homes of devout collectors. Every week items like these are being auctioned off across America and - unlike the prices you see above - great deals are still to be had on props that you would never have believed were preserved.

All of the photographs used in this post were obtained from Invaluable.com - the online site where the world's premier auction houses auction their valuables. The majority of these items were auctioned off between 2012-2014 from Profiles in History, which hosted Debbie Reynolds' Hollywood auctions. Click here to view and search more movie props, costumes, and rare memorabilia from past auctions!

The Best Classic Movie Songbooks

There are roughly 20 million people in America who play the piano and, of these musically-inclined folk, some several million are film fans as well. After us ivory-ticklers sit watching our favorite classics, such as Bing Crosby crooning "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra" in Going My Way, or Kathryn Grayson warbling "Make Believe" in Show Boat, we want to plop down at our piano and play these tunes....even if we can't sing along as well as they can ( quite frankly, in the privacy of our own homes, who cares what we sound like ). So you would think that with millions of movie-loving-toe-tapping piano players in America, movie songbooks would be big business, right? Well, judging from the amount of songbooks that are available to the public...it seems like not. Hal-Leonard Publications and Alfred Publications have currently cornered the market in songbook publishing and while they offer a nice collection, most of the beloved tunes we enjoy listening to in the movies have yet to make it to sheet music format. ( I've been waiting for years to see The Ghost and Mrs.Muir transcribed!! ). 

Since today's selection is quite narrow, below we have gathered together the best songbooks from 1930 onward to the present day. Thanks to eBay and the countless used bookstores that can be found online, these books are quite easy to find now and a mighty fine little collection of film music can be enjoyed by procuring these titles. 

Note : Most of these titles link to Amazon, but when Amazon did not have it, the link takes you to eBay. 

Studio Collections : 

The Music of 20th Century Fox : Volume One 1929-1959  - Alfred Publishing released this fine collection of some of the best songs from the 20th Century Fox films spanning thirty years of its history. Unfortunately, they only scratched the tip of its surface. From a studio that boasted talented composers such as Bernard Herrmann and David Raksin, and featured such actresses as Alice Faye, Marilyn Monroe, and Shirley Temple, an entire book series should have been offered. Pictures and histories of the composers highlight the book. Songs include : Down Argentine Way, Now it Can Be Told, Forever Amber, The Song of Bernadette, An Affair to Remember, The River of No Return, Ruby, and The Theme from Peyton Place. 

Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary Series - This stellar series from Alfred showcases some of the best music of Warner Brothers in four separate books. Each includes original sheet music covers, behind-the-scenes info as well as a great selection of music from some of WB's more obscure films. Songs include : Theme from Rebel Without a Cause, By a Waterfall, Wait Until Dark, A Majority of One, Tall Story, Now Voyager, The Constant Nymph, Forty Second Street, Sonny Boy, Dust be My Destiny, Lady Barbara Theme, The Old Man and the Sea, The High and the Mighty, Be Careful How you Wish, Splendor in the Grass. 

The Paramount Song Folios #1-11 - Great books for the real hard-core Paramount film fan. Most of these songs are otherwise obscure to the average popular music listener. The series also features photographs and biographies "of your favorite bandleaders". Song include : The Fleet's In, I Remember You, That's for Me, With the Wind and the Rain in your Hair, Rhythm on the River, Blossoms on Broadway, True Confessions, Why Fight the Feeling, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Golden Earrings. 

That's Entertainment! - 60 Songs from MGM's Greatest Musicals - This book features the songs from all of Metro's most famous musicals, notably the ones that appeared in the That's Entertainment movie series. There is an introduction by Cary Ginell. Songs include : Silk Stockings, Babes in Arms, You Made me Love You, Bless your Beautiful Hide, I Fall in Love Too Easily, Easy to Love, Get Happy, Manhattan, Just One of Those Things, Ten Cents a Dance, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, The Trolley Song, Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart. 

The New Illustrated Disney Songbook - This fantastic book includes some of the most beloved songs from the Walt Disney animated and live-action films and includes some beautiful color photographs. Songs : Baby Mine, The Ballad of Davy Crockett, E'vry body Wants to Be a Cat, The Bare Necessities, Jolly Holiday, Love is a Song, Let's Go fly a Kite, Under the Sea, Little April Shower, Bella Notte, When You Wish Upon a Star, Candle on the Water, Fortuosity. 




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Songwriters : 

Songbooks that spotlight the talented composers and lyricists that made Hollywood music as great as it is. 

The New Sammy Cahn Songbook - Sammy Cahn, one of the greatest lyrisists ever, had an enormous body of work that included many many great film themes. Songs in this book include : Bei Mist Bir Du Schon, Come Fly with Me, Day by Day, Love and Marraige, Our Town, Pocketful of Miracles, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Best of Everything, High Hopes, The Tender Trap, Written on the Wind.

The Elmer Bernstein Collection - Elmer Bernstein had a very impressive songwriting career in Hollywood and this great collection includes songs from the films The Age of Innocence, By Love Possessed, The Ten Commandments, Cast a Giant Shadow, Walk on the Wild Side, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Man with the Golden Arm, Hud, The Great Escape, Hawaii, The Carpetbaggers and even the theme song to Ellery Queen. How cool is that! 

The Hoagy Carmicheal Centennial Collection - Hoagy Carmichael had a great stage presence and a great flair for pounding out  a memorable melody at the piano. This book includes 56 of his standards, many of which were featured in films. Songs include : Georgia on my Mind, Lazy River ( The Best Years of our Lives ), Skylark, Ivy, Stardust, Two Sleepy People, Heart and Soul and The Nearness of You. 

The Alan and Marilyn Bergman Songbook - The husband and wife team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote a number of great songs throughout the 1970s and 80s. This book includes the songs they wrote for The Summer of '42, Yentl, Tootsie, Best Friends, Fame, Pieces of Dreams, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Fitzwilly but it neglects to include their television hits ( Maude, Good Times, Alice, In the Heat of the Night ). 

The Irving Berlin Anthology - Now what composer is more well-known and beloved than Irving Berlin? One book is just not enough to cover all the wonderful tunes that he wrote for the movies.....but this collection does a nice job of touching on this best. Songs include : Cheek to Cheek, Blue Skies, I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, White Christmas, Puttin' on the Ritz, There's No Business Like Show Business, How Deep is the Ocean, Change Partners, Alexander's Ragtime Band, This Year's Kisses, My Defenses are Down. 

The Songs of Burton Lane - Burton Lane is usually associated with Broadway, and rightly so, for he composed many great showtunes in his 45+ year career, but he also did a number of Hollywood songs and this book includes a selection from both fields : Finian's Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Dancing Lady, Babes on Broadway and Royal Wedding. 

The Johnny Mercer Centennial - Johnny Mercer was one of America's greatest lyricists and this collection highlights 46 of his musical hits, including : Dream, Fools Rush In, Accen-tu-ate the Positive, I'm an Old Cowhand, Hooray for Hollywood, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, Too Marvelous for Words, The Sweetheart Tree, Moon River, Laura, That Old Black Magic, My Shining Hour. 

The Songs of Hugh Martin - Martin is best known for being the composer of Meet Me In St. Louis but he wrote a number of great tunes aside from this film. This collection includes 34 of his songs...such as The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, Ev'ry Time, Over and Over, Pass that Peace Pipe, On Such a Night as This, Connecticut, and Diamonds in the Starlight. 

The New Henry Mancini Songbook - Now this is truly a fantastic collection from one fantastic composer! Henry Mancini wrote scores of unique, finger-snapping music to countless films from the late 1950s to 1960s. This collection of 88 songs includes his most famous movie and TV themes, Moon River, The Days of Wine and Roses, The Pink Panther theme, The Thorn Birds, Theme from Peter Gunn, as well as some of his lesser-known but equally entertaining scores : Arabesque, Bachelor in Paradise, Dear Heart, Man's Favorite Sport, Moment to Moment, Mr. Lucky, Remington Steele, Soldier in the Rain, The Sweetheart Tree, and Two for the Road.

The Sherman Brothers Songbook - Two brothers who wrote some of the most uplifting and downright cheery music ever created. In the ten years they worked at Walt Disney Studios they wrote over 50 tunes that became beloved classics. Some of 34 songs included in this collection are : Let's Get Together, Hushabye Mountain, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lovely Lonely Man, The Slipper and the Rose Waltz, It's a Small World, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, The Age of Not Believing, Feed the Birds, Charlotte's Web, You're Sixteen, Winnie-the-Pooh and Ten Feet Off the Ground. 

The Leslie Bricusse Movie Songbook - Leslie Bricusse was one of the most sought after film composers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This collection highlights some of his greatest film scores, including : Goldfinger, Doctor Dolittle, Talk to the Animals, Happiness, Le Jazz Hot, Thank You Very Much, A Shot in the Dark, Pure Imagination, I've Done Enough, Where are the Words. A seperate book, "The Leslie Bricusse Theatre Songbook" covers his stage work. 

The Songs of Jule Styne - Musicals just wouldn't be musicals without the talent of Jule Styne. This Hal Leonard collection features 61 of Styne's best songs. Make Someone Happy, Let Me Entertain You, Funny Girl, It's Magic, Three Coins in a Fountain, Time After Time, I Fall in Love Too Easily, Diamond's are a Girl's Best Friend and People. 

The Jerome Kern Collection - Jerome Kern's most lasting legacy is his score to the classic stage production Show Boat, but he wrote a number of great songs to films like Cover Girl, Roberta, Lady Be Good, Centennial Summer, Can't Help Singing, High, Wide and Handsome. This book highlights his work on stage and film. Songs include Till the Clouds Roll By, Look for the Silver Lining, Show Boat, Make Believe, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Why Was I Born, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, Can't Help Singing, Long Ago and Far Away, The Way You Look Tonight and Pick Yourself Up. 

50 Gershwin Classics - Gershwin wrote an unbelievable amount of great music in his short lifetime and this collection includes 50 of his best. His music was recorded by every great performer from the 1930s up until the present time and are a major part of the Great American Songbook. Songs in this book include An American in Paris, But Not for Me, Embracable You, A Foggy Day, I Got Rhythm, Love is Here to Stay, Swanee, Someone to Watch Over Me, Funny Face and 'S Wonderful. 

The Cole Porter Song Collection - This two volume book collection spotlights 100 of Cole Porter's best songs, spanning the years 1912-1958. Each includes song analysis, publicity stills, original sheet music covers and informal shots from his scrapbook. Songs include : So in Love, In the Still of the Night, Don't Fence Me In, Be a Clown, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Begin the Beguine, I've Got You Under My Skin, I Get a Kick Out of You, Night and Day and Easy to Love. 




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Performers : 

A selection of books from some of Hollywood's most famous performers. 

The Judy Garland Souvenir Songbook - 68 songs from 23 of her motion pictures are included in this "souvenir" sampler. Selections include music from Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, That's Entertainment, and The Pirate. The book also includes black and white photographs from her films and a complete filmography and discography. 

Shirley Temple Song Album No.1 & 2 - This series was released when Shirley Temple was at the height of her popularity and it features her biggest hits such as Animal Crackers in My Soup, At the Codfish Ball, The Right Sombody to Love, Little Colonel, Curly Top, Baby Take a Bow, and When I Grow Up. Also, a lovely collection of colorized stills is used as inserts between each song. 

The Deanna Durbin Song Folio - Who can resist Deanna Durbin's angelic voice, or the beautiful songs that she sang in her films? This folio includes some of her most memorable tunes such as Someone to Care for Me, That Certain Age, Serenade to the Stars, My Own and I Love to Whistle but sadly does not include The Turntable Song, Love at Last, Something in the Wind, or It's Foolish but Its Fun. Pooh. It was later re-released as "Songs Deanna Durbin Sings".

Bing Crosby Favorite Songs - this collection was released shortly after Der Bingle's death in 1977 and features his favorite songs which, not surprisingly, include many of his film hits....Sunday, Monday and Always, The Second Time Around, Swingin on a Star, The Road to Morocco, Zing a Little Zong, Going My Way, Moonlight Becomes You and June in January. A nice collection but don't expect to find White Christmas among his favorites. 

The Doris Day Songbook - Brighten up your day, with Doris Day! This book includes "15 cherished fan favorites" such as I'll See You in My Dreams, It's Magic, Pillow Talk, Que Sera Sera, Secret Love, Sentimental Journey, and Teacher's Pet as well as some other songs ( Day classics??? ) : Fools Rush In, Don't Take Your Love from Me, Happy Endings and Quizas, Quizas, Quizas, but it sadly neglects her 1960s hits. Where are Send Me No Flowers, Move Over Darling, Do not Disturb, and Please Don't Eat the Daisies? Oh well, the book has nice cover art anyway. 

The Frank Sinatra Anthology - this stellar series from Hal Leonard combines 200 of Ol' Blue Eyes greatest hits into two compact paperback books. Songs include From Here to Eternity, April in Paris, High Hopes, Young at Heart, Come Fly with Me, In the Still of the Night, Luck Be a Lady, Pocketful of Miracles, The Second Time Around, Too Marvelous for Words, The Tender Trap, Witchcraft, and All the Way. 




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Collections :  

A series of songbooks that combine a wide variety of classic movie themes from all eras.

Robbin's Hollywood Dance Folios #1-18 - Another collection of rare songs for the hardcore classic movie buff. Some of these just elude me entirely.....Okey Toots, An Earful of Music, Ninon, Mississippi Honeymoon, On a Sunday Afternoon, I Got a Feeling Your Foolin, Don't Blame Me, Once in a While, Out of the Deep, With a Feather in Your Cap. Each book includes a nice selection of photographs from the films the songs are featured in. 

AFI's 100 Years 100 Songs - A good selection of classic songs from the films that made it to the AFI top 100 greatest films list. Songs include : Over the Rainbow, As Time Goes By, White Christmas, Mrs. Robinson, The Sound of Music, Make Em Laugh, Somewhere, High Noon, The Rainbow Connection, Tonight, Thanks for the Memory, Puttin on the Ritz, Forty Second Street, Cabaret, Yankee Doodle Boy. 

The Movie Fakebook - 5th Edition 500 Songs and Themes - Although this book features a good selection and some rare movies themes ( see listing ), most of the songs are from films dating from 1965-1995...not what I would call "classic". Oh, come to think of it, it never states it is a classic movie fake book. Barbarella, Barefoot in the Park, breakfast at Tiffany's, Chinatown, Casino Royale, Gigi, Hush Hush Sweet Charolette, Inch Worm, Jingle Jangle Jingle, Kissin Cousins, Louise, Love Letters, Memories, Naked Gun, Odd Couple, Psycho, A Place in the Sun, This is My Song, A View to a Kill, and Tomorrow Never Dies. 

Movie Classics ( World's Greatest Music Series ) - Unlike most of the other movie compilation songbooks, this one is not printed by Hal Leonard or Alfred Publishing but rather by Warner Brothers. So don't expect to see any MGM musicals tunes among here. Although the book featuers alot of new movie tunes it does include some great classics such as Love Theme from Ben-Hur, Laura, Days of Wine and Roses, Blue Moon, The Magnificent Seven, On Green Dolphin Street and Love is a Many Splendored Thing. 

Classic Hollywood Themes - Alfred Publishing put out this Classic Hollywood Themes book in 1997 and they included a really good selection from some of the top composers...Maurice Jarre, David Raksin, Dimitri Tiomkin, John Williams, Henry Mancini....but alas, no Bernard Herrmann. Songs include Casablanca, The Ballad of the Alamo, Cheyenne Autumn, Ziegfeld Follies, The Man That Got Away, Theme from The Apartment, Giant and Evergreen. 

Anthology of Movie Songs - This Hal Leonard book features a good sprinkling of classic film scores mixed in with "new" movie themes such as Dancing Queen, The English Patient, ET, Forrest Gump and Schindler's List. Classics include Theme from Romeo and Juliet, The song from Moulin Rouge, Make Someone Happy, Baby Elephant Walk, The Candy Man, To Sir with Love and Wonderful Copenhagen. 





Did you like our selection? Let us know which songbooks that you enjoy the most, or which ones you would like to see on this list. We'll tweak it until it is just right!