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ran for four years, as it did at the Esquire Cinema in Melbourne ("fourth year but cant last forever" the publicity claimed). These
showmen (in every sense of the word), all over the world never failed or faltered in outstanding presentation of films.
In the mid fifties they took up the challenge of Todd AO and 70mm technology. Learning new tricks of the trade they like the
inventors revolutionising the industry were as much a part of the pioneering spirit of the times. Over the years all this hard work
and commitment to the industry has gone relatively unrecognised.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has never given an award to a cinema projectionist to this day. They are so
busy rolling out the red carpet to the anorexic clothes hangers hanging around Hollywood today, with no tits, no talent and a
major construction job by 14 plastic surgeons. Drowning in a sea of superficial rubbish, they are icons of what Hollywood is
today, a pile of trash. Have they ever stopped to think of the projectionists who make billions of dollars for the film industry?
To projectionists everywhere, many
of you are gone but not forgotten
thankyou from the bottom of my
heart for all the fantastic memories I
have of sitting in the picture theatre.
In particular during the halcyon days
of cinema and curious about the man
working behind the porthole,
operating the big magic lantern. It is
pertinent to also remember the
women who took over the
projectionists' role during and after
the Second World War, in a
predominantly male dominated field
their worthy contribution to the film
industry should not be overlooked.
You not only illuminated my life,
you also made a lot of people happy
and as the great Walt Disney once
said "There can be no finer ambition
in life."
To those of you who know a good film when you see one this extensive article will hopefully be a trip down memory lane as we
explore the world of Oklahoma! and Rodgers and Hammerstein. They were a creative team of genius and innovation whose
musicals remain fresh, vibrant and absorbing even more so today, because of the definitive entertainment value they offer.
These films were created through intelligence, competence and a high regard for the audiences to whom they would be
presented. The passing of time has not diminished their popularity and appeal as an outstanding collection of film art, rich in
memorable musical numbers and unforgettable performances by real stars. Here perhaps lies the key and answer to what cinema
as a mass entertainment is all about, and a stark reminder to where it has all gone wrong.

Broadway to Hollywood - A Magical Formula
The merger of two worlds, the Broadway stage and Hollywood dream factories began in the early thirties, cementing a
partnership that would span several decades until the death of film musicals in the last years of the sixties. There is scientific and
medical evidence claiming that music lifts the human spirit and relieves depression. Perhaps this is the reason why the musical
film became the most popular form of mass entertainment during World War II. When the demand to satisfy the public's appetite
for musicals kept the MGM studio buzzing with creativity. After the war the demand for musicals did not dissipate and the major
studios could once again afford Technicolor.
The fifties and sixties are often referred to as "The Golden Years of Hollywood". 1950 got off to a big bang with MGM's version
of the Irving Berlin Broadway hit Annie Get Your Gun, starring Betty Hutton and Howard Keel (Judy Garland was the original
choice to play Annie, but MGM fired her when she became too difficult on the set).
Betty Hutton delivered a dynamic and outstanding performance (Ethel Merman played Annie on Broadway), and newcomer
Howard Keel became known as a singing Clark Gable.

Hollywood to Broadway - Reversing the Formula
In 1952 Gene Kelly went Singin' in the Rain, in a smash hit for MGM. Meanwhile the Warner Brothers motivated by the huge
box office revenue gathered by Metro's Annie Get Your Gun, took revenge on the rival studio with Calamity Jane (1953)
starring Doris Day in the title role and Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok. How could Warners go wrong? The movie was a
smash winner and won an Academy Award for the hit song Secret Love.
A year later Howard Keel returned to MGM in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Once again the studio had a mega hit
on its hands. The movie musical reached its zenith in the fifties with films that remain as popular today, as they were 50 years
ago. Such is the enduring strength and appeal of the preceding films born in Hollywood and instrumental in breaking the
tradition of Broadway to Hollywood by becoming successful stage productions on Broadway and London's West End. It would
be naive to suggest that the appeal of the American film musical remains alive solely on the strength of entertainment value.
Deeply entrenched in the ideological construction of Hollywood musicals is a cultural and historical comment on America.
In the article "Americas Musical Voice" Landmark Films 1979. Gene Kelly observes,

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