ASCAP Music Dominates AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals

ASCAP music continued to display its overwhelming impact on film as the American Film Institute announced the top 25 Greatest Movie Musicals on September 2, 2006 at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. ASCAP composers and songwriters created music for the top four movie musicals and contributed to 22 of the top 25, eight of those being in the top 10.

Betty Comden and Adolph Green's Singin' In The Rain was selected by a jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics, and historians as the #1 greatest movie musical of all time. Timeless songs from the 1952 movie, written by ASCAP songwriters Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, include "Good Morning", "Make 'Em Laugh", and the Gene Kelly classic "Singin' in the Rain."

Other films in the top 10 with music composed or written by ASCAP members included West Side Story (#2), The Wizard of Oz (#3), The Sound of Music (#4), A Star Is Born (#7), My Fair Lady (#8), An American In Paris (#9), and Meet Me In St. Louis (#10).

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed excerpts from each of the honored movie musicals as the top 25 were revealed on large screens to a live audience.

ASCAP-represented Movie Musicals are:

#1 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown

Memorable Songs:
"Singin' in the Rain"
"Make 'Em Laugh"
"Good Morning"

#2 WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim

Memorable Songs:
"America"
"Tonight"
"Somewhere"

#3 THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg

Memorable Songs:
"Over the Rainbow"
"Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead"
"If I Only Had a Brain/a Heart/the Nerve"

#4 THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

Memorable Songs:
"The Sound of Music"
"My Favorite Things"
"Do Re Mi"

#7 A STAR IS BORN (1954)
Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin

Memorable Songs:
"The Man that Got Away"
"Lose that Long Face"
"My Melancholy Baby"

#8 MY FAIR LADY (1964)
Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe

Memorable Songs:
"The Rain in Spain"
"I Could Have Danced All Night"
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"

#9 AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
George and Ira Gershwin

Memorable Songs:
"I Got Rhythm"
"I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise"
"Our Love Is Here to Stay"

#10 MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)
Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin

Memorable Songs:
"The Boy Next Door"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
"The Trolley Song"

#11 THE KING AND I (1956)
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein

Memorable Songs:
"Getting to Know You"
"Shall We Dance"
"Whistle a Happy Tune"

#13 42ND STREET (1933)
Harry Warren and Al Dubin

Memorable Songs:
"42nd Street"
"Shuffle Off to Buffalo"
"It Must Be June"

#14 ALL THAT JAZZ (1979)

Memorable Songs:
"On Broadway" - Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
"Take Off With Us" - Stanley Lebowsky and Frederick Tobias

#15 TOP HAT (1935)
Irving Berlin

Memorable Songs:
"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails"
"Cheek to Cheek"
"No Strings"

#16 FUNNY GIRL (1968)
Jule Styne and Bob Merrill

Memorable Songs:
"People"
"Don't Rain on My Parade"
"My Man"

#17 THE BAND WAGON (1953)
Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz

Memorable Songs:
"By Myself"
"That's Entertainment"
"New Sun in the Sky"

#18 YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
George M. Cohan

Memorable Songs:
"The Yankee Doodle Boy"
"Give My Regards to Broadway"
"You're a Grand Ol' Flag"

#19 ON THE TOWN (1949)
Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Memorable Songs:
"New York, New York"
"Count on Me"
"On the Town"

#20 GREASE (1978)

Memorable Song:
"Summer Nights" - Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs

#21 SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954)
Johnny Mercer and Gene de Paul

Memorable Songs:
"June Bride"
"Spring, Spring, Spring"
"Wonderful, Wonderful Day"

#22 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
Howard Ashman

Memorable Songs:
"Beauty and the Beast"
"Be Our Guest"
"Something There"

#23 GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)
Frank Loesser

Memorable Songs:
"Guys and Dolls"
"Luck Be a Lady"
"Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"

#24 SHOW BOAT (1936)
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein

Memorable Songs:
"Ol' Man River"
"Make Believe"
"Why Do I Love You?"

#25 MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)

Memorable Songs:
"Come What May" - David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert
"Your Song" - Bernie Taupin



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