Join Randall Warniers for a talk on Twenty Classic Hollywood Musicals and Why They Are Good for You! The talk will take place at the Fowler Branch of the Concord Free Public Library (1322 Main Street) on Monday, September 23 at 7:00 PM.

Music has been an essential component of movies since the early days of silent cinema, when live musicians accompanied each show. Hollywood musicals were born after the arrival of talking pictures in the late 1920s, and they quickly became a hugely successful and popular genre. This talk and slide presentation will discuss the twenty most important musicals made in the studio era, from the early 1930s to the 1950s, including classic Paramount pictures with Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, romantic RKO musical comedies with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, brilliant Busby Berkeley extravaganzas from Warner Brothers with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, and lavish MGM color films with Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. We will not watch any of the films during the talk, but all are available on DVD, and every attendee will receive a list of the twenty selected films (plus other examples) for future reference and viewing.

Randall Warniers has pursued interests in 19th-century British literature and early 20th-century American cinema for decades. He has worked in the world of publishing since 1989, and he is currently a freelance editor and book publisher.

This free event is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. For more information, please visit www.concordlibrary.org.