Let’s Go In to a Picture Show

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.

Track List

1. Chimmie and Maggie in Nickel Land
2. Let's Go Into A Picture 
3. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
4. At The Ten-Cent Movie Show
5. Movie Rag
6. That's A Real Moving Picture From Life
7. He's Working In The Movies Now 
8. The Girl On The Film Valse
9. If That's Your Idea Of A Wonderful Time 
10. Poor Pauline
11. Zudora
12. The Perfect Song 
13. Those Charlie Chaplin Feet
14. Since Mother Goes To Movie Shows
15. His Cute Moving Picture Machine
16. They All Do The Charlie Chaplin Walk 
17. The Peace Patrol 
18. Come Out Of The Kitchen, Mary Ann
19. My Picture Girl 
20. Cartoons In Tunes (Father Was Right)
21. Mickey
22. Dear Old Daddy Long Legs
23. Take Your Girlie To The Movies 
24. The Red Lantern 
25. At The Movie Picture Ball
26. The Sheik of Araby