The Golden Age of Movie Musicals and Me

Chaplin, a songwriter, pianist, vocal arranger, music director and producer, has worked on such movie musicals as The Jolson Story, An American in Paris, West Side Story and The Sound of Music. In this chatty memoir he recounts how he started out in Hollywood in 1940 with a songwriting partner, Sammy Cahn, went on to Columbia Pictures and MGM, and ultimately became involved, in various capacities, with dozens of movies. Outspoken about the people he has known during his career, he has harsh words for Harry Cohn, the imperious head of Columbia, and Al Jolson, whom he found abusive to everyone. Chaplin offers fond reminiscences of Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Leonard Bernstein, Julie Andrews, Oscar Levant and Cole Porter. His prose is unsophisticated, but his anecdote-filled story is engaging. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)