Citation

Garcia DJ. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 2021; 61(5): 31-58.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021)

DOI

10.1353/cj.2021.0082

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines an unidentified cycle of popular films in the postwar era: the domestic-themed backstage musical. These films have since received relatively little scholarly attention. Musicals such as Mother Wore Tights (Walter Lang, 1947) reflected contemporary social tensions about the endurance of marriage and the relationship between mothers and children by incor-porating themes of divorce, suicide, and miscarriage into the otherwise entertainment-oriented genre. In particular, I focus on how the backstage setting itself became domesticized with increasing narrative emphasis placed on the private space of the dressing room. © 2021, University of Texas Press. All rights reserved.

Language: en