Growing up with a television set in the house during the 60s and 70s, some of my fondest family memories revolve around the stay-at-home activity of tuning in to the weekly broadcast of “Saturday Night at the Movies.” In that simpler time the simplest pleasure was in watching the flickering images on the big black and white screen, and falling in love with the beautiful people, stunning locations, and the (sometimes) outrageous situations portrayed in the films of Hollywood's glory-days.

As any fan of old film (or 'foof', as we're called) will tell you, a large part of the magic of these movies is contained in the underscoring, that through-line of music that can make an otherwise lackluster performance seem important, and make a good one seem brilliant. As a kid with an active imagination, I would often hear during life's difficult moments the sympathetic strains of Max Steiner (Gone With The Wind,) David Raksin (Laura,) or André Previn (Valley Of The Dolls.)

It's been brought to my attention many times that as a singer of standards I appear to have an affinity for music associated with motion pictures. I suppose my love of the movies and their stars is obvious to an audience, but why wouldn't it be, when I've taken such pleasure in telling the story of certain films when setting up a song on stage. And wouldn't you enjoy telling folks about the beautiful lovelorn couple portrayed by Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney in ”Two For The Road”?

In putting the songs together for this package, a movie song is defined as a song written for, performed in, or featured peripherally within a motion picture. A number of the songs we've selected were written expressly for that past master of song and dance, Fred Astaire, who developed many of the principle techniques for capturing dance on film that are still in use to this day. His original interpretations of songs like the Academy Award winner, The Way you Look Tonight inspired in their sincerity the hundreds of popular recordings to follow.

But not all of these songs are Academy Award nominees. Of the selections here that were featured in but not associated with a particular film, is the big band era favourite, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You, which was most notably performed by Tommy Dorsey and the Orchestra in a film vehicle created for Abbot and Costello. And from Joan Crawford's only true Technicolor movie, the now camp-classic “Torch Song,” is the mesmerizing You Won't Forget Me, to which Joan moved her mouth while the luscious voice of India Adams wafted from the screen.

Thankfully, not all of the voices heard to sing in the movies were provided by off screen performers. Many of the stars could actually sing, some quite expertly in fact. Jeanette MacDonald was a good singer before and after she was teamed with the mediocre Nelson Eddy, and we feature “Lover” which at the time was performed as a waltz. Opera Star Lily Pons was also among those artists to be imported briefly to Hollywood, and I Dream Too Much was also a waltz written for her by Jerome Kern.

Hollywood produced many musicals for the big screen, and while most were original productions, many were imported directly from the Broadway stage. From the heyday of Hollywood and Broadway musicals comes A Lot Of Living To Do, from “Bye Bye Birdie,” which starred a stunning, young Ann-Margaret, who from the moment she appeared on the screen over the opening credits became not only the film's star, but an entertainment icon for the balance of the century.

By the 1960s, the movies and the music had begun to change direction, and in Europe, a young film composer came to prominence whose impact on the medium continues to be felt. Michael Legrand is as much an American icon as a French one now, and from “Les Parapluies De Cherbourg” we offer his haunting I Will Wait For You. While “I Could Go On Singing” this brief selection will have to suffice. My sincerest hope is that you'll find as much joy in hearing these songs as I had in watching the movies I first heard them in.