Plot Summary

Sparkling performances by Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Al Jolson, the teenage Dorothy Dandridge and the flash-dancing Nicholas Brothers light up this great documentary that originally aired on educational television. Using rare and never-before-seen footage, singer-pianist and musical historian Michael Feinstein hosts an informative look at the composers and lyricists who wrote America's standards from the 1890s through the mid-1950s.