Two wildly successful and acclaimed comedies that use musical interludes to propel the plot and comment on the action directly - like a Greek Chorus. Lead characters do not break into song.

As Stubby Kay and Nat King Cole create transitions in CAT BALLOU and the Singing Sirens lure the men at the river in O BROTHER - the songs live in the story.

COME AUGUST 1915 has four musical sequences that occur when a character is drunk, dreaming, or attending a live performance. The songs are in the music styles of the era – Vaudeville, Tin Pan alley, Gilbert and Sullivan. Two of these can be heard on the landing page of this site. The New Gold Rush and This European War.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

1915 represents the last innocent year of the new century. America still hopes it can avoid the conflict raging in Europe. The war cleaves American-born children from their immigrant parents. The country turns its eyes to the West. San Francisco celebrates the opening of the Panama Canal. Hollywood brings dreams of freedom and a new future. It's the age of the telephone, the automobile and the dawn of aviation. The old world is history. President Wilson is elected on promises to keep the US out of the conflict. The future is American and it rises in the West.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Donney worked for 30 years as an advertising creative director, writing classic commercials for toys and games including: Mouse Trap, Hungry Hippos, Operation, Game of Life, Transformers, Rescue Heroes, Furby, My Little Pony, Battleship and Girl Tech. Many of the tag lines and jingles are memes in pop culture today.