ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the use of cue sheets found in several North American collections, demonstrating how cue sheets were actually used by accompanists at some of the largest motion picture palaces of the 1920s. The earliest of these columns, dating from 1908, primarily argue for or against the inclusion of accompanimental music or discuss what kinds of music are most appropriate for the nascent art form. Although debates about what kinds of music were appropriate for film lasted well into the sound era, directors, producers, critics, and performers all agreed that accompanimental music served a narrative function and assisted in establishing geographical, chronological, and other loci, both acousmatically and within the diegesis of the medium. Advice columns for accompanists published in industry trade journals – written by the same composers and arrangers listed – also advocated for the acquisition of cue sheet-referenced pieces on cinema musicians, claiming them as essential for the sophisticated cinema music library.
