The Hollywood film musical featured, among all kinds of production numbers, some presenting instruments and instrumentalists shown while performing. This became a typical attraction, which this article tackles in a historical and aesthetical perspective. These numbers can be related to Hollywood’s position between two other media: the Broadway stage and the radio. The film industry thereby offers an original spectacle while benefiting from the musicians’ circulation across media spaces. Aesthetically, the numbers are directed and edited following recurring principles, on the one side imitations of other iconographic traditions and on the other side the design of a of visual musicality. Common forms can be identified beyond the musical styles involved in those numbers (jazz, swing, latin or classical music). Numbers with instruments thus appear as an important part of the Hollywood cultural syncretism.