The unit made dozens of extremely successful musical films in the 1940s and into the 1950s, including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), Show Boat (1951), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon (1953).
When musical films became less popular in the mid-1950s, Edens left MGM, opened his own office, and worked on such projects as Funny Face (1957) with Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Kay Thompson at Paramount.
Edens produced a number of films after the mid-1950s, and wrote special material for Garland's Palace Theatre debut in 1951 and her London Palladium concerts the same year.
From 1942–1957 they gave joint birthday parties where each presented a surprise production number with special material featuring their friends, including Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy Dandridge, Maureen O'Hara, Ray Bolger, Ann Sothern, Phil Silvers, Danny Kaye, Charles Walters, Cole Porter, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.
Edens headed the search for the right singer-actor to play Joe, the key supporting character who sings "Ol' Man River", and discovered William Warfield after reading a rave review of his performance in a New York song recital.