In this serendipitously surreal short “A Jazz Etude,” tap dance extraordinaire Billy Burt dances up a storm in top hat, tuxedo tail and cane. Is he floating? And that screwy soundtrack … a mishmash of ‘Flight of the Bumblebee,’ ragtime fills, and 1930’s jazz cliches, is remeniscent of Carl Stalling or Raymond Scott. Still, I […]
MORE ...If you were taking a sea cruise from the Eastern Seaboard to the West Coast via the Panama Canal, this might be the film you’d see before disembarking in San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. An exquisite travel film documenting the magnificent landscape and locales of pre-WWII California, this film showcases classic school California, […]
MORE ...Mack Sennett: The Bees’ Buzz – 1929
MORE ...In this clip, the undocumented Brown sisters sing the number “Underneath the Harlem Moon.” The soulful trio starts the song slow and syncopated. But this gives way to an almost swingy up-tempo rhythm more than worthy of being captured on film.
MORE ...In 1930, Jimmie Rodgers was probably one of the hottest Americana pop artists in America. Five years later, he would be dead. Born in 1897, a native of Mississippi, Jimmie Rodgers, along with the Carter Family, would influence generations of country musicians to come as the Blue Yodeler with songs like “In the Jailhouse Now,” […]
MORE ...In this soundie from the early 1930’s, Frank Westphal’s Orchestra performs Sing You Sinners live on WENR Chicago. Westphal, a native to Chicago, began his career as a pianist-for-hire in vaudeville around 1910. It was during his time on the circuit that the up-and-coming performer met the great singer Sophie Tucker who hired him as […]
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