Tap dancer Conrad “Little Buck” Buckner was most know for his appearances on television variety shows in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Little Buck is noted for a 1965 challenge performance with Peg Leg Bates on the Ed Sullivan show, upon which he performed at least six times. Billie Mahoney, who Buck was often booked with […]
MORE ...Duke Ellington makes his film debut in the short produced in 1929 based on his pivotal composition Black and Tan Fantasy.
MORE ...In this clip, the great boxer Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Champion of the World (1908–1915), conducts the song Tiger Rag, showing that he is quick on his feet both in the ring and on the stage. After defeating James J. Jeffries in original “Fight of the Century” in 1910, Jack Johnson became a cultural icon in […]
MORE ...This short, a swingy rendition of the classic jazz standard Sweet Sue, Just You, includes chorus lines, neat harmonies, and loads of tap dancing. A Broadway-like number set to film, this short played in 1940s movie theaters between the Bugs Bunny cartoon and a B-movie. A popular song composed in 1928 by Victor Young and […]
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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