Satchel Mouth Baby – Dusty Brooks and the Four Tones
Racists imagery is pervasive in films of the 1940s. To see them in Soundies is distressing and far too frequent. But the fact that the
Racists imagery is pervasive in films of the 1940s. To see them in Soundies is distressing and far too frequent. But the fact that the
Lest we get too comfortable with the great jazz and big band music in the Soundies oeuvre, let us not forget that vaudeville and variety
Johnny “Shadrach” Horace’s career is covered in a previous post, “Lazy River” by the Shadrach Boys. After a screening of this Soundie, Teddy Edwards, a
The Shadrach Boys are virtually unknown today and I think it is time to rectify that situation, at least within the World of Soundies. To
How strange that the Soundies catalogue chooses to describe Louis Armstrong as “Old Satchmo.” Louis was in his early 40s, appears far younger on screen,
While curiosity might have killed the cat, let me pique your curiosity a bit: how about a single-note banjo soloist from 1941 in the style
In early 1945 Louis Jordan’s manager, Berle Adams, came up with a rather unique advertising ploy. Along with William Forest Crouch and other Soundies production
Does size matter in the World of Soundies? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. I’ll let you watch this Soundie and then decide for yourself We’ll
One of the most important jazz artists of the 1940s was Louis Jordan. An African American bandleader whose music crossed over to white audiences, Jordan
Among all of the Soundies that feature “eccentric” performers from the vaudeville and variety stage, there is only one that spotlights a contortionist. But for