“That ‘Hershey Bar’ with the almonds in just the right places….” So begins the catalog description for Cats Can’t Dance, a wonderful Soundie starring “gawges” Mabel Lee. I am not entirely certain what the catalog is saying, and I am not sure that I need to know. But “gawges” Ms. Lee is a fine singer and dancer who was proclaimed the “Queen of Soundies” by Ebony Magazine in 1947. As the cliché goes, “the camera and microphone love her,” and this is a welcome addition to the World of Soundies
“Mabel Lee” is how the opening credits read, although Ms. Lee’s first name is also spelled “Mable” in other Soundies and in the press. “Mable” is how she signed her contracts. Any number of magazine and online articles credit Mable with more than 100 Soundies appearances. While this number is inflated, Mable is nevertheless seen in dozens of Soundies and independent black-cast films.
Mable and her mother moved to Harlem in 1940, and within a year she was dancing in the chorus line at the Apollo Theater. She later appeared at Small’s, the Ubangi Club, Harlem Opera House, and Club Sudan. During the war, Mable traveled in a USO revue with a band led by Eubie Blake. She appeared on early television and was active for many years, performing into the 2000s.
The group backing Mabel is led by Deryck Sampson, a musician who, as string bassist Leonard Gaskin noted, was “a young pianist who they were trying to groom. He got sick and didn’t make it, died somewhere around 1947. I recall that the group played a bit in public, maybe a couple of weeks on 52nd St. During this time, I was working with radio bands during the day, and Charlie Parker at night.” Gaskin, who we see and hear on screen, further noted that Sampson was a man with a lot of technique, but also someone who “got carried away and often just played too many notes.” The fine electric guitarist here is Jimmy Shirley, a strong rhythm man and inventive soloist who was active from 1940 through the mid-1970s. Drummer Denzil Best it’s not as well recorded as one might hope, especially since he was one of the most important drummers on the bop scene, playing on dozens of sides with some of the most important musicians in jazz. An important composer and drummer, Best was on the scene for less than 25 years.
The tune is actually titled “The Cat Can’t Dance” and was probably written by Claude De Metrious, a well-known Harlem songwriter who would later gain recognition, and a steady royalty check, writing songs for Elvis Presley. (His “Hard Headed Woman” was recorded by Presley and reached the top spot on the Billboard charts in 1958.)
Considering that Mabel Lee and the quartet probably first met on the day of the soundtrack recordings, the swinging rapport between vocalist and instrumentalists makes this one of the finest small group Soundies from 1945.