This Soundie is among the major missed opportunities among 1,869 releases, yet it makes perfect sense in terms of the weekly release for June 26, 1944. So, if not an essential musical short by any stretch of the imagination, it is certainly worth revisiting here.
I would argue that in the 1940s, with the exception of Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Anita O’Day, perhaps the finest singer in jazz was Kay Starr. While nationwide acclaim was still eight years in the future – I refer to the dreaded “Wheel of Fortune” – her 1945-46 recordings for Lamplighter and Crystalette were (and are) true desert island jazz recordings. Kay once told me that her gospel-tinged voice was such that she would occasionally arrive for a nightclub date, and the club manager would express shock that she was not black.
As anyone who is familiar with her 1940s recordings knows, Kay was most comfortable with what would soon be called standards. I shared Kay’s first Soundie, a minor piece by Alec Wilder called Stop That Dancing Up There, many months ago, and you can view it on my website: https://www.jazz-on-film.com/stop-that-dancin-up-there…/
Today we screen a minor-key musical effort from the 1943 Dick Powell and Dorothy Lamour musical, Riding High. I have not seen the film in many years, and my guess is that the song made much more sense within the context of the feature film. To put it bluntly, as a stand-alone tune, I’m the Secretary to the Sultan does not have a lot going for it. The song was written by Leo Robin and Joseph Lilley. Lilley was not happy with it and he asked that his name not be noted on screen. Leo Robbins gets sole credit as composer and lyricist.
The real importance of the Soundie comes to light only when one looks at the weekly release for June 26, 1944. There was a Hawaiian number, some Western swing with Spade Cooley, a Latin number with Carmelita, a classical piece in swing time, Irish tenor Lanny Ross, and the black jazz combo led by Roy Milton. What was needed to round out the release was a comic song-story that also included plenty of scantily-clad women. I’m the Secretary to the Sultan was the perfect film to fill out the reel.
The humor was supplied by Snub Pollard, a veteran of silent comedies, many produced by Hal Roach. Pollard had a difficult time adjusting to sound films, and by the 1940s he was relegated to small bit parts. Still, he would have been familiar too many viewing the film on a Panoram. Society bandleader Joe Reichman provides the instrumental backing, and if this Soundie is not amongst the best, it’s served a purpose by providing variety and comedy – if not a hummable melody – in June 1944.