The response to the Second World War on the Panoram screen was unequivocally patriotic, a no-holds barred pro-America answer to our involvement in Europe and the Pacific. As one might expect, viewers saw and heard sentimental ballads like “White Cliffs of Dover” and “Apple Blossom Time.” One the other hand, Soundies presented up-tempo, jaunty, self-confident and often humorous songs such as “Der Fuhrer’s Face,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” Less well-known is this tune, “The Day of Hitler’s Funeral,” retitled on the Panoram screen When Hitler Kicks the Bucket.
This Soundie is a lilting, bouncing rhythm tune performed by Toni Lane. Lane began her singing career in the mid 1930s on theater and nightclub stages and like many variety performers spent a great deal of time on the road. In the late 1930s, Lane was with a traveling show dubbed the Star Lane Revue, after which she performed for newly inducted soldiers in a program that toured military bases in the Northeast. After the war Lane was featured at Chicago’s Rio Cabana. After an engagement in Miami, Lane seems to have left entertainment and moved on.
This tune, composer unknown, was produced as a Soundie in August 1943, toward the end of the recording ban. A non-union band accompanies Lane as she sings the cute lyrics – far too cute, considering what Hitler had done throughout the previous decade.