Soundies

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Comedians Charlie Dale (left) and Joe Smith in a comedy sketch, filmed in 1941 for Soundies movie jukeboxes.

Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced by professional film crews in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946. (The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was released in March, 1947.) The films were displayed on the Panoram, a coin-operated film jukebox, in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, factory lounges, and amusement centers.

Soundies covered all genres of music, from classical to big-band swing, and from hillbilly novelties to patriotic songs. Jimmy Dorsey, Spike Jones, Liberace, Stan Kenton, Gale Storm, Kay Starr, Doris Day, Gloria Parker, The Hoosier Hot Shots, Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, Gene Krupa, Anita O'Day, and Lawrence Welk were a few of the Soundies stars. More than 1800 of the Soundies mini-musicals were made, and many of them have been released to home video.

Today Soundies are perhaps best known for the performances of African-American artists who had fewer opportunities to perform in public venues. Fats Waller, Louis Jordan, Dorothy Dandridge, Big Joe Turner, Meade Lux Lewis, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, and Stepin Fetchit all made Soundies.

Beginning in 1941 Soundies experimented with expanding its format, and filmed comedy Soundies with Our Gang star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Broadway comic Willie Howard, dialect comedians Smith and Dale, and silent-movie comedians The Keystone Kops. Most of these films were non-musical, and were not as well received as the musical Soundies. Soundies abandoned the comedy-sketch idea, but continued to produce filmed versions of comic novelty songs.

[edit] Music Soundies

• Broadway and Main with Stepin Fetchit and Gloria Parker, Produced by William Forest Crouch, music and lyrics by Gloria Parker.

[edit] References

The Soundies Book: A Revised and Expanded Guide (2007) by Scott MacGillivray and Ted Okuda, [1] and [2].

[edit] External links

• libentmusic.com Soundies - A Musical History DVD previews

• Soundies on PBS, "Soundies - A Musical History, Hosted by Michael Feinstein", http://www.soundiestv.com/ .

• Nigel Bewley, "Soundies - A new form of Entertainment", http://www.1940.co.uk/history/article/soundie/soundie.htm .