UPBEAT!
SINKIN' IN THE BATHTUB (1930)
Bosko bathes, dances, improvises music and visits his girlfriend Honey to a succession of (once) popular tunes. In 1929 Hugh Harmon & Rudy Ising, fresh from break-ups with Walt Disney & Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, created Bosko the Talking Kid, A year later they, together with Leon Schlesinger, released "Sinkin' in the Bathtub"; the very first LOONEY TUNES cartoon!
Directed by HUGH HARMON and RUDOLPH ISING. 9 mins. NFVLS.
BLACK MUSIC IN AMERICA:
FROM THEN TILL NOW (1971)
Presents the history of black people's contribution to American music from the pioneer days until 1970. Features (among others) LOUIS ARMSTRONG, MAHALIA JACKSON, DUKE ELLINGTON, COUNT BASSIE, NINA SIMONE and (what is reported to be) the only footage of BESSIE SMITH. Dir: Hugh A. Robertson. A Learning Corporation of America production. 28 mins. AAC.
Singing peanut, (ex-)President Jimmy Carter, backed by a chorus-line of leggy, leguminous pulses, "Betty Boo"s his way through RAY CHARLES' "GEORGIA"! Only by seeing it will you believe it!!! Academy AwardTM nominee, 1977. Produced by James Picker, Robert Grossman and Craig Whitaker (Motionpicker Productions). 4 mins. AAC.
FOUR JAZZ SOUNDIES (1942)
Soundies, forerunners to the rock-clip, were made for visual jukeboxes in the 1940s. Here's a set of FOUR numbers featuring LOUIS ARMSTRONG, GENE KRUPA, FATS WALLER & CAB CALLOWAY! 12 mins. NFVLS..
On the stage of the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival - a part of the Sweet Toronto Peace Festival (where "Give Peace a Chance" was the theme) - featuring some of the greatest musical artists of North America. BO DIDLEY, JERRY LEE LEWIS, CHUCK BERRY, LITTLE RICHARD, PHIL DANIELS & Philip Davis all make their appearance in spectacular fashion in enormous cars and the like. A young public jams the stage, ready for long& frenetic hours of music. Euphoria erupts as opener Bo Diddey, electric guitar in hand, appears on stage. After several songs full of force & fury, Bo retires soaked in sweat, followed by Jerry Lee Lewis, who begins his repertoire with a slow sweet ballad. A film by D A Pennebaker, one of the foremost proponents of direct cinema, a style of film-making that favored the immediate recording of reality in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. 94 mins. NFVLS.
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