Description
The 1940s saw a brief audacious experiment in mass entertainment: a jukebox with a screen. Patrons could insert a dime, then listen to and watch such popular entertainers as Nat "King" Cole, Gene Krupa, Cab Calloway or Les Paul. A number of companies offered these tuneful delights, but the most successful was the Mills Novelty Company and its three-minute musical shorts called Soundies.
This book is a complete filmography of 1,880 Soundies: the musicians heard and seen on screen, recording and filming dates, arrangers, soloists, dancers, entertainment trade reviews and more. Additional filmographies cover more than 80 subjects produced by other companies. There are 125 photos taken on film sets, along with advertising images and production documents. More than 75 interviews narrate the firsthand experiences and recollections of Soundies directors and participants. Forty years before MTV, the Soundies were there for those who loved the popular music of the 1940s. This was truly "music for the eyes."
About the Author
Mark Cantor is a Los Angeles-based musicologist, historian and archivist of jazz and popular music on film. He is the curator of the Celluloid Improvisations Music Film Archive, perhaps the largest privately held collection of musical performance on 16mm film worldwide. For more information, please visit the author's website at www.jazz-on-film.com.
Reviews
"It's an intriguing concept: an oversized, seven-foot-tall jukebox with a 22-by-17-inch screen positioned at eye level. In the 1940s, customers at a bar or restaurant could put in a dime and watch and listen to three-minute musical films called 'soundies.' Musicologist Cantor provides interviews with former performers and a technical history of the making and marketing of soundies....For 10 cents, twice the cost of a regular jukebox, people could watch celebrities, such as Nat King Cole, Gene Krupa, Cab Calloway, and Les Paul perform, and see stars such as Alan Ladd, Doris Day, Gloria Grahame, and Cyd Charisse make their first screen appearances....[This is] a detailed catalogue of 1,880 soundies, their production and casting notes, and more."-Library Journal
"For a remarkably comprehensive work on those films, the two volume book The Soundies by film archivist and historian Mark Cantor really cannot be equaled... The amount of research that went into this work is quite astounding... Cantor's writing style is lively, accessible and, while filled with information, quite colorful and affectionate towards the subject... The storytelling is warm and consistently interesting... Includes everything one would ever want to know about these priceless and fun times in a very readable fashion."-Syncopated Times
Book Information
ISBN 9781476683133
Author Mark Cantor
Format Paperback
Page Count 893
Imprint McFarland & Co Inc
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc
Weight(grams) 2341g
Dimensions(mm) 279mm * 216mm * 45mm
