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Eight mini musicals featuring landmark performances by the legends of jazz and blues

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974 (Conductor)
Corporate Authors:	Harvey Sheldon Jewish American Music Video Research Library (University of Pennsylvania), Kino International Corporation (Producer), Paramount Pictures Corporation (1914-1927) (Producer)
Other Authors:	Anderson, Ivie (Performer), Blumenstock, Mort, 1900-1956 (Director, Screenwriter), Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994 (Conductor, Performer), Cozine, Ray, 1898-1973 (Director), Crosby, Bing, 1903-1977 (Performer), Holiday, Billie, 1915-1959 (Performer), Lopez, Vincent, 1894-1975 (Conductor), Merman, Ethel (Performer), Murphy, Dudley (Director, Screenwriter), Pearce, Leslie (Director), Sack, Alfred N. (Producer), Sennett, Mack, 1880-1960 (Producer), Smith, Bessie, 1894-1937 (Performer), Waller, Fred, 1886-1954 (Director), Washington, George Dewey (Performer), Zukor, Adolph, 1873-1976 (Producer)
Format:	Unknown
Language:	English
Published:	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [between 2000 and 2009]
Subjects:	1921-1930 1931-1940 To 1930 Blues (Music) > 1931-1940 Blues (Music) > To 1930 Jazz > 1921-1930 Jazz > 1931-1940 PRO Sheldon, Harvey (donor) Blues (Music) Jazz Musicals Performances Short films Video recordings

Description
Summary:	Eight mini musicals featuring landmark performances by the legends of jazz and blues Musical shorts, produced to merely fill out the film program, have in many cases acquired more value than the features they once supported. They offer unparalleled opportunities to see and hear great artists in action - and sometimes present surprisingly gutsy subject matter via truly innovative film technique. Case in point: this volume presents priceless blues-oriented footage from the early years of sound. The legendary "Empress of the blues", Bessie Smith, stars in her only film, the once-notorious musical drama "St. Louis Blues". Teenaged Billie Holiday performs with Duke Ellington's Orchestra in "Symphony In Black", perhaps the greatest of Ellington's shorts. Another Ellington piece, "Bundle Of Blues", spotlights his favorite band singer, Ivie Anderson, while George Dewey Washington's powerful baritone transcends some stereotypical situations in "Ol' King Cotton". And, months before her Broadway debut, an unnervingly girlish Ethel Merman defends her life before a judge in the surreal "Her Future", shot at the Paramount studio in Merman's hometown (Astoria, Queens). Also staring in this volume - definitely in a lighter vein - are bandleader Vince Lopez (who conducts a bouncy "St. Louis Blues" in "Those Blues"), Cab Calloway ("Jitterbug Party"), and Bing Crosby performing his theme song "Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day"
Item Description:	Symphony in black and Jitterbug party originally released as motion pictures in 1935, Those blues in 1932, Ol' king cotton and Her future in 1930, A bundle of blues and Blue of the night in 1933, St. Louis blues in 1929
Physical Description:	1 videodisc (83 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in
Format:	DVD-R