- Soundies
, 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.
Charles Magnante ,Jimmy Dorsey ,Spike Jones ,Liberace ,Stan Kenton ,Gale Storm ,Kay Starr ,Doris Day ,Gloria Parker , TheHoosier Hot Shots ,Harry "The Hipster" Gibson ,Gene Krupa ,Anita O'Day ,Merle Travis , andLawrence 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 , andStepin Fetchit all made Soundies.Beginning in 1941 Soundies experimented with expanding its format, and filmed comedy Soundies with
Our Gang starCarl "Alfalfa" Switzer , Broadway comic Willie Howard, dialect comediansSmith and Dale , and silent-movie comediansThe 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.elect music Soundies
* "Broadway and Main" with
Stepin Fetchit andGloria Parker , produced by William Forest Crouch, music andlyrics byGloria Parker .
* "Penthouse Party" featuringGloria Parker playing theglass harp and/or musical glasses, produced by William Forest Crouch.References
"The Soundies Book: A Revised and Expanded Guide" (2007) by
Scott MacGillivray andTed Okuda .External links
* [http://www.libentmusic.com libentmusic.com] Soundies - A musical history DVD previews
* [http://www.soundiestv.com/ "Soundies - A Musical History"] , hosted by Michael Feinstein.
* [http://www.1940.co.uk/history/article/soundie/soundie.htm "Soundies - A new form of Entertainment"] , by Nigel Bewley.
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