Below is a marvelous short series of clips of Hollywood in the early 1930s as photographed by the then famous (and now forgotten) Burton Holmes, inventor of the ‘travelogue’. Holmes was a moderately successful ‘travel lecturer’ beginning in the late 19th century when this was a particularly exotic profession. He
This extraordinary piece of film is a new one to me. It shows sections of a trolley ride–the camera mounted in the front of the car–down Broadway, from Herald Square to Union Square sometime in the very early twentieth century. Though the quality of the picture is poor, there is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIja9Yze0U Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler were married from 1928 through 1940. Despite both being major stars during that period they only appeared together once, in Go Into Your Dance (1935). The film, directed by Archie Mayo, features Jolson as a self-destructive Broadway star who, after being banned from working
Yesterday I posted a commercial from 1956 featuring the all-new RCA clock radio. I mentioned that I thought it was an invention from the 70s, not the 50s, and the above 1974 commercial for G.E. clock radios does make it seem falsely like its a new concept. They roped Sammy
Here’s a very nice combo/medley of the Nat Cole trio in 1946 performing a two songs, ‘It’s Better To Be By Yourself’ and ‘Solid Potato Salad’. As in yesterday’s clip the outstanding guitarist is Oscar Moore but this time the bassist is Johnny Miller. At 1:20 there are some excellent
‘Skidoo’, Otto Preminger’s woeful 1968 attempt at a counter-culture comedy, is not looking any better with age. Having said that, it still possesses the most singular of all end credit sequences in which Harry Nilsson (billing himself as just ‘Nilsson’) sings the entire cast and crew list. It’s probably the
Some director–I think it was Leo McCarey–was asked if he had a favorite movie of his own. His answer was that if he could cut together the best parts of all his movies, that would be his own favorite movie. Ask me the same question and you’ll get a different
Recently I decided to unearth a pile of delicate, glass 78rpm records that I’ve been dragging around with me from one house to another over the years, each move threatening the life of these beauties. I hadn’t played them for many years–most were acquired when I was a kid and
Enjoy Alfalfa’s serenade to me today, the day that marks my 59th trip around the sun. Ah, pineapple! Not bad!!
For the grand finale of this weeks tap-centric postings, lets watch the grand finale of ‘Stormy Weather’ (1943) featuring the astonishingly elegant, athletic and altogether delightful dance team of Harold and Fayard Nicholas. This five minute clip includes the opening chorus of Cab Calloway singing ‘Jumping Jive’ so either skip