Jukeboxxx

Nat King Cole Trio

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:10:44 -0500

Nat King Cole Trio

1936 Nat King Cole Trio - Hit That Jive, Jack Yessir. Even Nat...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:10:00 -0500

1936

Nat King Cole Trio - Hit That Jive, Jack

Yessir.

Even Nat King Cole.

circa 1929 Trixie Smith - Jack I’m Mellow

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:02:49 -0500

circa 1929

Trixie Smith - Jack I’m Mellow

1937 Assassin of Youth trailer dir. Elmer Clifton

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:39:00 -0500

1937

Assassin of Youth trailer

dir. Elmer Clifton

poster for Assassin of Youth, 1937

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:37:16 -0500

poster for Assassin of Youth, 1937

Reefer Madness

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:41:00 -0500

Reefer Madness

1936 Reefer Madness dir. Louis J. Gasnier To make up for missing...

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:35:00 -0500

1936

Reefer Madness

dir. Louis J. Gasnier

To make up for missing yesterday… the 1936 classic, Reefer Madness. The entire thing.

For serious.

An hour and eight whole minutes of pleasure.

Tell your children!

1932 Cab Calloway - Reefer Man Letting one of my favorite singer...

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:46:00 -0500

1932

Cab Calloway - Reefer Man

Letting one of my favorite singer / bandleaders kick off Reefer Madness week, yaaaaa’ll.

There is an audio version of this song, but Cab Calloway is one of those people who is better when seeen and heard. Also, the film version is about twice as fast as the recorded version. No stoners in this band, I’d imagine— at least not on the day this was filmed. Except for maybe Cab himself. …because who wouldn’t want to lead a snappy brass band and tap dance while stoned out of their skull?

Cab did.

And he did it better than most.*

* This blog has no proof of actual drug use by Mr. Cab Calloway. But I mean… just look at this dude. For real.

1928 The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower While this song was...

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:18:00 -0500

1928

The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower

While this song was written in 1860, the Carter Family were the first to record it almost 70 years later.

And it is a beautiful recording— the song became one of the Carter Family’s most popular tunes. This song endures on its own and through various covers (by Joan Baez and Merle Travis, to name a few), though the original lineup of the Carters broke up in 1943 when two of its three members divorced. A later reincarnation of the band included granddaughter June Carter Cash.

Years later, in the film version of A Prairie Home Companion, Meryl Streep’s character would sardonically remark upon her character’s place on a dying talk radio show, saying, “We’re like the Carter Family… Only, not famous.”

The Carter Family

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:17:57 -0500

The Carter Family

1932 Betty Boop in Stopping the Show dir. Max Fleischer The...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:44:00 -0500

1932

Betty Boop in Stopping the Show

dir. Max Fleischer

The first of Betty’s “imitations” (starting at about 3:38), is an imitation of Helen Kane herself. Betty performs part of Kane’s hit, “That’s My Weakness Now.”

1928 Helen Kane - I Wanna Be Loved By You While enjoying wild...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:25:00 -0500

1928

Helen Kane - I Wanna Be Loved By You

While enjoying wild success in the 1920’s, Helen Kane’s career was pretty much dead in the water by the 1930’s.

Soon after she’d been exiled to the Land of Forgotten Pop Artists, a cartoonist by the name of Max Fleischer introduced a character he called Betty Boop.

Kane tried to sue Fleischer for creating a caricature of her stage and film persona, saying it created “unfair competition” for her in the entertainment industry. The lawsuit was later dismissed, and Betty Boop went on to become a cultural icon of the 20th century.

Helen Kane

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:23:00 -0500

Helen Kane

1945 Winston Churchill announching the unconditional surrender...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:48:00 -0500

1945

Winston Churchill

announching the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

Winston Churchill and I both apologize for the brief post famine...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:41:00 -0500

Winston Churchill

and I both apologize for the brief post famine here on Jukeboxxx. We now return to our regularly-scheduled programming.

Winston Churchill ain’t nuttin to fuck with.

circa 1925 Al Jolson - Yes Sir! That’s My Baby A...

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:59:00 -0500

circa 1925

Al Jolson - Yes Sir! That’s My Baby

A one-minute quickie, compliments of Mr. Al Jolson.

Thanks, ol’ buddy.

Sheet music for “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby”...

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:58:00 -0500

Sheet music for “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” (1925)

1941 The Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Though their...

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:07:50 -0500

1941

The Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy

Though their tight harmonies influenced generations of girl groups after them, many of their contemporary bandleaders hated The Andrews Sisters. Their vocal arrangements blared so loudly— purposefully imitating the sounds of bugles themselves— that they often competed with (and bested) any orchestra’s horn section.

The Andrews Sisters

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:06:00 -0500

The Andrews Sisters

1929 Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy - When the Levee...

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:47:00 -0500

1929

Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy - When the Levee Breaks

This is a great and enduring classic, written about the 1927 flooding of Mississippi. Some 40 years later, a group of young upstarts who called themselves Led Zeppelin recorded a version of this song that faded into complete and total obscurity.

I mean, who’s even heard of Led Zeppelin?