Blu-ray Disc Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Hoagie Carmichael, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Doris Day, Duke Ellington, Ricardo Montalban, Spike Jones, Vanita Smythe, Gale Storm, Merle Travis, Fats Waller.
Summary:
Soundies has been called the music videos of the 1940s, but that doesn't begin to describe their cultural importance. It's true that they feature a remarkable range of talent, from big-band luminaries like Duke Ellington and Count Basie to then-emerging stars like Doris Day and Ricardo Montalban, and lesser-known artists of the American nightclub circuit. But Soundies are also a rich, largely overlooked chronicle of American popular culture during and just after World War II. Produced for coin-operated jukeboxes in neighborhood bars and taverns, Soundies has an uncanny way of revealing what Americans were thinking about topics that weren't discussed openly, from sexuality to ethnicity and race. This four-disc collection presents a diverse sampling of 200 shorts, jazz, country-western, folk, and the boogie woogie roots of rock 'n' roll.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.