Easy virtue - Let's misbehave

While looking for versions of Cole Porter's song "Let's Misbehave" I stumbled across the film Easy Virtue that was released last year. "Let's misbehave" is the tagline of the movie and the song is also included in the film.

Easy Virtue is set in England in the early 1930's, where a young man marries an American which is not approved by his mother. The main characters are played by Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth.

There is also a soundtrack from Easy Virtue available.

I think the film look charming and would like to see it. Has anyone got it?

Read more about:

• Let's Misbehave
• 1930's
• Films and movies

Have you seen Easy Virtue? What do you think of it? Please comment.

Jail House Blues - Hal and Honey Abbott

Here is a comedic dance routine by Hal Abbott and Honey Abbott from the short film "Woody Herman and His Orchestra" from 1938.

Mostly they dance shag but they also do tap dancing and some charleston kicks. I'm not sure but they could also be dancing Peabody (1:14-1:24), can anybody set me straight?

I think that the solo footwork that Hal Abbott does in the very last seconds of the video clip is really amazing. Wow.

Can anyone tell me more about Hal and Honey Abbott?

What do you think of Hal and Honey Abbott dancing to Jail House Blues? Please comment.

Wingy Manone - Ochi Chornya

Here is Wingy Manone and his Orchestra performing "Ochi Chornya" in a recording from 1938.

The YouTube poster, edmundusrex has uploaded a lot of songs with artists from the 1920s and the 1930s. A goldmine to dig into and discover more about early jazz and blues artists.

I don't have time to browse through them all, why don't you take a look at his videos and recommend your favorite clips in the comments below?

You also might want to check out 100 Great Records Of The 1920s.


What do you think of Wingy Manone performing Ochi Chornya? What is your favorite clip?Please comment.

Charleston dancing in Europe in the 1920's

Charleston became a dance craze in the 1920's and traveled over to Europe as well. Above is a video clip from 1929 with a British band and some dancers dancing Charleston.

If you are interested in old footage from the 1920's and 1930's, you should check out the YouTube profile for jozefsterkens, who posted the clip above. He has posted over 700 other video clips.

You can find out more about dance history at http://dancehistory.org/

What do you think of the video clip with Charleston dancing? Please comment.

Alice Faye and Louis Prima: I'm Just Wild About Harry

A while back I wrote about Louis Prima being the voice behind King Louie in The Jungle Book, but Louis Prima has been in front of the camera as well. Take a look at his wild and funny style in this video clip where Alice Faye sings "I'm Just Wild About Harry" accompanied by Louis Prima in the movie Rose Of Washington Square from 1939.

The handsome bloke that is looking at the show, enjoying it, is played by Tyrone Power who was the Brad Pitt of the 1930's.

I recognize the lick that Louie plays at 0:45 into the clips, but from what other song? Do you know?

What do you think of the video clip with Louis Prima and Alice Faye? Please comment.

"Anything goes" at Grand

You can see the musical Anything Goes at Grand tonight and on Sunday. The poster above has all the details.

Anything Goes was first performed in 1934 and the musical has music and lyrics by Cole Porter and is based on a book by P.G. Wodehouse (who also wrote the books about Jeeves and Wooster).

Some famous jazz songs from this musical is played at swing dances now and then: Anything Goes (of course) and I Get A Kick Out Of You. One Broadway version included the song Lets Misbehave.

Have you seen "Anything goes" at Grand? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Dancing to save your sole: Al Norman

If you have been a long time reader of this blog you might remember the dancer Al Norman and his rubber legs. In the video clip above Al Norman dances in the number "Dancing To Save Your Sole" together with Nancy Carroll. The band is Abe Lyman and his Orchestra.

I think the clip is from Paramount on Parade from 1930 and that the presenter is Skeets Gallagher.

What do think of the video clip with Al Norman? Tell me.

Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 70 years ago

Today it's the 70th anniversary of Benny Goodman's concert at Carnegie Hall, a concert that really helped swing to become mainstream music. The climax of the concert was the performance of the song Sing, Sing, Sing.

Here is a video clip of Sing, sing, sing with Benny Goodman's orchestra from the movie Hollywood Hotel from 1937.

You'll notice Gene Krupa on drums and Harry James on trumpet.



This version is very short compared to the Carnegie hall version which is 12 minutes long.

What do you think of the video clip with Benny Goodman playing Sing, Sing, Sing? Tell me.

Mills Brothers sampled in Bathtime in Clerkenwell

I first heard the song "Bathtime in Clerkenwell" by The Real Tuesday Weld a couple of years ago in a commercial on tv and it was Per Starbäck who identified it for me. I then discovered that the scatting vocals in the song are sampled from the song "Sweeter than sugar" recorded by the Mills Brothers on September 12th 1934.

You can find the song "Sweeter than sugar" on The Mills Brothers Vol 2 from the label Giants of Jazz.

The video clip with Bathtime in Clerkenwell (found on the album "I, Lucifer") is quite surrealistic, but I think it's very nicely done.

What do you think of the music video for "Bathtime in Clerkenwell" by The Real Tuesday Weld? Tell me.

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers - I Won't Dance

Enjoy this video clip with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to the song "I Won't Dance".



The video clip is from the movie Roberta (1935). The music of "I Won't Dance" is written by Jerome Kern and the lyrics that appear in the film are written by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh (original lyrics was written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach [Wikipedia])

What do you think of the video clip with Fred Astaire tap dancing to "I Won't Dance"? Tell me.

Good News: Al Norman dances again with his fantastic footwork

Penny Singleton and "Rubber Legs" Al Norman perform this dance number to the song "Good News" from the film Good News from 1930 . The music is played by Abe Lyman and his Orchestra.

It's certainly good news to find this video clip with Al Norman with his extraordinary footwork. Copy this if you can! (Please do!)



What do you think of the video clip with Al Norman dancing to Good News? Tell me.

The Nicholas Brothers perform “Lucky Numbers”

Enjoy this video clip with The Nicholas Brothers tap dancing to "Lucky Number".

The video clip is from The Black Network, a 1936 short with a fifteen-year-old Harold and twenty-two-year-old Fayard Nicholas performing “Lucky Numbers” by Cliff Hess.

About 45 seconds from the end you can hear a riff borrowed from the song Nagasaki (from 1928 written by Harry Warren, who also wrote Chattanoga Choo Choo).

If you like this clip you'll also like Jumpin' Jive with Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers and Glenn Miller Orchestra with Chattanooga Choo Choo featuring Dorothy Dandridge together with Fayard and Harold.

What do you think of the video clip with The Nicholas Brothers performing “Lucky Numbers”? Tell me.

Ain't she sweet? Lilian Roth sings karaoke

You might think that karaoke singing is modern social phenomena but films with sing-along subtitles has been around much longer, just cast an eye at the charming Lilian Roth singing the song "Ain't she sweet?".



Oh my, ain't that perfection! I repeat, don't you think she's kind of neat?

Note how she gives you instructions to sing along with the bouncing ball much like the karaoke machines nowadays. This video clip is just a part of a longer short film or soundie that even includes an animated cartoon part but I can't find it online anymore (do you know where the whole film is? Tell me.)

Is there someone who has any information about sing-along singing back in the 1930's and 1940's? Did people go to the theatre to sing together? Did they gather around the Panoram machine? If you know something, please tell me.

"Ain't She Sweet" was composed by Milton Ager & Jack Yellen in 1927. They also composed songs as "Hard Hearted Hanna", "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Happy Feet".

What do you think of Lilian Roth singing "Ain't she sweet?"? Tell me.

Red Nichols - Everybody Loves My Baby

Sometime I come across jazz musicians whose name I've heard but haven't really listened to. One of those was trumpeter Red Nichols, here is a video clip with Red Nichols & His Five Pennies playing "Everybody Loves My Baby".




The video clip with Red Nichols & His Five Pennies is the last part of a soundie from 1935. My favorite quote from the video (hilarious):

"Oh, Red, Please don't sing,
Pick up your horn, and play that thing!"

What I think is interesting in this clip is the mix between hot jazz and swing. One thing that is also noticeable is the slang words in the lyrics "she's my sheba, I'm her sheik". Those slang words became popular one decade earlier in 1921 when the silent movie "The Sheik" starring Rudolph Valentino was released. That film also inspired the jazz standard "Sheik of Araby".

What do you think of Red Nichols? What other recordings of Red Nichols should I listen to? Tell me.

Film: Quintette du Hot Club de France

Sometime around 1938-1939 The Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grapelli as prominent members of the jazz group made a tour to England. To promote the tour and to explain the difference between jazz and the contemporary english music a short film was made for the english audience. Here is the film with Quintette du Hot Club de France.



This kind of jazz is often called gypsy jazz. The Quintette du Hot Club de France is unusual because the band has only string instruments.

What do you think of the video clip with Quintette du Hot Club de France? Tell me.

Al Norman has rubber legs in Happy Feet from The King of Jazz

Here is a video clip from the film King of Jazz where "rubber legs" Al Norman dances to Paul Whiteman's band performing the song "Happy Feet".

What an amazing display of cool footwork! He does wacky dance moves with such style and grace. After him comes a long chorus line with girls which you don't see novadays (unless you go to Las Vegas), really nice syncronization.



The King of Jazz was released in 1930 and also features Bing Crosby. Wikipedia has more information about the movie.

If you like this video clip you should also check out Melissa Mason dancing to the song Dinah.

What do you think of this video clip from "King of Jazz"? Tell me.

My Baby Just Cares For Me

If you think of the song "My Baby Just Cares For Me", you'll most likely associate it with singer och pianist Nina Simone. Her version of the song has made such an impression that many people think it was her composition. But in fact the music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn in 1930. They also wrote another song that Nina Simone used to perform: Love Me Or Leave Me.

Here is a video clip with the group Cotton Club Singers that has made a version of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" that stays close to Nina Simone's version but they have added some harmony singing.



I really like the "jazz club feeling" in how this video is shot. The group is from Hungary, learn more about the Cotton Club Singers at their website.

Also interesting (maybe more) is what the song sounded like by contemporary bands in the 1930's. Here is a sound clip with "My Baby Just Cares For Me" with Harry Hudson's Band with Sam Browne on vocals.



What do you think of the video clips? Tell me.

Boswell Sisters: Heebie Jeebies

Here is a great clip from 1932 with the Boswell Sisters singing Heebie Jeebies.



The clip is from the movie The Big Broadcast. The Boswell Sisters were Connee, Martha and Vet.

The origin of the expression Heebie Jeebies is explained here. In the song they mention the "Heebie Jeebie dance", does anyone know if this was an actual dance or purely fictional? If you got some information, please tell me.

What do you think of this video clip with Boswell Sisters singing Heebie Jeebies? Tell me.

Sing before breakfast with Vilma & Buddy Ebsen

Here is a video clip with Vilma & Buddy Ebsen doing a tap dance routine in a number called Sing before breakfast. Follow the link to learn more about them. Eleanor Powell is also tapping with them.



The clip is from the movie "Broadway Melody of 1936" from 1935. Did you know that Buddy Ebsen was supposed to play the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz but he got sick from the makeup which contained aluminium powder.

What do you think of this video clip with "Sing before breakfast" with Vilma & Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell? Tell me.

Swing dj Svante Grundberg at Dekadans

Don't miss swing dj Svante Grundberg at Dekadans tonight. Svante Grundberg lives in Stockholm where he djs a lot. Svante is also an actor who has appeared in Swedish cult movies such as "Göta Kanal" and "Sällskapsresan".

Together with Björn Wallde he had a tv program called "Nattsudd" where they played music clips from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Have you heard Svante Grundberg dj swing before? What do you think? Tell me.