Structured entries
- CALIFORNIA ELECTION NEWS #2
(1934)
1059B
“1059b”
right column
- LOUIS ARMSTRONG IN COPENHAGEN
(1934)
- JAZZ HOT
(1939)
w/ Django Reinhardt
- DEAR ARABELLA
(1942)
- ROSIE THE RIVETER
(1942)
Transcription (raw)
## HEADING: 1300B
In the Orient (1929) preserves a performance by Tony Sarg (1880-1942), father of modern puppetry in North America. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sarg's troupe toured with such productions as "Treasure Island" and "Alice in Wonderland," more than three million people saw his shows at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Sarg was also an illustrator, made silhouette films, and designed Macy's animated Christmas window displays. This film was preserved from a 35mm silent print with a separate 16-inch Vitaphone disc for the sound.
## LEFT COLUMN
California Election News #2 - USA, 1934, 0:52
The notorious fake California Election News was secretly produced by MGM in 1934 for the film industry's campaign against Union Sinclair, author of The Jungle and many other works. Sinclair's EPIC (End Poverty in California) platform won him a landslide Democratic nomination for governor. Vertically aligned at one of the dirtiest-ever campaigns. The people in these "candid" interviews are actors; the films were designed to frighten voters into selecting any candidate except Sinclair!
## RIGHT COLUMN
Ain't She Sweet - (with Lillian Roth), Fleischer Studios, USA, 1932, 7:11
19th century song pluggers in vaudeville theaters and in the streets invited audiences to join in the chorus; this tradition of participation appeared in movie theaters by the mid-tenors. When sound arrived, Fleischer Studios' delightful "screen songs" added witty animated prologues and celebrity singers to prepare the audience for the ball that bounced through the lyrics.
Babes on Broadway (1933) has appeared in many video collections.
Ub Iwerks' bizarre Ballroomland (1933) is one of the first cartoons in three-color Technicolor made after Disney's exclusive license on the process expired early in 1936. A few shots innovative animation filmed vertically with characters moving among three-dimensional sets. The pioneering Hetichers also made Ko-Ko, Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman cartoons. This edition is mastered from an original 35mm dye transfer print.
Play Safe - Fleischer Studios (Technicolor), USA, 1936, 7:05
In the 1920s, radio brought African-American music into the mainstream; early sound films presented black vaudevillians, bands, and singers to movie audiences. Rad-A-riors presents the Utica Jubilee Singers, students at Utica (Mississippi) Normal and Industrial Institute (now Hinds Community College). Their choral arrangements (known as "Jubilees") were published in Europe in 1927-28 before making this 1929 film; restored in 1992 from a 35mm silent positive and its separate 16-inch Vitaphone sound disc.
Rad-Ariors - (with the Utica Jubilee Singers), Columbia, 1929, 9:18
RCA produced Black and Tan to showcase its Photophone sound system. Film Daily said upon the film's release in November, 1929: "Duke Ellington directed a story. The late Karl Emil Knudsen, well-known Danish producer of jazz records, purchased the original negative from Dudley Murphy and supplied it with avant-garde sequences while also telling his all-colored orchestra put over the hot Jazz - and how." Director Dudley Murphy collaborated with Fernand Leger on Ballet Mecanique in 1924 and seasons this film with a former employee of its producer, the Jam Handy Organization; it is presented through his courtesy, and is included in the National Film Registry.
Black and Tan - (with the Duke Ellington Orchestra), RCA, USA, 1929, 18:10
Master Hands - Chevrolet Motor Co., Jam Handy, USA, 1936, 31:48
This astonishing advertising film made in 1938 for Philips Radio in Holland is the work of a brilliant animation pioneer, George Pal. In the process Pal called "puppetoons," puppets composed of numerous interchangeable wooden parts are filmed frame-by-frame. Pal devoted months of work to this five-minute dream in Technicolor!
Master Hands (1936) is a sponsored pean to the machine age, an almost-wireless celebration of industrial production at the Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan. Apparently produced for showing at a stockholders meeting, it was never distributed as seen here, but was later reworked for more prosaic uses. The unique original print of Master Hands was rescued by Rick Pringler from the garage of a former employee of its producer, the Jam Handy Organization; it is presented through his courtesy, and is included in the National Film Registry.
Philips Broadcast of 1938 - George Pal, Philips Radio, Holland, 1938, 4:57
This print came from a show factory in Hungary that received old film to be rendered into glue. When the manager saw the films without cans, he decided against destroying them and bought the prints for the equivalent price of the glue. He put the films in the attic of his country house, where Lobster Films found and bought them from his grandson. This group consisted of about 300 reels of film including many silent French and German films previously believed lost, and the only known complete 35mm print of the 1927 Laurel & Hardy comedy Flying Elephants. But in September, 2007, we discovered another complete print of the same film, in Britain!
MGM Promo Reel - (with Laurel & Hardy), MGM, France, 1936, 8:30
During Hollywood's "golden age," studios produced elaborate books, trailer reels, and junkets to sell the studio's seasonal block of releases to exhibitors. This one for France from MGM features Laurel & Hardy (dubbed into French); it also announces films that later became classics.
C'est chic - (with Michel Simon) - Caporal, 1935, 1:31
The following three films from 1939-38 present Fernandel, Jacques Tati and Michel Simon, each an important French film star, in screen adventures which were projected in commercial cinemas. Film ads in Europe predated the American practice by several decades.
Week-End - (with Fernandel) - Virginia Week-End Tobacco, France, 1938, 2:17
As with newsreels, commercials were often left behind in theatres as the producers did not request return of the prints. At Lobster, we used to pile them all on one shelf, without keeping track of where they were found. But one day when the shelf was full, we decided to watch them all, and found these among many others.
## HEADING: PROGRAM THREE - PERSUADE ME
In the Orient (1929) preserves a performance by Tony Sarg (1880-1942), father of modern puppetry in North America. In the 1920s and 1930s, Sarg's troupe toured with such productions as "Treasure Island" and "Alice in Wonderland," more than three million people saw his shows at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Sarg was also an illustrator, made silhouette films, and designed Macy's animated Christmas window displays. This film was preserved from a 35mm silent print with a separate 16-inch Vitaphone disc for the sound.
## RIGHT COLUMN
Ain't She Sweet - (with Lillian Roth), Fleischer Studios, USA, 1932, 7:11
19th century song pluggers in vaudeville theaters and in the streets invited audiences to join in the chorus; this tradition of participation appeared in movie theaters by the mid-tenors. When sound arrived, Fleischer Studios' delightful "screen songs" added witty animated prologues and celebrity singers to prepare the audience for the ball that bounced through the lyrics.
Babes on Broadway (1933) has appeared in many video collections.
Ub Iwerks' bizarre Ballroomland (1933) is one of the first cartoons in three-color Technicolor made after Disney's exclusive license on the process expired early in 1936. A few shots innovative animation filmed vertically with characters moving among three-dimensional sets. The pioneering Hetichers also made Ko-Ko, Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman cartoons. This edition is mastered from an original 35mm dye transfer print.
Play Safe - Fleischer Studios (Technicolor), USA, 1936, 7:05
In the 1920s, radio brought African-American music into the mainstream; early sound films presented black vaudevillians, bands, and singers to movie audiences. Rad-A-riors presents the Utica Jubilee Singers, students at Utica (Mississippi) Normal and Industrial Institute (now Hinds Community College). Their choral arrangements (known as "Jubilees") were published in Europe in 1927-28 before making this 1929 film; restored in 1992 from a 35mm silent positive and its separate 16-inch Vitaphone sound disc.
Rad-Ariors - (with the Utica Jubilee Singers), Columbia, 1929, 9:18
RCA produced Black and Tan to showcase its Photophone sound system. Film Daily said upon the film's release in November, 1929: "Duke Ellington directed a story. The late Karl Emil Knudsen, well-known Danish producer of jazz records, purchased the original negative from Dudley Murphy and supplied it with avant-garde sequences while also telling his all-colored orchestra put over the hot Jazz - and how." Director Dudley Murphy collaborated with Fernand Leger on Ballet Mecanique in 1924 and seasons this film with a former employee of its producer, the Jam Handy Organization; it is presented through his courtesy, and is included in the National Film Registry.
Black and Tan - (with the Duke Ellington Orchestra), RCA, USA, 1929, 18:10
Master Hands - Chevrolet Motor Co., Jam Handy, USA, 1936, 31:48
This astonishing advertising film made in 1938 for Philips Radio in Holland is the work of a brilliant animation pioneer, George Pal. In the process Pal called "puppetoons," puppets composed of numerous interchangeable wooden parts are filmed frame-by-frame. Pal devoted months of work to this five-minute dream in Technicolor!
Master Hands (1936) is a sponsored pean to the machine age, an almost-wireless celebration of industrial production at the Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan. Apparently produced for showing at a stockholders meeting, it was never distributed as seen here, but was later reworked for more prosaic uses. The unique original print of Master Hands was rescued by Rick Pringler from the garage of a former employee of its producer, the Jam Handy Organization; it is presented through his courtesy, and is included in the National Film Registry.
Philips Broadcast of 1938 - George Pal, Philips Radio, Holland, 1938, 4:57
This print came from a show factory in Hungary that received old film to be rendered into glue. When the manager saw the films without cans, he decided against destroying them and bought the prints for the equivalent price of the glue. He put the films in the attic of his country house, where Lobster Films found and bought them from his grandson. This group consisted of about 300 reels of film including many silent French and German films previously believed lost, and the only known complete 35mm print of the 1927 Laurel & Hardy comedy Flying Elephants. But in September, 2007, we discovered another complete print of the same film, in Britain!
MGM Promo Reel - (with Laurel & Hardy), MGM, France, 1936, 8:30
During Hollywood's "golden age," studios produced elaborate books, trailer reels, and junkets to sell the studio's seasonal block of releases to exhibitors. This one for France from MGM features Laurel & Hardy (dubbed into French); it also announces films that later became classics.
C'est chic - (with Michel Simon) - Caporal, 1935, 1:31
The following three films from 1939-38 present Fernandel, Jacques Tati and Michel Simon, each an important French film star, in screen adventures which were projected in commercial cinemas. Film ads in Europe predated the American practice by several decades.
Week-End - (with Fernandel) - Virginia Week-End Tobacco, France, 1938, 2:17
As with newsreels, commercials were often left behind in theatres as the producers did not request return of the prints. At Lobster, we used to pile them all on one shelf, without keeping track of where they were found. But one day when the shelf was full, we decided to watch them all, and found these among many others.
## HEADING: PROGRAM TWO - GRACE NOTES
Louis Armstrong in Copenhagen - Denmark, 1934, 9:05
After a decade performing in and recording with the top hot jazz bands of New Orleans, Chicago and New York, legendary trumpeter and vocalist Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930, and then toured Europe. Armstrong's work in this period remains a foundation stone in all of Jazz history. These three numbers were filmed in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1934.
Jazz Hot - (with Django Reinhardt), France, 1939, 8:20
Jazz Hot is a major discovery - a unique sync sound film record of Django Reinhardt, greatest of jazz guitarists, here with violinist Stephane Grapelli and his all-colored orchestra put over the hot Jazz - and how." Director Reinhardt's work in this period remains a foundation stone in all of Jazz history. These three numbers were filmed in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1934.
Dear Arabella - Soundies Dist. Corp., USA, 1942, 2:38
Ancestors of music videos, the next three films were made during World War II for color-operated jukebox devices found in restaurants, bars, and train stations. On built-in glass screens, they projected 16mm films of artists performing popular tunes. These examples, although not in perfect condition, are time capsules of their era. William Frawley was a vaudevillian and musical comedy performer decades before he played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy.
Rosie the Riveter - Soundies Dist. Corp., USA, 1942, 2:38
Blackhawk Films bought Yankee Doodle for a preposterous amount of money; the seller felt compassionate about it and sent us the other two as a gift, along with many more.
