Scopitone is a type ofjukebox featuring a16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner ofmusic videos. The 1959 ItalianCinebox/Colorama andColor-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time one year before the Scopitone in France.[1]
Based onSoundies technology developed duringWorld War II,[2] color16 mm film shorts with a magneticsoundtrack were designed to be shown in a specially designed jukebox. The difference between thePanoram and the Scopitone jukebox was that with Panoram the 16mm films were black and white with optical sound and there was no selection among the 8 short films in the jukebox, whereas Scopitone featured color (in the US produced filmsTechnicolor), with Hi-Fi magnetic soundtracks, with selection available between all 36 Scopitone films in the Scopitone Jukebox. Scopitone films, like Soundies, featured recordings that performers lip synced to, with at least one exception;Billy Lee Riley was recorded live performing the song "High Heel Sneakers" in his Scopitone.[3]
Between 1940 and 1946, three-minute musical films called Soundies (produced inNew York City,Chicago andHollywood) were displayed on aPanoram, the first coin-operated film jukebox ormachine music. These were set up in nightclubs, bars, restaurants and amusement centers.
After 2005, the word 'Scopitone' was dedicated as a name for type of music video which is highlighted on musicians, playback artists, and composers on screen. Composer and conductorJames Horner first used the Scopitone name for his video as a remembrance of the Scopitone jukebox.
The first Scopitones were made in France by a company calledCameca on Blvd Saint Denis in Courbevoie, among themSerge Gainsbourg's "Le poinçonneur des Lilas" (filmed in 1958 in thePorte des Lilas Métro station),[4]Johnny Hallyday's "Noir c'est noir" a French version ofLos Bravos' "Black Is Black") and the "Hully Gully" showing a dance around a swimming pool.
Scopitones spread toWest Germany, where theKessler Sisters burst out of twin steamer trunks to sing "Quando Quando" on the dim screen that surmounted the jukebox. Scopitone went on to appear in bars inEngland, including a coffee bar inSwanage where "Telstar" was a favourite. By 1964, approximately 500 machines were installed in the United States, most of which were deliberately targeted atcocktail lounges and adult establishments, in part to avoid competition with the jukebox industry for the teen audience.[5] By 1966, reportedly 800 machines were installed in bars and nightclubs in the US, at a cost of $3500 apiece.[6] This, in turn, required production of new Scopitone films for the American audience, many of which were produced on contract withDebbie Reynolds's production company.[7]
Several well-known acts of the 1960s appear in Scopitone films, ranging from the earlier part of the decadeThe Exciters ("Tell Him") andNeil Sedaka ("Calendar Girl") toBobby Vee ("The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and "Baby Face") and later 1960s acts such asGary Lewis ("Little Miss Go-Go"),Jody Miller ("The Race Is On" and her biggest hit "Queen of the House") andProcol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale"). In one Scopitone recording,Dionne Warwick lay on a white shag rug with an offstage fan urging her to sing "Walk on By". Another hadNancy Sinatra and a troupe of go-go girls shimmy to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". Inspired byburlesque,blonde bombshellJoi Lansing performed "Web of Love" and "The Silencer", andJulie London sang "Daddy" against a backdrop of strippers.[8]Mary "Dee Dee" Phelps ofDick and Dee Dee recalled in 2006 being asked to record a Scopitone for one of their more obscure records and not their biggest hit; when she saw the finished product, she was appalled by its disjointed appearance.[7] The artifice of such scenes ledSusan Sontag to identify Scopitone films as "part of the canon ofCamp" in her 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp'".
The medium's focus on adult audiences, and the resulting avoidance of or inability to lure the superstar American orBritish Invasion acts of the era, was a factor in its demise;[9] for example, whenThe Beatles decided to enter the music video business in 1965, they opted to bypass the Scopitone and distribute their promotional films via television. Other factors included the declining taste and poor quality of the productions (particularly those made in the United States), changing taste towardpsychedelic rock and a late 1960s sting that revealed that the Scopitone business had deep ties to theSicilian Mafia.[7]
Even though the popularity of the Scopitone had faded away by the end of the 1960s,[9]the same concept was still in limited use throughout the 1970s by acts such as theCarpenters andABBA, both of whose early productions were shot on 16mm film before transitioning tovideotape. Toward the late 1960s, films produced for the rivalColor-Sonic video jukebox were adapted to the Scopitone. The last official film for a Scopitone was made at the end of 1978.
In 1990, a selection of Scopitones was screened at the Jewel Box theater inSeattle byDennis Nyback.[10][11]
In 2006, French singerMareva Galanter released several videos which mimic the Scopitone style. Galenta's albumUkuyéyé features several songs in the FrenchYé-yé style. She also recently hosted a weekly French television program called "Do you do you Scopitone" on theParis Première channel.[12]
As of 2012, one of the few Scopitones not in a museum or private collection in the United States is atThird Man Records inNashville, Tennessee.[13] Many Scopitone films have been released onDVD or made available on theinternet.[9]
The Swiss technology museumEnter has one Scopitone on display.
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