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Asoundie is a shortAmerican film displaying both the audio and video of a musical performance. Over 1,850 soundies were produced between 1940 and 1946,[1] regarded today as "precursors tomusic videos".[2] Soundies exhibited a variety of musical genres in an effort to draw a broad audience.
The shorts were originally viewed in public places on some 5,000 "Panorams",[3] coin-operated, 16mm rear projection machines built by theMills Novelty Company of Chicago. Panorams offered multiple selections of a constantly changing rotation of soundies, and were typically located in public venues like nightclubs, bars, and restaurants. AsWorld War II progressed, soundies also featured patriotic messages and advertisements forwar bonds. Hollywood films were censored but soundies weren't, so the films occasionally had daring content likeburlesque acts; these were produced to appeal to soldiers on leave.[2]
Soundies were filmed professionally on black-and-white 35mmtheatrical motion picture stock, but were printed on the more portable and economical 16mm film.[4]
ThePanoram "movie jukebox" was manufactured by theMills Novelty Company of Chicago. Eachrear-projection Panoram housed a 16mmRCA film projector, with eight soundies films threaded in an endless-loop arrangement. A system of mirrors flashed the image from the lower half of the cabinet onto a front-facing screen in the top half. Because of the mirror arrangement, the films had to be printed with the image "flipped" (with the titles appearing backwards on the screen). Each film cost 10 cents to play, with no choice of song; the patron saw whatever film was next in the queue. Panorams could be found in public amusement centers, nightclubs, taverns, restaurants, and factory lounges, and the films were changed weekly. The completed soundies were generally made available within a few weeks of their filming, by the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America.[5]
Several production companies filmed the soundies shorts in New York City, Hollywood, and Chicago:James Roosevelt's Globe Productions (1940–41), Cinemasters (1940–41), Minoco Productions (owned by Mills Novelty, 1941–43),[6][7] RCM Productions (1941–46), LOL Productions (1943), Glamourettes (1943), Filmcraft Productions (1943–46), and Alexander Productions (1946) led byWilliam D. Alexander).[8] The performers recorded the music in advance, and mimed to the soundtrack during filming.
The movie-jukebox idea developed several imitations and variations of the technical design; the most successful of these imitators were the Techniprocess company (managed byRudy Vallee) and the Featurettes company, which used original novelty songs and usually unknown talent (such as a 17-year-oldGwen Verdon, appearing as "Gwen Verdun"). As soundies quickly gained most of the market for jukebox films, the other companies disbanded, and some sold their films to the Soundies concern.[9]
Soundies emphasized variety from their beginning; the first three bandleaders who contracted for soundies were boogie-woogie specialistWill Bradley, established popular music maestroVincent Lopez, and Hawaiian singer-leaderRay Kinney.[10] Soundies displayed all genres of music, from classical to big-band swing, and from hillbilly novelties to patriotic songs.Jimmy Dorsey,Louis Jordan,Spike Jones,Stan Kenton,Kay Starr,Johnnie Johnston,Les Brown, TheHoosier Hot Shots,Charlie Spivak,Martha Tilton,Gene Krupa,Anita O'Day,Jimmie Dodd,Merle Travis, andLawrence Welk were some of the leading soundies performers. Many soundies artists were show-business veterans, likeBenny Fields,Gus Van,Cliff Edwards,Ann Pennington,Sally Rand,Harry McClintock,Nick Lucas, andPatricia Ellis. Many stars of the future made appearances in soundies at the beginning of their careers, includingGale Storm,Dorothy Dandridge,Ricardo Montalbán,Liberace,Doris Day,Gloria Grahame,Cyd Charisse,Alan Ladd,Marilyn Maxwell, andYvonne DeCarlo.
Many nightclub and recording artists also made soundies, includingHarry "The Hipster" Gibson,Frances Faye,Gloria Parker,Charles Magnante, andMilton DeLugg. In the mid-1940s, during a moratorium imposed byJames Petrillo of the musicians' union, Soundies resorted to filming nonmusical vaudeville acts, featuring exotic dancersSally Rand andFaith Bacon, animal acts, roller-skating exhibitions, acrobats, impressionists, and jugglers.
Beginning in 1941, Soundies experimented with expanding its format, and filmed comedy soundies withOur Gang actorCarl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Broadway comicWillie Howard, dialect comediansSmith and Dale,Harry Langdon,Snub Pollard, andThe Keystone Cops. Most of these films were nonmusical, and were not as well received as the musical soundies. Soundies abandoned the comedy-sketch idea, but continued to produce filmed versions of comic novelty songs.
Some bandleaders recognized the promotional value of soundies. Will Bradley, Vincent Lopez, and Ray Kinney were the first, as has been mentioned, andOzzie Nelson,Cab Calloway,Louis Armstrong,Lawrence Welk, andLouis Jordan[11][12] followed. The most prolific soundies bandleaders were Johnny Long (18 titles) andStan Kenton (17 titles);[13] cowboy entertainerRed River Dave was almost as prolific (14 titles).
More than 1,800 soundies minimusicals were made, many of which have been released on home video.[14] The soundies films were regularly described and reviewed in the entertainment and music trade publications, such asBillboard.
During their first year, the soundies made millions of dollars.[15] However, in late 1941, the federal government restricted the use of rubber and precious metals, prioritizing these resources for military use during wartime. This meant that Mills Novelty could no longer build and sell Panoram machines, and had to confine its activities to keeping the existing projectors supplied with films.[16] Soundies became strictly a production company, dedicated to making its own musical shorts.
The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America remained active until 1947. With commercial television developing rapidly, the Soundies machines and films became obsolete. Almost all of the Panoram jukeboxes were either junked or modified into self-service "peepshow" machines. Most remaining Panorams are in the hands of collectors and are occasionally offered for sale.
The library of approximately 1,800 soundies films was made available first to home-movie companiesCastle Films andOfficial Films, then to television via Official's TV division, and ultimately to home video (via England'sCharly Records, which acquired the Official prints and negatives). The trade publicationBillboard reported in February 1951 that Official Films had spent $300,000 preparing the Soundies film library for television syndication, under the series title "Music Hall Varieties"; Official earned more than $700,000 from local TV stations.[17]
Three documentaries have been produced about soundies. Don McGlynn produced and editedThe Soundies in 1986, hosted byCab Calloway; the film was broadcast nationally onPBS. Dewey Russell compiled an hourlong, direct-to-video history,Soundies: Music Video from the '40s in 1987, narrated by Michael Sollazzo. Chris Lamson producedSoundies: A Musical History, hosted byMichael Feinstein, in 2007 for PBS.
For today's filmmakers and archivists, soundies are known for preserving rare performances ofAfrican-American artists who had fewer opportunities to perform in mainstream films. Such artists asThe Ink Spots,Fats Waller,[6]Duke Ellington,Louis Jordan,Sister Rosetta Tharpe,Dorothy Dandridge,Big Joe Turner,Bob Howard,Billy Eckstine,Count Basie,The Mills Brothers,Herb Jeffries,Cab Calloway,Meade Lux Lewis,Lena Horne,Louis Armstrong,Nat King Cole, andStepin Fetchit all made soundies (several of these were excerpted from longer theatrical films).
The 1942 SoundieJam Session with Duke Ellington was added to theNational Film Registry in 2001.
The soundies concept was revived in 1951 by producerLouis D. Snader. Radio stations relied on transcriptions—recorded musical performances. Snader brought the idea to television with films, which he called "Snader Telescriptions." Snader hired dozens of pop-music acts and vaudeville performers, many of whom had already appeared in soundies, to star in his new films. Snader Telescriptions are often confused with soundies because of their similarity in length and personnel.[18] Almost all of the Snader Telescriptions were in black-and-white, although a few Snader Telescriptions were made available in both color and black-and-white.
In 1958, the original Soundies "jukebox" concept was revived by French company Cameca asScopitone. Similar to soundies, scopitones are short musical films designed to be played on a specially designed coin-operated jukebox, but with new technical improvements -- color and high-fidelity sound. Scopitones were printed on color 16mm film with magnetic sound, instead of soundies' black-and-white film with optical sound. By the mid-1960s, Scopitone jukeboxes had spread across England and the United States.
Singer and actressDebbie Reynolds formed a production company, Harmon-EE, with film executiveIrving Briskin to supply films for scopitone in America. These began production in 1965, and prints were made byTechnicolor. Like soundies decades before, the new scopitones machines were built in Chicago. The Scopitone machines were expensive -- $4,220 for the projector and 36 films -- and each film cost 25 cents to watch, but the franchise found success across the country in approximately 1,300 lounges and nightclubs. Unfortunately for Reynolds, some of the behind-the-scenes financing in America came from underworld sources, leading to financial mismanagement and federal investigations, and the entire enterprise ground to a halt in 1969.[19]
