Fred Waller
2021
Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life
Fred Waller
Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday
A rising nineteen-year-old singer by the name of Billie Holiday made her screen debut in this musical landmark, which features Duke Ellington and his orchestra performing his symphonic jazz piece “A Rhapsody of Negro Life” set to scenes of everyday African American life.
Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life
Swing Hutton Swing
Fred Waller
Ina Ray Hutton
Singer-dancer Ina Ray Hutton started out on Broadway at age 8 and performed with the big bands of Harry James and Artie Shaw, but it was as a pioneering band leader herself in the 1930s that she made her name. Hutton organized her first all-women big band, Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears, in 1935. A few film appearances for the band and a starring role for Hutton in Ever Since Venus (1944), along with endless national touring, eventually led her to NBC and a musical variety show in 1956. In this Paramount short, one of a series directed by Fred Waller who went on to invent Cinerama, Hutton—grooving up front in her standard sheer evening dress—and the original Melodears, perform “Organ Grinder’s Swing Overture” followed by The Winstead Trio doing “The Bugle Call Rag.”
Swing Hutton Swing
Melody Magic
Fred Waller
Johnny Green, Marjory Logan
Here is Johnny Green conducting his lush dance orchestra in a medley of four of his own popular compositions. His band singer Marjory Logan and The Tune Twisters (male trio) sing two more Green songs (both with lyrics by James Dyrenforth): "What Now" and "Not Bad." Green chastises his second pianist (and arranger), Dave Terry, for infringing on Green's musical territory. With the aid of trick photography, Green, with a wave of his baton, reduces the orchestra to miniature size, then Dave Terry does the same to Green. The film closes with an intricate version of "Sweet Sue-Just You"(Victor Young-Will Harris), featuring Green's saxophone section.
Melody Magic
Paramount Headliner: Broadway Highlights No. 1
Fred Waller
In the first of Paramount's "Headliner" series, narrator Ted Husing travels up and down and around Broadway and other main stem New York City locations, and views the likes of Earl Carroll picking show-girls for hie Varieties; Al Jolson and Jack Benny rehearsing their radio programs; and other celebs, such as Gary Cooper visiting The Big Apple, and Bea Lillie and Sophie Tucker and others caught by the Headliner camera.
Paramount Headliner: Broadway Highlights No. 1
Underneath the Broadway Moon
Fred Waller
Isham Jones, Eton Boys
Here is the first of two shorts Isham Jones did for Paramount. "You're Just a Dream Come True" (Theme), Medley: "I'll See You In My Dreams", "On The Alamo", ":It Had to be You" "Spain", "I Can't Believe it's True", "This Little Piggie Went to Market" Vocal by Vera Van, "Inka Dinka Doo" Vocal by the Eton Boys' "Lizst's Second Hungarian Rhapsody"
Underneath the Broadway Moon