This collection of 1940s music videos, also known more widely as “soundies”, was released by Official Films. It features some outstanding performances by African American singers, jazz performers and boogie woogie musicians.

The first features Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing “Blues in the Night”. The credits indicate was film was originally produced by Minoco, which was owned by Mills Novelty of Chicago. For a time, Mills made a sort of closed-loop 16mm video juke box known as a Panoram. The film dates after 1942, when Calloway first released the song. Cabell “Cab” Calloway III was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His career spanned over 65 years.

At screen time 14:56 trumpeter Louis Armstrong and his band, as well as Nicodemus, are featured in “Shine”. This was produced by R.C.M. Productions / Sam Coslow and directed by a Russian emigre named Josef Berne. R.C.M. was actually an acronym of the last names of company founders Roosevelt, Coslow, and Mills. R.C.M. owned the trademark to the term “soundies” back in the day. Shine was originally recorded by Satchmo in 1931.

At 17:49, the gospel group The Charioteers are presented by Minoco singing “Oh, Susannah”.

At 20:39, Fats Waller is presented by Minoco singing “Ain’t Misbehavin'”. This was directed by Warren Murray and produced by Fred Waller. This was one of Waller’s standards, with his innovative Harlem stride style, which laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano, clearly on display. The performance dates to 1938; Waller died in 1943 at the age of 39.

At 23:54, Maurice Rocco presents Rhumboogie, produced and directed by William Forest Crouch. Crouch is probably best known for having directed Astor Picture’s African American musical “Reet, Petite, and Gone.” Though less famous than others in this reel, Rocco was known for playing boogie-woogie piano and his disdain for using a piano bench. He was a top nightclub and theater draw in the 1940s, and made several film appearances.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com