Today, this correspondent officially tips a top hat worn by Sidney Bechet to the French Quarter and the great tradition of Louisiana music.
The passing of Allen Toussaint last week compelled Your Correspondent to think of the incredible 20th century music talent that preceded him.
As far as the great music of New Orleans goes, the party started at the end of the 19th century with bandleader Buddy Bolden, joined just a few years later by Freddie Keppard, Bunk Johnson and Buddie Petit.
These Crescent City luminaries would soon be followed by pianist and Mississippi riverboat bandleader Fate Marable, cornetist Joe "King" Oliver, Kid Ory, Clarence Williams and Jelly Roll Morton. When Buddy Bolden fell ill in 1907, trombonist Frankie Dusen kept Bolden's group together for a decade under the name The Eagle Band. The New Orleans sound would, in 1923,
culminate in the momentous recording debut of Louis Armstrong with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Orchestra.
Here's Satchmo, still playing at a high level many decades later, with two versions of the Louis Armstrong All-Stars: one with (from Reserve, LA - about 40 miles west of New Orleans) virtuoso clarinetist Edmond Hall and another featuring Kid Ory.
Satchmo had a favorite drummer who was a lifelong friend. Appearing on several Armstrong recordings, this New Orleans percussionist played brilliantly on Satchmo's Hot Fives and, along with fellow New Orleans drummer Baby Dodds, is very important in the development of multiple 20th century music genres - the great Zutty Singleton.
Baby Dodds, the brother of clarinetist Johnny Dodds, made his name on recordings with Oliver, Armstrong and Chicago clarinetist Jimmie Noone.
The innovative Dodds, playing with Noone, would be an enormous influence on a young Chicagoan who played the drums - Gene Krupa.
With Singleton and Dodds, another percussionist who drove those New Orleans bands as Papa Jo Jones powered Count Basie's "Super Chief" was the legendary Paul Barbarin.
In the pre-television era (as opposed to the Jurassic era), New Orleans music, beloved as it was, as a direct result of the color line in the pre-Sidney Poitier days, did not get its proper due in American movies. Even as late as 1946, when songstress Billie Holiday played a role in the movie New Orleans, she was cast as the maid. That's right, cast as the maid, not as a chanteuse, so while Billie sings. . . well, she sounds great, as usual, but it just doesn't look right with her forced to wear that maid outfit!
Fortunately, since Louis Armstrong also appears in the film as a bandleader, he and Billie get to play together, so in the following two numbers, if nowhere else in the movie, Miss Holiday looks just right.
It is quite stunning for those of us living in 2015, an era in which there are a gazillion TV channels, but, curiously, infinitely less choices readily available, to think that many decades ago, music and entertainment NOT entirely aimed at a very young demographic, including wide-ranging recording artists in diverse genres, as well as veteran stars from vaudeville and the movies - could actually be found on television.
That means programs one could watch in the comfort of your living room on a spiffy General Electric, Admiral or Philco TV set!
While it's true that there such Level 1 mass market pop sounds - Sing Along With Mitch and The Lawrence Welk Show for the oldsters, American Bandstand for the teens - on the air which were popular hits, at the same time, all kinds of music somehow, by hook or by crook, made it onto the airwaves. These included such New Orleans legends as George Lewis and Sidney Bechet.
Yes, once upon a time, dear readers, there was, remarkably, quite a bit of Louisiana music on what Ernie Kovacs called "the orthicon tube" in the 1950's and 1960's.
Of course, American jazz could be found on British and French TV (Henry "Red" Allen and Coleman Hawkins especially) in those days as well.
The 64 million dollar question remains, "why did most music disappear from television programming, banished in an era of 500+ channels?"
Well, one reason, to paraphrase Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire, who owns a mansion and a yacht, the primary reason musical genres - including infinitely less progressive ones than those represented by such 20th century modern recording artists as Igor Stravinsky, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Frank Zappa, Anthony Braxton, Morton Subotnick and Terry Riley - have vanished without a trace from the airwaves would be "insufficient pwoffits".
That said, take heart, New Orleans music lovers. Even though finding most genres of music on any television network (including PBS) remains the equivalent of locating a pin deep in a haystack after drinking a fifth of Jack Daniels, there is the annual New Orleans Film Festival, which frequently includes documentaries spotlighting the music of Louisiana.
On the heels of yesterday's horrific events, this blogger joins many here in the United States and around the world who extend good thoughts, prayers and best wishes to the people of Paris (and Beirut as well).
Does a day ever pass in which a visual, musical, literary artist or filmmaker with Parisian roots - some of whom were born in The City of Light, others having made their fame and legend there - does not impact Your Correspondent's stay upon this earth in a most exceptionally positive way?
No - absolutely not.
Enjoy the following trailers. Je Suis Paris!
Today's post concludes with some music by the great Django Reinhardt.
The guitar genius works his magic with Hot Club Of France bandmates Stephane Grappelli, Joseph Reinhardt and clarinetist Hubert Rostaing.
Sad news today. The wonderful Allen Toussaint, songwriter, pianist and recording producer extraordinaire, has passed at 77.
Decided NOT to have this become the "R.I.P. Blog" quite some time ago, but in this case - as I did for satirist Stan Freberg - the music lovers at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog shall make an exception.
Here's just a little taste of beautiful jambalaya sounds by Mr. Toussaint.
R.I.P. to a man who made Planet Earth a better place.
Adieu and most of all, THANK YOU, Allen! And thank you, New Orleans!
This Sunday at 2PM at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda this blogger shall don his official Curator hat and bring old school 16mm silent films to accompany a performance by Jeff Sanford's Cartoon Jazz Septet, who will play selections from Raymond Scott and John Kirby, as well as new compositions by Lenny Carlson of the San Francisco City College music department. Here's the big band version of this ensemble - enjoy!
Cinematically, we shall present the usual suspects from Silent Movie Land: Otto Messmer, the Fleischer Studios, The Hal Roach Studio, Charley Chase, Mack Sennett's Keystone stars Charlie Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Snub Pollard and more. Rhythmix Cultural Works is located at 2513 Blanding Avenue, Alameda, CA 94501. For more info, check out their events page or call 510-856-5060.
The cinema and pumpkin-crazed rapscallions at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog send our very wishes for a Happy Halloween.
We raise a hemlock-filled toast with the following snippets of celluloid, cartoon and video goodness, starring a veritable rogues' gallery of our very favorite artistes!
Serge Bromberg and Lobster Films have taken on a most ambitious task: restore the legacy of that fellow who may have been the singularly most talented individual to ever make movies: one of the all-time greats, Buster Keaton.
The Buster Keaton Restoration Project will include Buster's ingenious and hilarious 1920-1923 short films, as well as the Comique Productions series produced in 1917-1920, featuring Keaton as part of a physical comedy "dream team" with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John.
Here are just a few frame grabs to pique both the classic movie fan's and Buster Keaton aficionado's interest. They are quite amazing to behold for those dyed-in-the-wool silent comedy buffs who remember when all one could see of these historic films were washed-out 18th generation 16mm film dupes.
Again, here is the link for The Buster Keaton Restoration Project. The fundraiser ends Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7PM Eastern Standard Time. We extend a tip of the Max Linder top hat to everyone who has contributed and everyone who will contribute to this fundraiser.
"While her performing style could be very broad, she also had a gift for small, insightful gestures that could bring a moment of pathos and feeling into the knockabout. She was equally adept at being demure or projecting a world-weary cynicism. " Steve Massa
"Like her contemporaries Alice Howell, Mabel Normand, Marie Dressler, and Louise Fazenda, Gale took many bumps and bruises in the name of laughter alongside her male comedian counterparts in an estimated two hundred fifty-eight shorts and features, some of the craziest of which she wrote. " The Women Film Pioneers' Project
“Treat a dog kindly and he’ll do anything in the world for you.” Gale Henry
Our contribution to the 2015 Silent Cinema Blogathon, hosted with panache by In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood and Lauren Champkin, starts with an unanswerable question.
Just who was the funniest comedienne of silent movies? Of course, what specifically tickles one's funny bone is a matter of personal taste, and this is tantamount to pondering who was a better baseball player, Willie Mays or Roberto Clemente. The temptation is to open and close this question emphatically with Marie Dressler and Marion Davies, tied for that honor on the strength of the devastatingly funny MGM features The Patsy and Show People.
That said, there were many remarkable comediennes in the WW1 era and 1920's. Some died very young, way before the likes of author/documentary filmmaker Kevin Brownlow and Sam Gill of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences could interview them.
The wonderful "Madcap Mabel" Normand headlined features starting in 1917, but made her last film in 1926 and passed away in 1930.
Other top comediennes from silent movies simply retired from show business.
There were some amazingly funny comediennes from silents who, possibly due to frequent appearances as supporting players rather than headliners, get a bit of short shrift.
In the opinion of Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, topping that list would be one of the funniest women ever to appear before a 35mm movie camera - and the only one to enjoy a highly successful career as a comedienne, character actress AND as a trainer of talented dogs for the movies: the fabulous Gale Henry (1893-1972).
Much of Gale's work - and that's hundreds of comedy shorts made by Universal, Nestor, L-Ko and Bull's Eye/Reelcraft from 1914-1919 - has been lost due to vault fires. Indeed, silent movie aficionados know all about it - the inevitable Nitrate Won't Wait reality.
That includes an overwhelming majority of the short subjects Gale headlined (including the Lady Baffles & Detective Duck series that spoofed cliffhanger serials), as well as her excellent character roles in a good many feature films.
At one point, she seemed to be making two films a week for the ridiculously prolific Universal Joker series, directed by Allen Curtis.
Your Correspondent reiterates: Gale Henry starred in HUNDREDS of comedy shorts, mostly for Universal, then for Nestor and L-Ko, throughout the WW1 era. Here are a couple of them. She imbues her roles with tremendous personality and chutzpah.
After the aforementioned gazillion appearances in Universal, Nestor and L-Ko comedy shorts, Gale organized her own production company and starred in her own series, writing them or co-writing the comedy short subjects with first husband (and director) Bruno J. Becker.
The following, The Detectress, both funny and emphatically politically incorrect even by the lax standards of 1919, can be seen on disk 4 of the Slapstick Encyclopedia DVD set.
Gale moved on to play numerous character parts as spinsters and most officious ladies, shining in such films as Open All Night and Merton Of The Movies.
At the same time, she continued appearing as a guest star in numerous comedy shorts.
These included Gale's roles as a semi-regular featured player in the comedy short field's "gold standard", the Hal Roach Studio's series starring Charley Chase, crafted with comic ingenuity and sophistication by its headliner-director-writer, in collaboration with director Leo McCarey. This writer considers His Wooden Wedding, featuring a quintessential Gale Henry performance, arguably the funniest comedy short ever made.
While Gale's memorable character roles in Charley Chase comedies would continue into talkies, gigs in front of the cameras in general began dwindling while her second career was as dog trainer supreme picked up steam. Gale and husband Henry East had started the kennel as a side business, soon to find that East Kennels would - please pardon the Fractured Fairy Tales style play on words - became top dog in the field. Later such talented trainers as Frank and Rudd Weatherwax (Lassie) were taught by the Easts.
The most famous of the winsome fur-bearing movie stars trained by East Kennels was none other than everybody's favorite screen canine - well, not named Pete or Cameo - the pooch seen in Thin Man movies and in Bringing Up Baby, the amazing Skippy, otherwise known as Asta.
As far as Gale's stellar work as a dog trainer goes, the splendid science writer Kate Kelly wrote a rather amazing piece for the America Comes Alive website about the beloved Asta and it does have some prime material on the Easts.
Not a heck of a lot has been written about Gale's 20-year movie career, but the late Kalton C. Lahue, the aforementioned Sam Gill and Steve Massa (from the Billy Rose Performing Arts Library) have certainly given it the old college try with their impeccably researched and breezily written studies of silent comedy history, Clown Princes & Court Jesters and Lame Brains And Lunatics: The Good, The Bad And The Forgotten Of Silent Comedy, respectively - musts for any classic film buff's bookshelf.
In closing, we who are Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog extend big time thanks to Jim Kerkhoff, the historian from whose collection the photos in this post came from, the Laurel & Hardy and Another Nice Mess websites - and especially Crystal and Lauren for hosting the Silent Cinema Blogathon.
Tomorrow's presentation of Big Screen Fun, curated by Your Correspondent, features - on GLORIOUS 16mm film - the usual suspects: Otto Messmer, Fleischer Studios, The Hal Roach Studio, Charley Chase, Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and more.
Accompanying the vintage movies: LIVE MUSIC by Jeff Sanford Cartoon Jazz Septet - Raymond Scott, John Kirby and new compositions by (Straight Outta San Francisco City College's superb music department) Lenny Carlson.
The talented and prolific writers Crystal (In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood) and Lauren are hosting The Silent Cinema Blogathon all weekend. Our contribution will be a post on one of Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog's all-time favorite movie comediennes, Gale Henry.
A veritable slew of good and ambitious writers are putting in their two cents as well with the following topics:
If you are an aficionado of the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival but reside in the East Bay, especially the Oakland- Emeryville-Berkeley-El Cerrito area - it's time for another of the monthly programs at The Art House Gallery on Shattuck. At this one, Movies For Monsters, the scuttlebutt is that there will contributions for all three archivists of the Psychotronix Film Festival.
Tomorrow, one can take a headlong leap into the 1950's science fiction time capsule at the New Rheem Theatre on 350 Park Street, Moraga, CA 94556.
Headlining The Classic 50's Science Fiction Film Festival, Part 2: The Thing, It Came From Outer Space, The War Of The Worlds and Forbidden Planet - and a personal appearance by actress Ann Robinson.
Programmer/curator Derek Zemrak did a tremendous job with Part 1 of the Classic 50's Science Fiction Film Festival, back on May 16th.
It will be a day of Big Screen Fun for all 1950's sci-fi film fans. To contact the New Rheem Theatre's box office, call (925) 388-0751. Main office: (925) 388-0752. And. . . by all means, watch the skies! watch the skies!
