Film

Soundies: A Musical History Hosted by Michael Feinstein

2007 · 1h 16m · Documentary · Music · History

IMDb

7.4

Before MTV and the age of television, there were Soundies. First appearing in 1941, these three minute black-and-white films featured artists of the Big Band, Jazz and Swing era, like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa, The Mills Brothers, Les Paul, Cab Calloway, and Fats Waller. The Soundies helped launch the careers of Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Liberace, and Dorothy Dandridge, among others. Viewed for a dime through a special machine called a Panoram, a movie jukebox, these forerunners to the music video could be seen in nightclubs, roadhouses, restaurants and other public venues across the U.S. These classic films remain as glorious time capsules of music, social history, popular culture, and tell the story of a crossroads in our country, when the uncertainties of war, race relations, and emerging technologies combined to write one of the most influential chapters in our nation¹s history.

Michael Feinstein

Host

Leonard Maltin

Self

Les Paul

Self

Hugh Hefner

Self

• Chris LamsonWriter · Director · Executive Producer
• Jennifer SneiderWriter
• Antonia LianosProducer
• Jay BobergExecutive Producer

SOUNDIES: A MUSICAL HISTORY (2007) | Official Trailer

Release date

March 3, 2007

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 16m

Rated

PG

Genres

Documentary, Music, History