Birth of the Blues
Paramount, 1941, B/W, 76 minutes, **½
Premiere release October, 1941
General release November, 1941
As a child, Jeff Lambert (Bing Crosby) hangs out in New Orleans' Basin Street, playing hot swing on his clarinet instead of the classics his father prefers. He's inspired by and African-American group there and, some years later, at the turn of the century, sets out to form a jazz band of his own. With cornetist Memphis (Brian Donlevy), singer Betty Lou Cobb (Mary Martin) and trombonist Jack Teagarden (of the Original Dixieland Jazz Group, after which the story is patterned), he's on his way.
A veritable history of jazz follows. From jump and jive to sweet romanticism, half a century of popular hits is given spectacular treatment. "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" is sung in a theater with lantern slides on the screen. Singer Ruby Elzy's "St. Louis Blues" is backed by a chorus of eighty. And "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" brings Crosby and Martin together in a knockout duet. This bright, bouncy musical is as spirited as they come, and it features "Bing and Mary at their best." (Louella O. Parsons, Los Angeles Examiner).
I can't give this film a very high rating because Crosby can't sing blues - and doesn't. In fact, the only person who sings blues in the entire film is Ruby Elzy (who is excellent). Mary Martin and Bing Crosby pair up for some old pop standards, but nothing else. There is a lot of jazz and blues excerpts played by some band here and there, but overall, it's definitely not what I would call a movie about the blues. And the story is weak.
The film opens with the statement, "Dedicated to the musical pioneers of Memphis and New Orleans who favored the "hot" over the "sweet" -- those early jazz men who took American music out of the rut and put it "in the groove."
Setting: New Orleans in the Nineties
Associate Producer: Monta Bell
Directed by: Victor Schertzinger
Screen Play by: Harry Tugend and Walter DeLeon
Story by Harry Tugend
Musical Supervision and Direction: Robert Emmett Dolan
Musical Advisor: Arthur Franklin
Song: "The Waiter, the Porter, and the Upstairs Maid" by Johnny Mercer
Dance Director: Eddie Prinz
Art Direction by: Hans Dreier and Ernst Fegté
Costumes: Edith Head
Sound Recording by: Earl Hayman and John Cope
Director of Photography: William C. Mellor
Edited by: Paul Weatherwax
Awards: Academy Award nomination for Best Score - Musical (Robert Emmett Dolan)
Cast: Bing Crosby [Jeff Labert], Mary Martin [Betty Lou Cobb], Brian Donlevy [Memphis], Carolyn Lee [Aunt Phoebe Cobb], Rochester [Louey], J. Carrol Naish [Blackie], Warren Hymer [Limpy], Horace MacMahon [Wolf], Ruby Elzy [Ruby]; Jack Teagarden [Pepper], Danny Beck [Deck]; Harry Barris [Suds]; Perry Botkin [Leo]; Minor Watson [Henri Lambert]; Harry Rosenthal [Piano Player]; Donald Kerr [Skeeter]; Barbara Pepper [Maizie]; Cecil Kellaway [Granet], Ronnie Cosbey [Jeff as a boy]; Additional Cast: Jimmie Dundee [Jake], Jeni Le Gon [Girl in Jail], Sam McDaniel [Clarinet Player], Mantan Moreland [Trumpet Player], Victor Potel [Trumpet Player at Beergarden], Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra [Themselves]
Musical Program: [0:00] Birth of the Blues (excerpt sung by Bing Crosby behind titles); [0:02] At a Georgia Camp Meeting (played by band on the Basin Street levee with Jeff as a boy, cakewalk by Chorus); [0:09] Gotta Go to the Jailhouse (excerpt sung by Bing Crosby while playing pool); [0:13] Memphis Blues (played by the Basin Street Hot Shots, sung with special lyric by Bing Crosby); [0:26] By the Light of the Silvery Moon (sung by Bing Crosby); [0:30] Waiting at the Church (sung by Mary Martin); [0:38] Cuddle Up a Little Closer (sung by Mary Martin); [0:46] After the Ball (instrumental played partly in background by band in cafe); [0:48] Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie (played by the Basin Street Hot Shots, then sung by Mary Martin and Bing Crosby); [0:56] My Melancholy Baby (sung by Bing Crosby); [1:03] The Waiter and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid (sung by Bing Crosby and Mary Martin with Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra); [1:09] St. Louis Blues (begun by Bing Crosby, then sung by Ruby Elzy with Chorus); [1:24] Birth of the Blues (reprised by Bing Crosby); There are also some excerpts of tunes played by Bing Crosby's band (Basin Street Hot Shots), including: "Tiger Rag," "St. James Infirmary" and "That's Why They Call Me Shine."
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