Shellac Shack at the Movies 2 January 30, 2009

Event: “Shellac Shack at the Movies II” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present the second installment of rare music clips, short films and Soundies focusing on the 78 rpm era (pre-1960). Featured artists include Bob Wills, Eartha Kitt, Hoagy Carmichael, Xavier Cugat, The Treniers, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, Jimmy Wakely Trio, Deep River Boys, Sol Hoppii and more. Vintage 78 rpm records will be played before and after the screenings, and refreshments will be served.
Date: Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com
Web: http://oddballfilm.com/resources/events_parent.html

On Friday, January 30th Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present another night of rare16mm music shorts, clips and Soundies for your visual and aural pleasure. In the day (or night, as it were) shorts would have been screened before feature films and Soundies were the original “music videos”, made for audio-visual jukeboxes in 1940’s.

As host of “Shellac Shack”, Pete Gowdy has been spinning 78 rpm records at Tony Nik’s Café and the Homestead to enthusiastic audiences in San Francisco for more than 5 years. Salon style, he’ll be spinning representative discs before and after the screening, and attendees are welcome to stay and discuss record collecting and film after the program- refreshments will be served. Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Films Include:

“Frontier Frolic” (B+W, 1946)
The true “King of Western Swing” Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys host and play on this musical short with guests. Some hot pickin’ with Bob and the boys plus guests The Modernaires, The McKinney Sisters and Pat Starling. Includes a sing-along “San Antonio Rose”!

“Xavier Cugat” (B+W, 1952)
Two mambos from this 1952 feature- “Gypsy Mambo” and “Mambo Jambo” with some frantic dancers. Cugat, who spent his formative years in Cuba, was the main “rival” to Desi Arnez (he just never had his own TV show). Cugat on artistic integrity: “I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve.” His fourth wife: Charo!

“Fabulous Las Vegas” (B+W, 1954)
Kinescope of Joe Graydon hosted show, recorded live at the legendary Congo Room at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. Features Louis Prima and Keely Smith romping through “Hurry Home”, the Treniers with “Rag Mop” and more. Includes a “newsreel” with Zsa Zsa Gabor… A nice little time capsule of pre-Rat Pack Las Vegas.

“Hawaiian Rhythm/Hawaiian Nights” (B+W, 1939)
Two early shorts from Castle Films (later to become the leader of 8mm and 16mm films sold to consumers for in-home projection). Hawaiian Rhythms is a compilation of mostly angolo-Hawaiian Soundies with some great hulas and luau scenes, while Hawaiian Nights is more of a travelogue with music, including the slack-key master Sol Hoppii and amazing footage of Waikiki beach, outriggers and surfers in the days long before jet travel and high-rises.

Soundies (all B+W, c.1940’s):

King Cole Trio – “Errand Boy For Rhythm”
w/ Oscar Moore on Guitar, Wesley Prince on Bass and a leggy friend.
Hoagy Charmichael – “Hong Kong Blues”
The song featured in “To Have and Have Not”.
Deep River Boys – “Hark, Hark the Lark”
Early vocal group in the Ink Spots/Delta Rhythm Boys vein.
Walter Liberace – “”Tiger Rag”
Yes, that Liberace!
Spade Cooley w/Tex Williams – “There is No Sunshine”
Lady killer Cooley teams up with Tex “Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette” Williams.
Alvino Rey w/the King Sisters – “Call of the Canyon”
Jimmy Wakely Trio – “Git Along, Lil’ Pony”
Home, home on the range, where the dear, sweater-girls play. Yowza!
Plus! That bad, bad Eartha Kitt with two numbers from the Ed Sullivan show in 1956.

About Soundies:
Soundies can be considered the precursors to music videos. Produced during the years 1940 to 1946, Soundies were made to be seen on self-contained, coin-operated, 16mm rear projection machines called Panorams. They were located in nightclubs, bars, restaurants and other public places. Eight Soundies, featuring a variety of musical performances, were generally spliced together on a reel which ran in a continuous loop. The Panoram, a complicated and unique machine, later served as the basis for the RCA 16mm projector.

Soundies were produced by various companies such as Minoco and RCM Productions, headed by FDR's son James Roosevelt, Sam Coslow a song writer and Herbert Mills, a pioneer in the development of arcade music machines. In order to achieve the widest possible distribution, Soundies covered the gamut of musical styles from country and western to Russian balalaika music, tenors singing Irish folksongs, the big band swing music of Stan Kenton and Tommy Dorsey and jazz Greats, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole.

A Soundie reel sometimes included cheesecake segments--striptease, burlesque routines or shots of women in bathing suits--specifically intended to attract wartime military personnel on leave. Appeals for war bonds and other patriotic messages ("We're All Americans", "When Hitler Kicks the Bucket", "The White Cliffs of Dover") were included. Soundies often starred little known performers who later became famous, such as Alan Ladd, Cyd Charisse, Doris Day and Ricardo Montalban, as well as performers on their way down. Many African-American performers like Dorothy Dandridge, Louis Armstrong and Stepin Fetchit, who were largely absent from mainstream films except in minor roles, were featured. -From the UCLA Film Library Web Site

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave. A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Official Website: http://oddballfilm.com/resources/events_parent.html