RCM Productions

Dorothy Dandridge and band perform "Cow-Cow Boogie".

1942 Soundies musical short

Louis Armstrong performs with Nicodemus on this Soundie from 1942.

Spike Jones and His City Slickers perform "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy".

Kay Starr singing "Stop That Dancing Up There".

In this Soundie, the Mills Brothers sing the title song to a cut-out image of Dorothy Dandridge, which then comes to life and dances for them.

Yvonne De Carlo sings herself to sleep, in her dreams she dances with a Latin dancer. She awakes to sing again.

Jazz Soundie with Stan Kenton and his players.

"Let's Scuffle" is a short subject -- a single song-and-dance number -- that appears to have been cut from a feature-length movie: to be precise, a 'race film'. (This was the term used by American cinema exhibitors in the 1940s and earlier for any movie with an all-black cast, intended primarily for distribution in black neighbourhoods at a time when many American cinemas were segregated.) The song-and-dance performer here is none other than the great Bill Robinson.

R.C.M. Soundie

An early "soundie" in which Dorothy Dandridge & Paul White sing "A Zoot Suit with a Reet Pleat" while getting dressed up for a big date.

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra perform "Bli-Blip" with Marie Bryant and Paul White

Johnny Taylor sings "Good Nite All" at a house party.

Tex Williams and Spade Cooley's Western Dance Gang sing "Take Me Back to Tulsa".

Dona Drake sings "Sticks and Stones".

A little music from Lynn Albritton, Lou Ellen and The Harlem Cuties.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers at their best along with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performing for this "Hot Chocolate" musical short.

Original Schnickelfritz Band perform "Turkey in the Straw."

Ancestors of music videos, YANKEE DOODLER, ROSIE THE RIVETER, and DEAR ARABELLA were made during World War II for coin-operated jukebox devices found in restaurants, bars and train stations. On built-in glass screens, they projected 16mm films of artists performing popular tunes. These examples, although not in perfect condition, are time capsules of their era.

The Bronco Busters perform "Old Chisholm Trail."