Soundies

Soundies were short three-minute musical films (but also comedic skits ) that were produced between January 1941 and 1947 in the United States. They were compiled on film roles and played on special film jukeboxes. They were a sort of precursor to music videos of the 1980s.

Soundies were the subject of all kinds of music, from classical to country to big band swing. Often there was also dancing. Examples of musicians who turned Soundies are Fats Waller, Lena Horne, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Meade Lux Lewis, Jimmy Dorsey, Kay Starr, Doris Day, Dorothy Dandridge, Anita O'Day, Gene Krupa Nat King Cole. Overall, such Soundies were produced over 1800. They are an important source for movie and footage of jazz musicians ( especially as many African-American jazz musicians concerns ) are otherwise poorly documented. Many of the Soundies are newly come out in video compilations.

There were two main production companies Soundies Distributing Corporation of America and Soundies RCM (RCM for Roosevelt, Coslow, Mills, and 1947 active). The most common Jukebox to play these films ( after insertion of 10 cents ) was the Panoram by Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, a leading jukebox manufacturer. They were, for example, in restaurants, bars, diners and night clubs. In the film reels were eight films. They have been projected through a series of mirrors on a small screen on top of the box.

Although they were only produced until 1947, they had in some way to the successor Snader Telescriptions, named after the real estate and TV entrepreneur Louis D. Snader in California, who introduced them. There were three -to five- minute musical films 1951/52, used as a stopgap in television programs.