Ray Kinney and His Royal Hawaiian Orchestra (1938)

In this 'Vitaphone Melody Master,' orchestra leader Ray Kinney sings Hawaiian songs while The Aloha Maids perform native dances.

Director:

Roy Mack

Stars:

Ray Kinney and His Orchestra, The Aloha Maids, Ray Kinney

Cast

Credited cast:
Ray Kinney and His Orchestra	...	Themselves (as Ray Kinney and His Royal Hawaiian Orchestra)
The Aloha Maids	...	Themselves / Dancers
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ray Kinney	...	Himself

Storyline

In this 'Vitaphone Melody Master,' orchestra leader Ray Kinney sings Hawaiian songs while The Aloha Maids perform native dances.

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Plot Keywords:

vitaphone melody master | singing | hula dancer | nightclub | hawaiian music | 

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Genres:

Short | Music

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1938 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vitaphone Corporation, The, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

11 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vitaphone production reel #B-160.

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Soundtracks

"A Song of Old Hawaii"
(uncredited)
Written by Gordon Beecher and Johnny Noble
Performed by Ray Kinney and His Orchestra
Dance performed by Pualani Mossman

User Reviews

If you love Hawaiian music, then you are in for a treat...

This is a short from Vitaphone and it can be found on the "Warner Brothers Big Band, Jazz & Swing" DVD collection. This set consists of six DVDs and almost 11 hours of shorts!

Like most of the rest of the "Melody Master" series, this short features a more minimalistic approach. While there is a nice set that looks Hawaiian, it's not as fancy as many of the early Vitaphone films and it lacks any sort of story--just some songs and a trio of native girls doing a very slow and non-sexual hula! The biggest real difference is the band itself--as many of the band members appear to be native Hawaiians or at least part-Hawaiian. Their music strongly reflects this, as Kinney sings a bit in Hawaiian and the tune is very 1930s Hawaii in style. It's sort of like a merger of big band with native music--and I thought it was really quite enjoyable...and very, very mellow. Very, very, very mellow. So mellow that you might just fall asleep to the languorous tunes. Enjoyable.

By the way, in the second song, Kinney sings all about a guy from Molokai. Molokai, if you didn't know, is one of the Hawaiian islands and was a leper colony as well. A strange choice of subjects for a song!