An informal atmosphere dominates this Paramount musical short with the title songwriter/piano player instructing his orchestra which includes singer Meredith Blake and trombonist Jack Teagarden. During two of his instrumental songs, "Washboard Blues" and "Old Rockin' Chair", are scenes of black people done as inserts. The first has a heavyset woman washing clothes on the song's title object with a later scene of her talking to her son with trumpet notes representing their voices (like in the "Peanuts" specials when you're hearing adult voices). The second simply has an old man just sitting in the title song's thing on a porch. Meredith sings "I'm Wrong" and Teagarten has some banter with Carmichael before the "Stardust" finish. This was another fine musical short presented on the Kino Video DVD called "Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1, The Best of Jazz and Blues". This short, Hoagy Carmichael, comes highly recommended for music fans.
5 Reviews
Odd.
planktonrules14 July 2012
Like the title says, this one features Hoagy Carmichael. But in the original title it also included mention of the singer Jack Teagarden--though it's not listed that way on IMDb.
This is a very unusual short because it's been included on a DVD of almost exclusively Black performers of the time. Now this isn't a complaint--just more of an observation about its inclusion in the collection, as Carmichael and these rest of his band-mates are all very White and their style isn't quite that of the rest of the performances--though they do perform some White versions of Black soul music--which, frankly, comes off as very strange and sanitized. White people using Black slang might remind you a bit of the original Amos 'n Andy (who were White guys on radio parodying Blacks) but the film seems less overtly racist--just insensitive in today's mindset. Overall, watchable but not exactly inspiring. And, Carmichael was a lot better than this material and should have been shown doing the sort of music he did best.
This is a very unusual short because it's been included on a DVD of almost exclusively Black performers of the time. Now this isn't a complaint--just more of an observation about its inclusion in the collection, as Carmichael and these rest of his band-mates are all very White and their style isn't quite that of the rest of the performances--though they do perform some White versions of Black soul music--which, frankly, comes off as very strange and sanitized. White people using Black slang might remind you a bit of the original Amos 'n Andy (who were White guys on radio parodying Blacks) but the film seems less overtly racist--just insensitive in today's mindset. Overall, watchable but not exactly inspiring. And, Carmichael was a lot better than this material and should have been shown doing the sort of music he did best.
Black Music for White People
boblipton19 November 2002
Hoagy Carmichael stands around looking like a stiff while Jack Teagarten's orchestra plays some of his songs: "I'm Wrong", "Washboard Blues", "Old Rockin' Chair" and "Stardust". While a fine songwriter, this particular soundie has no oomph and is too well-behaved and vanilla to be of much interest musically. Nor does the film add any particular impact. Average.
Decent Short
Michael_Elliott1 May 2011
Hoagy Carmichael (1939)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Of all the shorts in Kino's Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1, this here might be the weakest but calling it weak would be over-dramatic as this is still a fairly entertaining film. Hoagy Carmichael, Jack Teagarden and Meredith Blake perform Two Sleepy People, That's Right-I'm Wrong, Lazy Bones, Small Fry, Washboard Blues and their most famous song Stardust. At just under 10-minutes there's not any time wasted on story but instead we're just given one musical number after the next. There's no question that the main reason you would want to check this out is for the music as all the performers do a terrific job with Washboard Blues and Two Sleepy People really standing out. The instrumental songs feature brief scenes of showing black people working, which are mildly entertaining but they really don't add too much to the film. I don't mind there not being any story as many studios wrote really lame wrap-around to their music numbers but what keeps this film from being more entertaining is its rather lackluster direction. There's really not any style to anything being shown and it's clear the filmmakers were just interested in capturing the music and not trying to add anything else.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Of all the shorts in Kino's Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1, this here might be the weakest but calling it weak would be over-dramatic as this is still a fairly entertaining film. Hoagy Carmichael, Jack Teagarden and Meredith Blake perform Two Sleepy People, That's Right-I'm Wrong, Lazy Bones, Small Fry, Washboard Blues and their most famous song Stardust. At just under 10-minutes there's not any time wasted on story but instead we're just given one musical number after the next. There's no question that the main reason you would want to check this out is for the music as all the performers do a terrific job with Washboard Blues and Two Sleepy People really standing out. The instrumental songs feature brief scenes of showing black people working, which are mildly entertaining but they really don't add too much to the film. I don't mind there not being any story as many studios wrote really lame wrap-around to their music numbers but what keeps this film from being more entertaining is its rather lackluster direction. There's really not any style to anything being shown and it's clear the filmmakers were just interested in capturing the music and not trying to add anything else.
No real zip, only a little stardust.
mark.waltz26 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
It's a shame that one of the great songwriters if America's golden age of melodies got to be represented in this rather oddball short that features three songs, but none that stand out, even the one standard, "Stardust". The narrative proclaims him Paramount's greatest song writer, and the most requested for new songs. But the three songs are statically filmed, and the Washboard Blues unfortunately chooses a black mammy type to receive the visual, but not get to sing it. Instead, a rather bland white singer croons it while the visual shows the black woman's struggles. Somebody like Ethel Waters could have made a real impact performing it. An interesting use of instrument sounds to represent dialog between the woman and her young son, but a live performance would have been heart wrenching. Carmichael would go onto better film appearances, but the short film that bears his name is strangely forgettable.
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