Blossom Seeley and Bennie Fields (1927) User Reviews

Benny And Blossom

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 June 2009]

This early vitaphone short is the only filmed record we have of the popular vaudeville team of Benny Fields and Blossom Seeley. Fields only made one other filmed appearance as a guest artist years later. Seeley did a lot of work both with her third husband Fields and as a single act. During my childhood I remember that Ed Sullivan had her on his show many times as a single even before her husband passed away in 1959 as he was in poor health in his last years.

Before she married Fields, Seeley was involved in a notorious scandal during the teen years when she left her first husband Joe Kane for star baseball pitcher Rube Marquard. That marriage broke up after about seven years and she married Fields whose only wife was Seeley.

Accompanied by a double piano team of Charles Bourne and Phil Ellis, Seeley and Fields were both good individual performers who happened to be married to each other and formed a great act. They do three songs in the snappy style of the day, Hello Bluebird, The Call Of The South, and In A Little Spanish Town.

A filmed record of a great act to be treasured.

Blossom Seeley and Bennie Fields was another enjoyable Vitaphone music short

[tavm · 7/10 · 29 November 2012]

This is another Vitaphone music short that featured a popular vaudeville act. They are the duo of Blossom Seeley and Benny Fields singing with piano accompaniment of a couple of piano players-Charles Bourne and Phil Ellis-called the Music Boxes. The songs are quite entertaining with the male/female combo not only warbling but also doing some steps. They perform with some dialect either Southern or maybe some accented Mexican English. Whatever, they're quite entertaining the whole time of the short. Really, I've really enjoyed what I've seen of these old shorts so far and I just can't think of anything else to say except it's time to watch another one...

The third time was her charm . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 18 May 2013]

. . . so now you know the rest of the story about Blossom Seeley (July 16, 1891 - - April 17, 1974), who was married to Joe Kane (1911-1913) and Rube Marquard (New York Giants baseball Hall of Famer and an early singing partner, 1913-1920) before hitting it off personally and professionally with husband #3, Benny Fields (1921 until his death in 1959). Born Minnie Guyer, Seeley tries to blossom in the Vitaphone short #548, titled BLOSSOM SEELEY AND BENNIE FIELDS WITH THE MUSIC BOXES. Though not a household name today, Blossom was so famous in her time that she even had a signature song, "Toddling the Tolado." She acted in two Hollywood features, and inspired the 1996 marital biography, MARQUARD AND SEELEY. Betty Hutton played Blossom in a 1952 biopic. Seeley was one of the first to record "Yes sir, that's my baby" (which unfortunately is NOT one of the three songs featured here; Judy Garland has released a more famous rendering of the middle tune from this short, "Hello Bluebird").

Seeley is Magnetic

[drednm · 29 May 2003]

Blossom Seeley stars in a rare film appearance (with husband Benny Fields). Blossom Seeley was a great vaudeville star who made a few stabs at films (Broadway Thru a Keyhole). Too bad she never found a niche in Hollywood.

This short film, with Seeley and Fields singing (live) a few songs, accompanied by twin pianos, is a knockout. Miss Seeley shows more talent, showmanship, and verve than a whole parcel of current-day "singers." Without editing, fancy electronic dubbing, and such, Seeley and Fields dance and belt out numbers like "In a Little Spanish Town," "Hey, Mr. Blue Bird," and "The Call of the South" the old-fashioned way: with talent!

Blossom Seeley was a headliner for decades. So was Fields, who was also a songwriter--although he's somewhat overshadowed here by Seeley it's amazing to see how well they work together with song and patter. Also of major note are the terrific twin pianos played by Charles Bourne and Phil Ellis.

This short is now part of a Vitaphone Varieties salute recently included in the DVD box set for The Jazz Singer----a must see!

One of many Vitaphone experimental musical performances.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 22 January 2010]

An early Vitaphone film, this Warner Brothers short apparently was one created using a very complicated system through which an accompanying record was synchronized with a movie camera. There were several serious setbacks for such a system (such as if a film skipped--it became out of sync for the rest of the film plus the records quickly wore out--and 20 showings was the normal life-span of the records) and even though it produced excellent sound, it was eventually replaced. The last of the Vitaphone films were made in 1930, then the studio switched to the standard sound-on-film system.

Blossom Seeley and Bennie Fields were a vaudeville team who performed several musical and dance numbers for this short. While they were pretty popular in their day, they are all but forgotten today and this recording keeps their memory alive. As for their music, I didn't particularly care for it--though tastes change and the film really is much more important for its historical value than its aesthetics.

Remarkable Performance

[laguh · 9/10 · 26 November 2007]

A few technical observations: In the 'Vitaphone' process - which involved a 16 inch phono turntable mechanically slaved to a movie projector, recording was normally done with 2 or 3 cameras running simultaneously - along with the disk recorder creating the master disk. Since the cameras were noisy, they were housed in soundproof housings the size of a large walk-in refrigerator. Usually, one camera was set up for a close up, one for mid-distance, and the last for a distance shot. Since the housings were quite large - they were immobile. All action had to take place at a fixed location. The records ran for the duration of one reel of 35 mm film (15 min for 24 frames/second - which was the speed selected for sound). Silent movies ran at a slower speed - which is why silent sections of 'The Jazz Singer' appear to be speeded up. Due to the mechanical sound recording (record)- this was way before magnetic recording remember - once a 'take' was started, it had to run to it's conclusion. It was impossible to stop, and then restart the recording process.

The 3 song medley performed by Seeley and Fields here was shot in ONE TAKE! This is an amazing achievement (imho). Today, such a thing would never be done. The sequence would be shot in 30 or more separate 'takes' and pieced together. Careful examination of the image reveals that all action is continuous - with a few swaps from camera to camera - or possibly changing the lens on a camera - but the movements of the two performers is without pause. A REALLY impressive performance - particularly considering the 'state of the art' at the time.

One of the problems with the Vitaphone process was - that if the film were broken, it was impossible to repair. A splice - however carefully done - would result in the loss of at least a few frames of film. The sound synchronization would be thrown off by the shortened film, and could not be recovered. This is why today, we use 'sound on film' - where the audio track is on the same strip of film as the image.

I'd sooner see Sully than Seeley.

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 4/10 · 5 January 2008]

The husband-and-wife team of Bennie Fields and Blossom Seeley were huge stars in vaudeville, yet they made very few films. As is the case for some other performers of their era (George M. Cohan, Fanny Brice, Gertrude Lawrence) the most accessible piece of film footage for Fields and Seeley is the biopic ABOUT them, in which they're portrayed by other actors: 'Somebody Loves Me', starring Betty Hutton and that inimitable song-and-dance man Ralph Meeker.

In their heyday, Fields and Seeley were so hugely popular that another husband-and-wife vaudeville act -- Jesse Block and Eve Sully -- achieved nearly as much stardom performing an almost identical act, effectively becoming the "second-team" Fields and Seeley. Offstage, though, there was a major difference in the couples' living arrangements. Fields and Seeley lived in hotel suites, paying room-service rates for every meal they ate, and eventually running out of money. Block and Sully lived modestly and invested their earnings wisely, ending in comfortable retirement.

The first 30 seconds of this Vitaphone short are occupied by two spats-wearing pianists. Apparently these two men had some slight name value of their own in 1930, although I've never heard of them. Finally, Fields and Seely rush in and start performing. They both have plenty of pep, and she's fairly attractive.

I was annoyed that both performers keep making movements as if they're about to break into a dance, but they never quite do so until the third of the three songs they perform in this short. When they finally start hoofing, the results are not impressive.

I was delighted to have this opportunity to see these two major performers doing their vaude act. Now that I've seen it, I understand why they never became stars in movie musicals. My rating for this one: just 4 out of 10, and I'll stick with Block and Sully.

Jazz Singer Disc 3

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2008]

Behind the Lines (1926)

** (out of 4)

Wizard of the Mandolin, The (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pennant Winning Battery of Songland, The (1927)

** (out of 4)

Blossom Seeley and Bennie Fields with the Music Boxes (1929)

** (out of 4)

Hazel Green and Company (1928)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Early Vitaphone shorts, which each feature musical numbers. Like many of these early talkies the most important thing is that they're talking so not too much detail went into anything else. Out of this group I'd say Hazel Green and Company was the most entertaining since she had a pretty good band behind her and the songs were nice as well. The Wizard of the Mandolin should be avoided if you can't stand the mandolin.