Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. ...
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Title: Birth of the Blues (1941)
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Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Bing Crosby | ... | Jeff Lambert | |
| Mary Martin | ... | Betty Lou Cobb | |
| Brian Donlevy | ... | Memphis | |
| Carolyn Lee | ... | Aunt Phoebe Cobb | |
| Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson | ... | Louey (as Rochester) | |
| J. Carrol Naish | ... | Blackie | |
| Warren Hymer | ... | Limpy | |
| Horace McMahon | ... | Wolf (as Horace MacMahon) | |
 |
Ruby Elzy | ... | Ruby |
| Jack Teagarden | ... | Pepper | |
|
|
Danny Beck | ... | Deek |
| Harry Barris | ... | Suds | |
|
|
Perry Botkin Sr. | ... | Leo (as Perry Botkin) |
| Minor Watson | ... | Henri Lambert | |
|
|
Harry Rosenthal | ... | Piano Player |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou. Written by Lisa Grable <grable@unity.ncsu.edu>
Plot Keywords:
scat singing | jazz | new orleans louisiana | cultural conflict | african american |Taglines:
Strike Up The Band ! * Here comes happiness . . . in a merry medley of romance . . . and rhythm ! See more »Genres:
MusicParents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
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See more on IMDbPro »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
7 November 1941 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Sinfonia Bárbara See more »Edit
Box Office
Budget:
$857,283 (estimated)Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
Edit
(uncredited)
Music by Harry von Tilzer
Lyrics by Andrew B. Sterling
Sung by Bing Crosby and Mary Martin
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on January 18, 1951 with Bing Crosby again reprising his film role. See more »Soundtracks
Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie(uncredited)
Music by Harry von Tilzer
Lyrics by Andrew B. Sterling
Sung by Bing Crosby and Mary Martin
See more »
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I think I saw a clip of this movie when I watched a special on PBS a couple of decades ago called "Remembering Bing", that clip being of Crosby and Mary Martin whistling. Anyway, this was quite entertaining despite the inaccuracies that abounded. In the New Orleans sequence where a bunch of black musicians were playing, it took me awhile to realize that one of them was Mantan Moreland with his familiar bug eyes-who I knew was a native of Monroe, Louisiana. Nice color sequence involving slides being shown. One might be put off by some of the violence shown near the end but it did result in a touching scene involving Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. So on that note, I do recommend Birth of the Blues. P.S. Since It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie, I do like citing when players from that are in something else. Here, it's Charles Lane, Sarah Edwards, and Lillian Randolph from there who appear here. Oh, and a few decades after this movie, Bing's daughter Mary played a character on "Dallas" who was revealed to have shot Mary Martin's son, Larry Hagman, as J. R. Ewing there.