Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake Sing Snappy Songs
About Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake Sing Snappy Songs
Noble Sissle sings and Eubie Blake plays piano in a fixed studio setup. They open with "Sons of Old Black Joe" and "My Swanee Home." Blake then joins Sissle on "Affectionate Dan," and they finish with "All God' Chillun Got Shoes." Both bow to the camera between numbers.
Cast & crew
More about Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake Sing Snappy Songs
Lee de Forest produced the short for his Phonofilm company, which recorded a soundtrack on the film strip. It opened at the Rivoli Theatre in New York on April 15, 1923, with other Phonofilm subjects. Silent Era also lists the title Snappy Tunes and leaves the director credit uncertain between de Forest and J. Searle Dawley.
Themes
Background
Phonofilm was one of several sound-on-film experiments in the early 1920s, before the studios adopted talking features.
Making
Sissle takes the vocal line in a high voice while Blake answers at the piano and on the verses. The camera stays on the two of them so the Phonofilm track stays with the picture.
Look
Lee de Forest is credited with the camera. The frame holds Sissle and Blake for the length of each song.
Technique
The picture uses Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system, which photographs the sound wave on the same strip as the image.
Music
Sissle and Blake perform "Sons of Old Black Joe," "My Swanee Home," "Affectionate Dan," and "All God' Chillun Got Shoes," recorded with the Phonofilm process.
Preservation
Prints are catalogued at the Library of Congress. A restored copy of the four-song reel runs about seven minutes.
Notes
- A Library of Congress catalog of jazz on film lists the four songs and times them at about six minutes and fifty seconds.
- My Swanee Home" is credited to Norman J. Vause and Robert Duryea. "Affectionate Dan" is a Sissle and Blake number.
- Sissle and Blake had written the 1921 Broadway musical Shuffle Along, including "I'm Just Wild About Harry.
- De Forest Phonofilm also filmed Eddie Cantor, Weber and Fields, and DeWolf Hopper in the same period.
- The short is also called Sissle and Blake and Snappy Songs.
Scenes
- Sissle sings "Affectionate Dan" while Blake answers the verses, and both bow to the camera when the song ends.
- Blake kicks into "All God' Chillun Got Shoes" after the bow.
