User Reviews

This was another Soundie I watched on YouTube. You know, Cab Calloway was quite an entertainer who ended up pleasing generations of audiences until he passed away in 1994. And he never seemed tired of performing his signature tune, "Minnie the Moocher", as he continued to sing it in various films up to The Blues Brothers in 1980. The version I'm reviewing here is just a standard performance but another "music video" of this was also on the site I mentioned at the beginning of this review in which Cab's hair is messed up and there's a shadow of Minnie on the wall behind them who I'm sure looked fine judging by the shape of that shadow! Anyway, this was another of these short films that played on Panorams (film jukeboxes) at restaurants, bars, and bus or train stations during the '40s. While I mentioned this was just a standard performance, it's still enjoyable nonetheless. So on that note, it's highly recommended.

Cab Calloway leads his orchestra in a performance of his signature song in this soundie from 1942.

It's one of more than two thousand "soundies" produced between 1939 and 1947, meant to be played on a device called a Panoram. For seven years they could be found in bars, night clubs, and other places where people would gather. Think of them as music videos, available for viewing at a dime a song.

Calloway not only fronted his own band for decades, he was an enormously popular crossover artist. If you've seem THE BLUES BROTHERS, you've seen him perform this song, with its landmark early scatting.