Cab performs a couple of his songs in his wild, seemingly effortless fashion and threatens the camera in this soundie from 1935. Although he seems strangely contained in this short, any chance to see Calloway perform his music should not be missed.
4 Reviews
Join the Cotton Club Parade!
mark.waltz3 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A few seasons ago on the great white way, the New York City Center had two limited runs of a musical revue called "Cotton Club Parade" which was so well received that it transferred to Broadway as "After Midnight" where a rotating cast of current black musical favorites got to sing the great American songbook as it might have been sung at the Cotton Club in 1935. This gives the viewer a cab up to Harlem...Cab Calloway that is, and what a ride indeed! Among the dancers is a young Lena Horne, and also there is the original Sportin' Life from the same year's "Porgy and Bess". He may gave had plenty of nothing' in that show, but this short is filled with riches!
Calloway is in top form!
planktonrules14 July 2012
While I could see that one of the other reviewers liked this film, it's odd he'd describe the first two Cab Calloway sounds as being nothing but 'gibberish'. Of course he used a lot of so-called gibberish!! He was famous for some nonsense words and his ability to sling around the English language in his tunes--and this is one of the reasons his music STILL is very infectious and enjoyable!! Imagine if he couldn't have used phrases like 'Hi-Di-Hi-Di-Ho' in his songs?! There could have been no great tune like "Minnie the Moocher"! Give me more of this 'gibberish'!! As you can probably see, I am someone who loves Cab Calloway performances and love that they included some in this nice DVD collection "Hollywood Rhythm: Volume One" (and, incidentally, some of his sorts for Vitaphone/Warner Brothers are available on DVD as well and are well worth finding).
"Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" is a short set, initially, at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. Later, he and his band-mates head to a party and this is when the music really heats up! It's VERY fast and fun--just like Jitterbug dancing should be. About the only thing I would like to have seen was some of the great jitterbug dancing and costumes that would soon become famous. Still, Calloway is in top form!
"Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" is a short set, initially, at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. Later, he and his band-mates head to a party and this is when the music really heats up! It's VERY fast and fun--just like Jitterbug dancing should be. About the only thing I would like to have seen was some of the great jitterbug dancing and costumes that would soon become famous. Still, Calloway is in top form!
Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party was another entertaining musical short
tavm10 February 2008
After performing two numbers in the Cotton Club-the first one with nothing but gibberish, Cab takes some friends to the title party where he sings one more number, "The Call of the Jitterbug" before it's called a reel...The announcer is the only white guy I saw here so this is obviously a major studio production (Paramount). Since there's no contrived plot and just Cab calling to his friends at a table is the only dialogue here, this was another entertaining musical short that appeared on the DVD from Kino Video called "Hollywood Rhythm Vol. 1: The Best of Jazz and Blues". It's nice to know so many of the Hi-De-Ho man's early music performances have been preserved for posterity.
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