''Jailhouse Blues'' (1929) is a short

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. It features

Mamie Smith Mamie Smith (née Robinson; May 26, 1891 – September 16, 1946) was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist, and actress. As a vaudeville singer she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. In 1920, she entered blues histor ...

, who was a top star in Black Vaudeville and a recording artist with

Okeh Records Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

. By the time ''Jailhouse Blues'' was made her contract with Okeh had ended. Basil Smith directed. The film and its soundtrack have been rediscovered.

Synopsis

Mamie is missing her man, and finds him in jail. She pleads through her singing for his release.

Cast

* Homer Tutt *

Porter Grainger Porter Grainger ( Granger; October 22, 1891 − October 30, 1948) was an American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher. Biography When Grainger was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Granger family name did not include an "i". A ...

* Billy Mitchell *Andrew Fairchild

Related history and preservation status

Two songs were prerecorded by

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

, "Jailhouse Blues" and "You Can't Do It!" as for the film's soundtrack. The visual element has been held at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

for a long time, but no soundtrack disc was known. At one point a disc was located, but was destroyed accidentally in shipping. An intact disc was discovered in Australia in 2009 and, as of this writing (March 2011) the short is slated for preservation. Two short clips from ''Jailhouse Blues'' were shown on a 1961 DuPont Show of the Week broadcast, and this has served as the source of the widely circulated clips and audio from the film since.

References

External links

* 1929 films 1929 musical films African-American musical films American musical films Columbia Pictures films Lost American films American black-and-white films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films {{musical-film-stub