The Melody Masters were a series of first-rate

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

musical

film short A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s produced by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, under the supervision of

Samuel Sax Samuel Sax (September 5, 1880 –January 2, 1962) was an American film producer. He produced 80 films between 1925 and 1946, including the last films of Roscoe Arbuckle. From 1938 to 1941, Sax headed Warner Brothers's British subsidiary at ...

at their

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

studio in New York between 1931 and 1939, and in Burbank, California with producer

Gordon Hollingshead Gordon Hollingshead (January 8, 1892 in Garfield, New Jersey – July 8, 1952 in Balboa Island, California) was an American film producer, associate producer and assistant director. Career Hollingshead began his career as an assistant ...

in charge between 1940 and 1946.

Overview

Among the most popular short subjects of their kind (making the

Motion Picture Herald The ''Motion Picture Herald'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1931 to December 1972.Anthony Slide, ed. (1985)''International Film, Radio, and Television Journals'' Greenwood Press. p. 242. It was replaced by the ''QP Herald ...

top money-making shorts lists in 1939 ); these were an offshoot of the

Vitaphone Varieties Vitaphone Varieties is a series title (represented by a pennant logo on screen) used for all of Warner Bros.', earliest short film "talkies" of the 1920s, initially made using the Vitaphone sound on disc process before a switch to the sound-on-film ...

. Each ran from 9 to 11 minutes in length and was produced in black and white. While rival studios like

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

focused mostly on the performance itself in their own “Name Band Musicals” shorts, Warner Bros. added more storyline material and visual experimentation. Early films often used a gimmick to frame the musical performances such as the roller skates used in ''Eddie Duchin & His Orchestra''. As the series progressed, the uses of multiple exposures (a great example being ''Symphony of Swing'' with

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

), optical effects, mirrors (i.e. ''Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra'') and stark shadow lighting (i.e. ''Henry Busse and His Orchestra'') made this series stand out against the competition.

Jean Negulesco Jean Negulesco (born Ioan Negulescu; – 18 July 1993) was a Romanian-American film director and screenwriter.Oliver, Myrna"Jean Negulesco 1900–1993 ''The Los Angeles Times'', 22 July 1993. He first gained notice for his film noirs and later ...

was a key director on some of the best titles of the early 1940s before graduating to features.

Life (magazine) ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

photographer

Gjon Mili Gjon Mili (November 28, 1904 – February 14, 1984) was an Albanian photographer from Korçë who developed his profession in America, best known for his work published in ''Life'', in which he photographed artists such as Pablo Picasso. Biogr ...

contributed to the most frequently seen today title, ''

Jammin' the Blues ''Jammin' the Blues'' is a 1944 American short film made by Gjon Mili and Norman Granz in which a number of prominent jazz musicians re-create the jam-session atmosphere of nightclubs and after-hours spots. It features Lester Young, Red Callender ...

'', entered into the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

in 1995. After the series’ official end in 1946, there were two follow-up series called “Memories from Melody Lane” and “Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties” that differed somewhat in style and narration, tracing the history of popular music since the 1890s.

Current availability

A group of them were released on laser disc (through MGM/UA) and Warner DVD, starting in the 1990s. In the latter format, they were mostly “extras” with various Warner features before the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

produced a set titled ''Warner Bros. Big Band, Jazz & Swing Shorts'' in 2010.

List of titles

Below is a full listing by title, director and major credits, followed by release date, review date (

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

) or copyright date.Motion Pictures 1912-1939 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1951 Library of Congress DVD availability is also provided.

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946-1947

Memories from Melody Lane (filmed 1947)

Directed by

Jack Scholl Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

, narrated by

Art Gilmore Arthur Wells Gilmore, known as Art Gilmore (March 18, 1912 – September 25, 2010) was an American actor and announcer heard on radio and television programs, children's records, movies, trailers, radio commercials, and documentary films. He also ...

and featuring the Merry Makers as musical support. *Let's Sing a Song from the Movies / July 17, 1947 (available on

Romance on the High Seas ''Romance on the High Seas'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''It's Magic'') is a 1948 American musical film, musical romantic comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore and Doris Day in her film d ...

Greatest Classic Legends Doris Day DVD) *Let's Sing a Song of the West / September 27, 1947 *Let's Sing an Old Time Song / December 26, 1947 *Let's Sing a Song about the Moonlight / January 24, 1948 (available on

On Moonlight Bay (film) ''On Moonlight Bay'' is a 1951 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth which tells the story of the Winfield family at the turn of the 20th century. The movie is based loosely on the '' Penrod'' stories by Booth Tarkington. There was a 195 ...

DVD) *Let's Sing a Stephen Foster Song / May 8, 1948 *Let's Sing Grandfather's Favorites / August 8, 1948

Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties (filmed 1950)

Directed by

*When Grandpa Was a Boy / October 7, 1950 *The Old Family Album / December 16, 1950 *In Old New York / May 15, 1951 *Musical Memories / June 30, 1951

Links

Melody Masters listed on the IMDb.comFilm Daily linksNPR DVD review of ''Warner Bros. Big Band, Jazz & Swing Shorts''

References

* * * ''Motion Pictures 1912-1939 Catalog of Copyright Entries'' 1951 Library of Congres

* ''Motion Pictures 1940-1949 Catalog of Copyright Entries'' 1953 Library of Congres

* ''Motion Pictures 1950-1959 Catalog of Copyright Entries'' 1960 Library of Congres
BoxOffice back issue scans available
(release date information in multiple issue “Shorts Charts”)

Notes

{{reflist Vitaphone short films Warner Bros. short films

Overview

Current availability

List of titles

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946-1947

Memories from Melody Lane (filmed 1947)

Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties (filmed 1950)

See also

Links

References

Notes