Birth of the Blues
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Victor Schertzinger
Bing Crosby
Mary Martin
Brian Donlevy
Carolyn Lee
Rochester
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
As a young boy in 1890s New Orleans, Jeff Lambert instinctively leans toward the jazz music of the local black musicians, despite the severe beatings he gets from his conservative father for associating with them. As an adult, Jeff bails renowned white coronet player Memphis out of jail and forms a Dixieland-style jazz band. The band, billed as the Basin Street Hotshots, is thrown out of a movie theater for playing "black" music and is thereafter rejected from every nightclub and café for the same reason. They finally get a break when Betty Lou Cobb, who has befriended Jeff and is the cause of rivalry between him and Memphis, gets a job singing at the mob-owned Black-Tie Café and insists that she be backed only by Jeff's band. Although the audience is initially resistant to the jazz music, Betty Lou encourages people to dance, and everyone becomes enthusiastic for the "new" style of jazz. As the band brings renown and acclaim to itself and the club, Memphis and Jeff have a falling out over Betty Lou, who rejected Memphis' marriage proposal because she loves Jeff, who is only interested in his music. Jeff insists that the band move on to a better engagement at the Lafayette Café, but Blackie, the owner of the Black-Tie Café, makes good on his threats and raids the Lafayette, where he beats up the band members and severely injures their close friend Louey, who was trying to deliver to Jeff a telegram informing him of an engagement in Chicago. After seeing that Louey will recover, the band members prepare to leave for Chicago, but Blackie's thugs trap them in their apartment. By putting on a record while the thugs wait outside, the band pretends to rehearse and the members sneak out one by one. Finally, only Jeff and Memphis remain and when the record skips, the thugs run in shooting. After they unintentionally shoot their boss, Blackie, the thugs run, but not before Jeff saves Memphis from their attack. Memphis admits to Jeff that he is not a one-woman man, and so when they reach the boat, Jeff and Betty Lou profess their love for each other.
Director
Victor Schertzinger
Cast
Bing Crosby
Mary Martin
Brian Donlevy
Carolyn Lee
Rochester
J. Carrol Naish
Warren Hymer
Horace Macmahon
Ruby Elzy
Jack Teagarden
Danny Beck
Harry Barris
Perry Botkin
Minor Watson
Harry Rosenthal
Donald Kerr
Barbara Pepper
Cecil Kellaway
Ronnie Cosbey
Victor Potel
Jimmie Dundee
Hayden Stevenson
Jeni Legon
Jimmy Lucas
Guy Wilkerson
Grace Hayle
Edward Emerson
John Miller
Sarah Edwards
Brandon Hurst
Roscoe Ates
Bert Roach
Nell Craig
Alice Keating
Betty Farrington
Besse Wade
Bertha Carlisle
Kathryn Bates
Pearl Early
Rose Allen
Evelyn West
Payne Johnson
Mary Thomas
Charles Lane
Richard Keene
Ernest Whitman
John Gallaudet
Pat West
Wade Boteler
Mantan Moreland
Sam Mcdaniel
George Guhl
Keith Richards
Yvonne Jungquist
James T. Mack
Crew
Gladys Baxter
Neal Beckner
Monta Bell
George Bertholon
Frank Bracht
Lew Brown
Ernie Burnett
"pokey" Carriere
M. Cohn
Sam Comer
John Cope
James Cottrell
Ford Dabney
Walter De Leon
Harry Decosta
B. G. Desylva
B. G. Desylva
Robert Emmett Dolan
Jerry Donovan
Hans Dreier
Ed Ebele
Eda Edson
Eleanor Edwards
Gus Edwards
Robert Ewing
Ernst Fegté
Byron Fitzpatrick
Arthur Franklin
Lee Fredricks
Alvin Ganzer
Erwin Gelsey
Joe Glover
Barclay Grey
W. C. Handy
Otto Harbach
Charles K. Harris
Earl Hayman
Edith Head
Ray Henderson
Karl Hoschna
W. Hurley
Mary Ann Jones
R. Krueger
Bert Lawrence
Fred W. Leigh
Leo Lynn
Cecil Mack
Edward Madden
Wilkie Mahoney
William C. Mellor
Johnny Mercer
Kerry Mills
George A. Norton
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Nicolò Paganini
Henry E. Pether
Danny Polo
Joe Primrose
Eddie Prinz
Leonora Sabine
Schuyler Sanford
Harold Schwartz
Stephen Seymour
Andrew B. Sterling
Harry Tugend
Harry Tugend
Harry Tugend
J. Vincent
Harry Von Tilzer
Hal Walker
Paul Weatherwax
Wally Westmore
Dan Wyler
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Music Original Dramatic Score
Quotes
Trivia
Bing Crosby's clarinet was dubbed by Danny Polo, Brian Donlevy's cornet by Poky Carriere.
Notes
The following written prologue appears in the onscreen credits of the film: "Dedicated to the musical pioneers of Memphis and New Orleans who favored the 'hot' over the 'sweet'-those early jazz men who took American music out of the rut and put it 'in the groove'." A photographic montage closing the film features Ted Lewis, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, George Gershwin and Paul Whiteman. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch review mistakenly stated that W. C. Handy appears in the montage. A scene from Paramount's 1925 release The Golden Princess, starring Betty Bronson and Neil Hamilton, is featured in this film (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2171). According to information in Life magazine, the film is loosely based on the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, "one of the first white bands to play in respectable quarters," and the band that young "Jeff" encounters as a boy is loosely based on the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band, a black group that played along Basin Street in New Orleans. Director Victor Schertzinger died approximately two weeks before the film was released, on 26 October 1941.
The following information derives from the Paramount Collection at the AMPAS Library: The film finished four days ahead of schedule and came in $15,000 under budget at a final cost of $857,283; Douglas Gardner and Harry Harvey, Jr. tested for the part of "Jeff" as a young boy. The contractual agreement attached to the main title billing shows that Paramount had the right to bill actor Eddie Anderson as "Rochester," the name of the character for which he was renowned, but could not address him as such in the film. This film marked trombonist Jack Teagarden's feature film debut. Bassist Harry Barris previously played with Bing Crosby in his Rhythm Boys group. Hollywood Reporter news items indicate that Constance Moore, Lillian Cornell and Virginia Dale were teamed to star in the film; Eddie Bracken was initially signed for a comedy role; Ben Holmes was signed to work on the script; Mark Sandrich was originally enlisted to produce and direct; and Monta Bell took over producing when producer A. M. Botsford left Paramount studios.
The MPAA/PCA files at the AMPAS Library reveal the following information: The initial plot synopsis, dated March 21, 1941, includes the death of the character "Louey," who is killed by a gunshot wound. (In the film he survives a blow to the head). One day later, PCA director Joseph I. Breen reported to Paramount, "While the basic story is satisfactory...the present script cannot be approved for the reason that it contains many unacceptable scenes of the 'red light district' of New Orleans, prostitutes, unacceptable dialogue and the business of two murderers escaping all punishment." Paramount subsequently submitted a revised script and Breen added some other suggestions regarding specific scenes in the script: "We regard it as unnecessary for the proper telling of this story that the colored man, who is thrown out of the saloon, be shown drunk. This...should be omitted"; "Care must be exercised as to the costuming and the dancing of these Negroes if the scenes are to be approved by us"; "It is very questionable as to how the people of the South will react to these scenes showing a white boy playing with the Negro band"; "Any suggestion that the colored girl is acting 'flirtatiously' toward Jeff, a white man, should be avoided. Her speech 'Anything in Memphis that Chattanooga ain't got?' must be read without sexual suggestiveness." Some later suggestions as the script was developed are as follows: "Phoebe's use of the word 'panties' May be deleted by some political censor boards." "The business of Phoebe putting panties on the dolly should be handled carefully."
John Seitz was listed as photographer in the first Hollywood Reporter production chart listing for this film, but the extent of his contribution to the final film has not been determined. According to the press book, trumpet player "Pokey" Carriere coached Brian Donlevy for this film. A trailer advertising the film featured band leaders Freddy Martin, John Scott Trotter, Ray Noble and Bob Crosby. The Paramount press department cooked up a "feud" between the cities of Memphis and New Orleans to determine which city was the true originator of "the blues" and thus would rightfully premiere the film, resulting in a double premiere in both Memphis and New Orleans. Robert Emmett Dolan was nominated for an Academy Award for Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) for this film.
In 1942, a Hollywood Reporter news item reported that the British music publishing house of Campbell, Connelly and Co., Ltd., was suing Paramount over the rights to W. C. Handy's song "Memphis Blues." According to the news item, Paramount obtained rights to the song from the owners, listed as Mercer and Morris, despite the fact that Campbell, Connelly and Co. previously bought the rights. The outcome of the lawsuit has not been determined.
