[Dixielandjazz] Unusual novelty song film clips from 1934 USSR

Marek Boym marekboym at gmail.com
Mon Jul 14 14:42:52 PDT 2008


Gee, "Vesolye Rebiata" (something like "Jplly Fellows" indeed, though
I'd have preferred "merry") must be one of the craziest comedies I've
ever seen!  I was a little kid (perhaps not that little, as I remember
understanding most of the dialogue, in addition to reading the Polish
subtitles), sometime in the 1950's!  There was a German "remake"
(without acknowledgements), with Peter Alexander in the main role,
wich I saw many years later in Israel, but it lacked the sheer bravura
of the original.
I did not remember the music, though.
Sometime in the early 1980's someone lent me a record by Utesov, but
it was not very jazzy, even if it included the song featured towards
the end of the episode shown on the video.
Tsfassman was another matter - I've taped some of his performances.
Of course, their bands were "estradnye ensembli,"  which translates
something like "show band."
Now I'm going back to the videos.
Cheers

On 10/07/2008, David Richoux <tubaman at tubatoast.com> wrote:
> I am not much of a film history buff, so I don't really know how much impact
> this film might have had on the west in the 1930s. It was shown at the 2006
> Venice Film Festival - probably one reason why there is a resurgence of
> interest in it now.
>
> There was a great 3 part article on Hokom in the Mississippi Rag back in
> 2005 by William Schafer. I don't recall what he had to say about Spike
> Jones's early days, but I don't remember any mention of Russian films. The
> Hoosier Hot-Shots probably were more influential.
>
> However, I do think Danny Kaye was influenced by the film - I see a lot of
> similarities between him and Leonid Utesov. Coincidental?
>
> Dave RIchoux
>
> PS Mostly unrelated - In digging around the web, I found this:
> Lücke, Martin.
> Jazz im Totalitarismus - Eine komparative Analyse des politisch motivierten
> Umgangs mit dem Jazz während des Nationalsozialismus und Stalinismus.
> Ph.D., Musicology, Bochum, 2003. 256 p. bibliog.
> Research director: Christian Ahrens
> DDM Code: 77jaLucM; DA no.: RILM no.: UM no.:
> Publication: Münster: Lit-Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-8258-7538-5.
> Additional keywords: Diktatur, dictatorship, Leonid Utesov, Alexander
> Tsfasman, DTU, Charlie and His Orchestra, Muso, Narkompros, NDT
>
>
> On Jul 10, 2008, at 9:24 AM, budtuba at aol.com wrote:
>
> >
> >  That was quite a find.? Also interesting is the infinite zoom out at the
> end...sort of like modern TV ads that zoom into a closeup scene from outer
> space.? Of course, today's versions are accomplished by computer animation.?
> I wonder if this band had some influence in Spike Jones' decision to go into
> novelty music.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
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