The one-reel musical Office Blues (1930) regards Miss Gravis (Ginger Rogers), a secretarial typist with a crush on the boss. She sings "(I Can See Where) We Can't Get Along," with such witty lyrics as "I am cynical, he's rabbinical.," in a grand flapper style.
Greg (E. R. Rogers; must've been a cousin of Ginger's, he has no other film credits) is another office worker, one who has a crush on Miss Gravis, though she persists in her desire for the boss Jimmy Ross (Clairborne Bryson). The character of Greg steps out of the picture never having contributed much.
Ginger's second number is is "Dear Sir" about being "just another cog" in a crappy job. But to the boss she feels like doing a secretarial transcription that begins, "Dear Sir, I am waiting for you."
 Unexpectedly the film goes into a fantasy sequence of tiny-tiny secretaries (who are the Maria Gambarelli Dancers) performing on a steno pad atop the office desk.
Jimmy eventually sings with his secretary though the guy's not such a hot singer compared to Ginger, & the actor playing him must be another relative who never did anything else. As the little film ends, it turns out the boss does want to make a little hay with her.
The two songs were written by Vernon Duke & E.Y. Harburg, who as a team wrote such hits as "April in Paris," with Harburg also the lyricist for "Over the Rainbow" & other great songs from Wizard of Oz (1939).
 Ginger also makes appears in a the wee film Hollywood Hit Parade #1: Used to Be You (1932) which as I write this isn't cited in either of the two major film indices on line, as it was created as an ephemeral film that by luck survives.
Before there were jukebox "soundies" there were already three-minute musical routines sometimes called "Studio Snapshots," or "Screen Snapshots," including Hollywood Hit Parade #1, apparently filmed the same time as a twelve minute "snapshots" films of numerous stars called Hollywood on Parade (1932) & another one-reeler Hollywood Hit Parade #2 (1932) with Ginger just one of an impressive line-up that includes Louis Armstrong, Al Jolsen, & James Cagney.
Ginger Rogers sings a song she wrote herself, "The Gal Who Used to be You," which she dedicates peculiarly enough to comic actor Jack Oakie, who performs with her partially in drag. It's a cute little number because Ginger's so cute, & nice to see she was so talented she could even write her own songs if given the opportunity.
Maya's Pan-American Orchestra put on a big band song & Carribean chorus line number in The Havana-Madrid Show: Paran-Pan-Pan (1941). The Latin singer does his number in Spanish while shaking the maracas & moving in time with the choras line of gals. Then out come the star dancers Carlos & Zedra.
Running a mite over five & a half minutes, it's quite a lively glimpse into Maya's show. Halfway through, the number comes to an end, fades to black, then comes back with a girl singing the famous "Chick-chicky-boom" song in English. Carols & Zedra do another dance, & the maraca-shaking band leader moves nice too. The fat pianist gets up from playing & joins the singer in a rumba.
Maya's Pan-American Orchestra made several soundies in 1941, capturing different elements of the floor-show at New York's Havana-Madrid Nightclub. The Havana Madrid Show: Mamae eu quero & The Havana Madrid Show: Bahiana both feature trilling squeaky singer Yola Galli, & The Havana Madrid Show: La Camparsa, this last also included in the Castle Films three-part home-movie Tropical Serenaders (1944).
Mamae eu quero was also included as one-third of the Official Films home-movie Latin Tempos (1945) the other two soundies being Frenesi (1941) featuring Carlos Fernando & His Mexican Orchestra, & Conga Loca (1941) featuring Nano Rodrigo & His Orchestra.
Besides The Havana Madrid Show: La Camparsa, the other two soundies in Tropical Serenaders are Rita Rio in a big production number with Carlos Fernanda & His Mexican Orchestra, Adios (1941); & Will Bradley & His Band with Billie Joyce singing the title number Amor (1944), glammed up with help from the Mildred Ray Dancers.
The Nano Rodgrigo Orchestra appears in Aparicon (1941) with Columbian singer Ramon Armengod. The dinner club setting has Ramon seated at a table with a beautiful date, singing the title song to her in Spanish, with Nano & his orchestra in the far background.
At the instrumental break, Ramon & his gal dance in close embrace, with other couples also on the floor.
There was, however, an even more beautiful woman with a man at the next table. Ramon returns his date to their table & then asks the gentleman if he can dance with his date, being permitted. He makes it back to his own date, however, in time to look apologetic at the end of the final verse.
It's a pleasant little soundie that involves the viewer in Ramon's ill-balanced traits as romanticist & horndog.
 Mi Rhumba (1941) again features Nano Rodrigo & His Orchestera. Rodrigo is one handsome s.o.b. shaking his maracas instead of a band leader's wand.
Three rhumba dance couples headed by "Lola & Andre" keep the pictorial element lively as the orchestra plays the instrumental, & Nano never stops shaking those maracas.
Mi Rhumba also became one-third of the Official Films home-movie Rhumba Serenade (1941).
The title number features an instrumental by Fredrick Feher & the Mills Rhumba Orchestra, for the dance team "Nico & Charisse." The ten-minute home-movie version released a year later added Nano Rodrigo's Mi Rhumba & Ginger Harmon in Tica Ti Tica Ta (1942).
Along with Ginger Harmon in the trivial novelty number Tica Ti Tica Ta are the Mercer Brothers, Bud & Tim.
Harmon is kind of unpleasant to look at though her voice is reasonable, wasted on this particular song. It further pretends to have a Latin beat, an offense to Latin beat performers.
Ginger Harmon made nine soundies in 1941 & 1942 but her career had few highlights & she's mostly forgotten now. I can't say that's a big injustice to her talent.
Here she sings between the brother dancers. They are purportedly Latin American boyfriends whose names are too foreign to pronouce or who look too similar for her to tell them apart, so she has renamed them Tica-ti & Tica-ta.
During the instrumental center of the number, the Mercer Brothers decked out in gaucho drag go off & dance together in some other part of the hacienda.
For climax, in comes a conga line of people not previously in the film. In all, it's not just tica ti & tica ta, but it's tacky too.
 Chi Chi Castenango begins with Marilyn Hare & The Paragons looking at travel brocheurs as Marilyn sings the ridiculous song which runs "Money money money money money. Who wants money? It ain't hay. It ain't even peanuts."
The lyrics insist there's a place where they can go & get treated like royalty without having any money, namely in Chi Chi Castenango where they do not like money.
As Marilyn starts dancing, suddenly she is dressed up like a blonde Mexican showgirl, with the Paragons in sombreros playing brass behind her as she shakes & wiggles & sings.
There's not a lot to be said for the novelty song "Chi Chi Costenango" but it's a lively little performance with some cute tongue-twister lyrics.
It was also included in the Official Films home-movie with two other soundies, under the title Spicy & Spanish released in 1946. The second soundie of this selection is the Latin-beat band Eddie LeBarron & His Orchestra in Coax Me a Little Bit (1946).
 The last & title number of the three is the campy Spicy & Spanish (1944) starring Harry Lefcourt & His Red Jackets, with vocal duet by guitarist Little Frankie Little & with accordion, Jeanne Claire, accompanied by the Sande Dancers.
Another under-three-minute soundie that wants you to think "Latin" features Gracie Barrie giving the camera a psychotic gaze while singing the titular novelty song Stone Cold Dead in the Market (1946), a cold-blooded comedy number about killing one's husband.
The faux-Latin calipso number is sung in a rustic cafe setting, with a happy dancer spliced in a couple spots. In all, it's a strange enough song to that the soundie's a lot of fun. But a version of the song by Ella Fitzgerald is rightly better known today.
It was recycled into the Official Films home-movie Latin Novelties (1946) together with other campy soundies, Chiquita Banana (1946) featuring the Terry Twins, & Gay Ranchero (1941) featuring Latina commedienne Luba Malina backed up by Noro Morales & His Orchestra.
Artie Shaw's Class in Swing (1939) features Artie & his swing band, with a dashing young Buddy Rich on drums. The orchestra is put together section by section, materializing as the narrator's instructional lecture on what a band requires proceeds. The result is "swing that's really in the groove," with Artie on clarinet, playing bits of "Free Wheeling" & "Nightmare."
Ellen Forest comes in for the vocal on "I Have Eyes," with the opening verse "I have eyes to see with, but they see only you/ For you have eyes that put the very stars to shame/ I have lips to sigh with, what else am I to do/ when you have lips that fill my very soul with flame."
It was written by Leo Robin & Ralph Rainger, very popular song writers whose many well remembered songs included the Oscar-winning "Thanks for the Memories" which became Bob Hope's themesong. Bing Crosby also sang "I Have Eyes" the same year in Paris Honeymoon (1939).
The orchestra closes with "Shoot the Likker to Me John-Boy," a nice piece of hopping swing jazz, though again the "class room" narrator gets in the way of the aural quality. This one-reel soundie would've been a lot better without the intrusions of the unseen, anonymous professor.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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