Birth of the Blues

  • Music
  • Romance
11/7/1941
87
NR

Strike Up The Band ! * Here comes happiness . . . in a merry medley of romance . . . and rhythm !

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou.

Cast

Reviews

  • Geronimo1967

    Its set in the American Deep South in the late 1930s so of course there are going to be unsavoury racial overtones, but in some ways this films strives to suggest that by using jazz music and the wholesomeness of Bing Crosby, there might be some green shoots of desegregation starting to emerge. The young Jeff is a pretty prodigious talent, but is regularly strapped by his father for playing with darkie bands in New Orleans. Undeterred, he grows up (into Bing Crosby) and establishes his own multi-racial and multi-talented band. They struggle to overcome the prejudicial attitudes on the city, though, and its only when they hook up with songstress Betty Lou (Mary Martin) that they start to get hired. Somewhat predictably, he falls for her but ...

    July 27, 2025

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