Cab Calloway 1933 Cartoon of St. James Infirmary Blues
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Published 2023-03-14
/ @mashed-buddha
Live performance of this music by my St. James Trio on acoustic piano, sax, and guitar:
• St James Infirmary Blues on Piano, Sa...
Please have a look, we did our best to recreate this music just as performed by Cab's orchestra.
This is from a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon that tells a condensed and somewhat twisted version of Snow White. In the middle of the cartoon we have Cab Calloway singing St. James Infirmary Blues. This video starts with him and his orchestra, a rare live action scene that's actually from another cartoon of this era, Minnie the Moocher, a song which Calloway is most famous for. He sings that song as a Walrus and it's in a different key than what we see the orchestra performing at the beginning of that cartoon. As it turns out the footage and music that start Minnie the Moocher is clearly the same recording as the song we have here, St. James Infirmary Blues, and later in the edit I join these two pieces of audio together. He starts singing the tune as Koko the Clown, then gets morphed into a ghost. Wonderful animation that capture his annunciation and dance moves, with other wild visuals. Towards the end we see how the animators turned his live action movements into cartoon form. Included scenes from 1980 film The Blues Brothers, where Cab Calloway again performs Minnie the Moocher, which was my initial introduction to this singer and performer.
Original cartoon "Betty Boop in Snow White"
Created by Max Fleischer
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Animated by Roland C. Crandall
All Comments (21)
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Almost 100-years-old and it’s still enjoyable: PURE ART
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This song is the definition of bittersweet: tragic lyrics but embellished by his stunning voice
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Idk how people find this creepy… I really wish we still had this art style and music style too.
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There will never be another entertainer like Cab Calloway. R.I.P.
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I find this really strange. Watching the movements of this long dead man that was animated into a dead ghost. It's an echo of the dead in a way.
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It's funny to think that people went to the cinema to watch this and almost 100 years later I can watch it without even getting out of bed. Damn I'm high.
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His dance moves are as smooth as flowing water.
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My mom saw him in concert. She said he came dancing out in a sparkly pink suit and it was spectacular!
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one thing most people miss is that the background coincides exactly with what the ghost is singing, very VERY ahead of its time
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This footage fundamentally connects the history of animation with music, creating an incredible piece of art to watch. I'm amazed every time I see it
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It’s 1933 and that ghost is moonwalking all over the place… Cab Calloway had sauce for generations
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I’m an estate broker and I had a little home listed for sale in a rustic hilly area back in 1979. The lady introduced me to her best friend and neighbor, Cab Calloway. He was elderly, but quite agile and very funny.
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Dang, now if THAT isn’t some top-notch smooth dancing and singing, I don’t know WHAT is! Cab Calloway was such a legend!
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This is the definition of spooky. Not terrifying, but not tame. That erie feeling of uneasiness not out of fear but out of observation.
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I love surrealism. I grew up with these cartoons despite them being draw at the time of my grandparent's childhood. I loved how the world presented seemed to follow its own rules. I think this led to a lifelong love of surrealist artists such as Dali, Giger, and Varo.
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Cab Calloway is a legend. That kind of vocal range combined with that dancing talent comes along once in a lifetime
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Folks, I'm goin' down to St. James Infirmary, See my baby there; She's stretched out on a long, white table, She's so sweet, so cold, so fair. Let her go, let her go, God bless her, Wherever she may be, She will search this wide world over, But she'll never find another sweet man like me. Now, when I die, bury me in my straight-leg britches, Put on a box-back coat and a stetson hat, Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain, So you can let all the boys know I died standing pat. An' give me six crap shooting pall bearers, Let a chorus girl sing me a song. Put a red hot jazz band at the top of my head So we can raise Hallelujah as we go along. Folks, now that you have heard my story, Say, boy, hand me over another shot of that booze If anyone should ask you, Tell 'em I've got those St. James Infirmary blues. Let her go, let her go, oh bless her Wherever she may be She will search this wide world over But she'll never find another sweet man like me
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Cab Calloway is a man that is an absolute classical treasure. Too bad if if you speak his name today 90% of people don't know who he is and how much he contributed to the music industry. I will always hear him and thank him for sights and sounds I will never hear and see again. Rest in Heaven Sir.
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This man was a LEADER!!! He could lead a band, he could sing and dance and engage an audience!! What a performer!!!
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I wish people would sing like this again
