Maharaja

Hal and Betty Takier dance to the unnamed band's rendition of this swing number with a Middle-Eastern flair in this soundie.

A soundie was a musical video in the 1940s. Go into a bar or night club and you might find a device called a Mills Panaram. Drop in a dime, and you would get a three-minute short film from a loop of ten that was changed weekly. Most of them were songs. A few, like this one, were music and dancing. I've also seen a coule of comedy skits and a straight acrobatic team perform.

Mills and a few competitors produced more than two thousand of these short films. For a team that has become obscure, the Takiers are pretty good.

"Maharaja" is a short film that is a 'Soundie'...an early sort of music video that was played on specially built jukeboxes from 1940-1947. These jukeboxers were unusual because they not only played music but video...like music videos of the modern era. And, if you are curious about this an other soundies, you might want to buy yourself a copy of "Soundies the Ultimate Collection"...a 4 disc set of about 200 of these films.

This one features Hal and his wife, Betty Takier dancing though the band somehow isn't credited. Their dance style is called Balboa dancing and it like Jitterbugging...except the dancers dance much closer together and are a bit more restrained...supposedly because the dance began in California gymnasiums which were tight on space!

Overall, an enjoyable film but one that doesn't stand out from the rest apart from a rare chance to see this form of dance.