A Zoot Suit with a Reet Pleat

All right, this is now my second review of a Soundie I watched on YouTube featuring Dorothy Dandridge, here dueting with Paul White on wanting the latest in fashion during the early '40s. Specifically, White wants a "Zoot Suit to wear with his Sunday gal" while Ms. Dandridge wants the latest dresses to go with his suit. Today, the image that White portrays may connote a somewhat negative African-American stereotype but at the time this was one of the few times any performer of his race got any exposure in Hollywood. If you're willing to gloss over his performance and concentrate on the stunningness of Ms. Dandridge alone, you should probably have a good time watching this for 3 minutes. So on that note, A Zoot Suit with a Reet Pleat was worth a look.

Paul White and Dorothy Dandridge sing the lively song, while the Ted Fiorito Orchestra plays in this wartime soundie.

Soundies were a type of short subject that can be considered ancestral to the sort of music videos that play on MTV. They were meant to be played on a device called a Mills Panoram, which was a sort of video jukebox that might be found in bars in the early 1940s. You put in a dime, and got one of ten songs with performers syncing along to the recording. Mills produced an estimated ten a week for more than seven years, and there were several competitors. Major musical talent got their start performing for the system. Miss Dandridge was one of them; a dozen years later, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in CARMEN JONES.