St. Louis Blues

The only surviving footage of Bessie Smith "St. Louis Blues" is a fascinating glimpse at a legend and the world she lived in. Featuring a storyline painfully mirroring Smith's own personal life the short film is an interesting glimpse at black American life at the dusk of the Jazz Age. Despite the erratic nature of the film with its sketchy pacing and music it truly is a marvel to glimpse and hear Smith at her peak. Tall and slim with an amiable yet murky countenance brimming with the anger and violence she was known for her clear, stentorian and forceful voice transcends time with the one of a kind magic that elevates her music above her time. A marvel for history, music and posterity this is a must see for all lovers of art, history and culture.

If you've ever wanted to see the great Bessie Smith perform, this is your one chance--her only film appearance is in this short.

For an early talkie, a lot of things were done right. The wrap-around plot involving the 'no-good boyfriend who done her wrong' is really quite effective, and unnerving, in it's violence. The camerawork in the big bar scene is generally well done, with people passing in front of the camera going about their business. It's obviously a one-take deal, with several cameras recording the action at the same time as three-camera sitcoms do.

But you're left wondering about the stupidity of the director who obviously hid Bessie's mic on the bar, but failed to set up a camera behind the bar! Yes she sings, but we're treated to her backside mostly, with only an occasional glimpse of her profile. You can't really blame that poor thinking on early sound technology.

Not a great film in the artistic sense, but it is all we will ever see of Bessie Smith in action, and the music is wonderful. All the more reason to criticize the NAACP's attempt to have all copes destroyed. The found the crapshoot scene demeaning. Fortunately, this attempt at censorship failed.

Years ago, Isabel Washington, who was the first Mrs. Adam Clayton Powell, told me how she came to play opposite Bessie in this 1929 two-reeler. "They wanted my sister, Fredi, who was already in pictures, but she had the flu and recommended me. When I auditioned, they said I was too light, so I told them that I could be dipped. They agreed and I got the part."

Fredi Washington is perhaps best known for her role in the 1934 Universal Pictures film, "Imitation of Life." Having served well to get Adam Clayton Powell elected, Isabel was divorced from him, and he married pianist Hazel Scott.

See why Bessie Smith was called the "Empress of the Blues" in this early sound short. An actress she was not, but the power and expression conveyed in her singing voice as she belts out the W.C. Handy composition of the title track is incredible. This film also gives you a rare glimpse of the talent of Jimmy Mordecai. One could only imagine what they could have accomplished had they been given the opportunity afforded other actors of their time.

This sloppy, unstructured two reeler featuring a diamond in the rough, blues singer Bessie Smith, is a it of a bumpy buggy ride but it does lay claim to having the only visual recording of the finest female blues singer outside of Billie Holliday.

Slick Jimmy the pimp is quite a rascal around the ladies but Bessie can't quit him. Caught philandering again Bess beats the woman and Jim walks. Drowning her melancholy in beer, Jimbo reappears to the delight of the locals, busts same energetic moves and takes her for a ride again.

Blues bustles with activity from a crap game to a jumping nightclub where customers and waiters camp it up while Bessie broods. She is indeed the jewel in the crown in the picture but there are also jazz giants (James P. Johnson, Thomas Morris) as well as Johnson Hall's Choir lending support to this unevenly edited, music explosion of rare and only filmed recording of The Empress of Blues.

An orphan street performing before 10, killed in a car crash at the height of her career, bisexual Smith's tempestuous personal life probably had a Jimmie or two in it as well. If anyone had the reason to sing the blues it was certainly the tragic Smith. A must for anyone interested in the history of American music.