Dear Arabella

Dear Arabella (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Coin operated jukeboxes during WWII were able to play video as well as the audio and this here is one example of that. Ray Noble and His Orchestra get the top billing here but we've also got Snooky Lanson and a couple other performers chipping in to sing the title song. As with most of the jukebox music videos, this one here is certainly going to mainly appeal to film and music buffs but for the most part I found this one to be very entertaining. All of the musical performers are quite good and the song itself is also quite memorable and something you'll be tapping your feet to. The "video" portion of the film is pretty good as they clearly play up the lyrics and get the story across quite well.

This film was included in the three DVD set "Saved From the Flames"--a collection of mostly ephemeral movies that have managed to avoid turning to powder, catching fire or melting--something that usually happened with the nitrate film stock used up through the 1950s.

Of all the films in this collection, this and two other similar films are among the most unique. In an early television-like system, jukeboxes were produced in the early 1940s that not only played music but had film to accompany them--making them among the earliest music videos. Now I assume not too many of these films were made and it's really great that some are now available for viewing on DVD.

"Dear Arabella" most likely came out just before the US entered WWII--but the exact date of the short isn't listed on IMDb. However, like so many films of 1940-1941, it appears to be helping the American public to take to the notion of the war effort--with actors dressed as soldiers and WACS singing about what it's like to be away from home. It's all rather quaint today but is a nice look into life in America in 1941.

Here's a soundie in which orchestra leader Ray Noble asks singer Snooky Lanson to help him write a letter to his girl back home. He's in uniform and wants her to remain true. Later, he and Snooky go to mail the letter, but three WACS persuade him to put it on a record.

Snooky Lanson was christened Roy Landman. After his success with Noble, he replaced Frank Sinatra on radio's YOUR HIT PARADE, and starred on it through 1957, when he wasn't playing craps with the stagehands. He died in 1990 at the age of 76.