The Chool Song

It's an ancien regime setting, with people doing the minuet.... until it turns into nonsense lyrics to a swing beat and everyone starts trucking.

It's one of more than two thousand "soundies" produced between 1939 and 1947, meant to be played on a device called a Mills Panoram. For seven years they could be found in bars, night clubs, and other places where people would gather. Think of them as music videos, available for viewing at a dime a song.

A lot of performers got their start in the soundies, but here's a case where the budding talent is the director, Reginald Le Borg. Although Le Borg never became a major director, his name appeared on several decent movies.

"The Chool Song" 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.

"The Chool Song" is a nonsense song and instead of the usual performers standing or sitting on stage, here they are dressed in costumes reminscent of 18th century France. It reminds me of songs like "Mairzy Doats" or The Three Stooges singing "The Alphabet Song"...fun and silly. I like this one much more than its relatively low rating...it's fun and I appreciate the weird costumes.