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A Post-Screening Conversation on “Call Northside 777”

James Stewart in “Call Northside 777” (1948)

For New York film fans, CUNY TV’s long-running City Cinematheque is a much-loved treasure-house of world cinema, screening everything from Buster Keaton comedies to Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Orson Welles in The Third Man.

In October, I’ll join City Cinematheque host Jerry Carlson for a discussion of Call Northside 777, a gritty 1948 “docu-noir” starring James Stewart and Lee J. Cobb.

Adapted from a real-life chain of events, Call Northside 777 is the story of a wrongful murder conviction, a mother determined to free her son, and a skeptical but intrepid reporter who chases the story through Chicago’s working-class Polish neighborhoods.

One of several postwar movies to be shot largely on location, Call Northside 777 took advantage of the faster film stocks, lighter cameras, and portable sound equipment developed for filming in World War II.

Previewing the film, I was surprised at how resonant it remains, and how beautifully it captures the late 1940s. At that point, the inclusive vision of America that was so crucial for winning the war—and so evident in Soundies—was still in play, but the McCarthy Era was quickly approaching.

The film and conversation will air during the first two weekends in October on CUNY TV in NYC, as part of a 4-film series on “Post-War Anxiety in American Film (1945-1950).”

After the premiere, the post-screening conversation will be uploaded to the CUNY City Cinematheque YouTube channel (and, for a week, to the City Cinematheque home page).

For your screening pleasure, a good print of Call Northside 777 is also available on YouTube.

Here are the air dates on CUNY TV:

PREMIERE: Friday, October 4 at 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 5 at 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 6 at 9:30 p.m.

Friday, October 11 at 12 midnight

Saturday, October 12 at 12 midnight

Sunday, October 13 at 12 midnight

CUNY TV is broadcast in NYC on channel 25.3 and available via cable on Spectrum and Optimum, channel 75; RCN, channel 77; and Verizon FiOS, channel 30.

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No Dimes Needed! This Sunday, the Panoram Is Rolling at MoMI–And I’ll Be There for the Q & A

Last month I wrote about the Museum of the Moving Image, their new Panoram machine, and the Soundies screening exhibition “Coin-Operated Treasures: Black-Cast Soundies from the Astoria Studio.“

The Panoram came with an 8-film reel of Soundies. And not even the MoMI folks have seen them all yet.

This Sunday, July 21, at 1 p.m., the full 8-film reel will screen on the Panoram–exactly the way people watched Soundies in the 1940s. At 3 minutes apiece, the whole program should take about 25 minutes or so.

I’ll be on hand with MoMI curator Barbara Miller for a post-Panoram conversation and audience Q & A. And an impromptu book signing for Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time.

We don’t know for sure that the reel will include one of Dorothy Dandridge’s Soundies, seen here in A Zoot Suit (1941). But I certainly hope so.

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A Ritrovato Thumbs Up for “Soundies: The Ultimate Collection”

A renowned international film festival just had its 38th annual edition, and Soundies were there.

Organized by the Cineteca di Bologna, a  global film preservation powerhouse, Il Cinema Ritrovato presented some 500 films on six screens, including massive open-air programs in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore.

Ritrovato’s Blu-ray & DVD Awards celebrate old movies, restorations, and rediscoveries in home video formats. This year, close to 40 releases competed in categories like “Best Boxed Set,” “Best Single Film Release,” and “Best Rediscovery of a Forgotten Film.” Members of the jury also designated specific titles as their “Personal Choice.”

Soundies: The Ultimate Collection was the “Personal Choice” of Spanish critic and film historian Miguel María Franco, a former director of the Spanish Film Archive. His rationale was brief and to the point: “A wonderful collection of rarely seen films about American popular music.” 

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This Thursday, A Conversation in Chelsea

Still from Ina Archer, “Black Black Moonlight: A Minstrel Show,” 2024 (Courtesy Microscope Gallery)

If you’ve seen the DVD set Soundies: The Ultimate Collection, you’ll know my colleague Ina Archer, who did several of the on-camera intros.

Ina’s exhibition, Ina Archer: To Deceive the Eye, is now on view at Microscope Gallery in Chelsea. It’s a knockout–and the New York Times says so. 

“Other Black artists, like Adrian Piper and Arthur Jafa, have made works extracted from Hollywood archives,” critic Martha Schwendener wrote. “What Archer brings is a canny sense of the bewitching potential of celluloid. Manipulating the archive into an art object, she seduces you into watching — and staring at — the appalling ways racism has manifested in cinema.”

This Thursday evening, July 11, at 7 p.m., Ina and I will be at the gallery for a conversation about her art—including her paradoxically beautiful works on paper and two moving-image works, “Black Black Moonlight: A Minstrel Show” (2024) and “Trompe l’Oeil: Black Leader” (2023).

It should be a lively conversation! If you’re not able to attend in person, the gallery is live-streaming the event. Details on the talk and the exhibition here.

Hope to see you at Microscope this Thursday at 7.

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A Panoram for Astoria

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, is right next door to Eastern Services Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), where many early New York Soundies were shot in 1941. So it’s especially fitting that MoMI has acquired a working Panoram machine, complete with a reel of Soundies.

To celebrate, the museum is presenting “Coin-Operated Treasures: Black-Cast Soundies from the Astoria Studio,” a continuously running program of selected Soundies, shown on big-screen video in the museum’s Amphitheater Gallery.

The lineup includes Soundies by Fats Waller, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and more. And the Panoram will get a workout too, running 16mm Soundies in scheduled presentations.

To celebrate, here’s a Kino Lorber clip of one of the Soundies on the video schedule: The Charioteers (and some fabulous dancers) doing “Swing for Sale” (1941). 

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Soundies at the Orphan Film Symposium

Courtesy Orphan Film Symposium, NYU

In April, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is hosting the 14th edition of the Orphan Film Symposium—and Soundies will be there.

On Saturday, April 13, I’ll present a short Soundies program on this year’s symposium theme of “Work and Play”—six films that combine performance, play, work, and music in unexpected ways.

It’s part of the 2:45 p.m. “Soundworks” program, which also features presentations on DeVry Cine-Tone Films of the late 1920s, the Black-owned Pyramid Pictures Corporation of the early 1920s, and the enigmatically titled “Leo Roars!”

The Orphan Film Symposium kicks off with a reception and screening on Wednesday evening, April 10. Programs run from 9:30 or 10 a.m. into the evening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 11-13.

More details: https://wp.nyu.edu/orphanfilm/

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A Soundies Conversation at the Academy Museum in L.A.

 

I’m honored to be part of the Regeneration Summit, a celebration of Black cinema coming to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles this weekend.

I’ll be speaking on the panel “Soundies 101: A Hidden History,” talking about the films, performers, and cultural history that I wrote about in the book.

I’ll be in conversation with artist and media conservation specialist Ina Archer, who did several of the intros for the upcoming Kino Lorber Soundies collection (see the post just below this one); archivist and jazz-on-film scholar Mark Cantor, who was so vital to the book; film researcher Manouchka Labouba; and our moderator Doris Berger, co-curator of the museum’s milestone exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971.”

The panel is at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 4, followed by a meet-and-greet in the museum bookstore at 2.

If you’re in the LA area, I’d love to see you there.

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Coming Up: Wednesday, September 7

Co-Hosting Soundies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

 

John Shadrack Horace and Johnny Moore’s 3 Blazers in “Along the Navajo Trail” (1945), one of the Soundies I’ll introduce on TCM on Wednesday night, September 7

Mark your calendar and save the date! On Wednesday, September 7, I’ll join Turner Classic Movies host Dave Karger to introduce 3 programs of Soundies, paired with 3 different feature films.

At 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, we’ll talk about “Soundies–Before They Were Stars,” featuring Dorothy Dandridge, Ricardo Montalban, a teenage Doris Day, and others, followed by Day’s big breakthrough movie, “Romance on the High Seas” (1948).

At 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, it’s “Soundies–Battle of the Band Leaders, Part One,” with classic Soundies by Gene Krupa, Cab Calloway, Stan Kenton, and others, leading into “Orchestra Wives” (1942).

Closing the night at 1:30 a.m. Eastern (10:30 p.m. for the West Coast crowd), “Soundies–Country Classics” features a terrific duet by Carolina Cotton and Merle Travis, and a rare Soundies find: “Along the Navajo Trail, starring John Shadrack Horace and Johnny Moore’s 3 Blazers, followed by “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1964).

Two weeks later, Dave and I will be back with another Soundies night on September 21.

From “Along the Navajo Trail” (1945)
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Save the Date! Soundies on TCM, Wednesday, September 21

Co-Hosting the 2nd Program of Soundies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

 

“Good-Nite All,” 1943, one of the Soundies I’ll introduce in the “Swing Music and Dance” program on September 21

Two weeks after our first set of Soundies programs on September 7 (see entry below), Dave Karger and I are back on Wednesday, September 21 with another night of Soundies paired with feature films.

At 8 p.m. Eastern time, we’ll start with “Soundies — Swing Music and Dance,” featuring classic Soundies by Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, the Charioteers, and more—including one of my favorites, “Good-Nite All,” followed by Jordan in “Reet, Petite and Gone” (1947).

At 9:30 p.m. Eastern, it’s “Soundies — Battle of the Band Leaders, Part Two,” with Jimmy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and yes, Lawrence Welk! Followed by “Cabin in the Sky” (1943).

At 11:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll close with “Soundies — Joining the War Effort,” featuring Soundies by Doris Day, Louis Jordan, and some wonderful discoveries–including Toni Lane, who turns in a terrific performance on “When Hitler Kicks the Bucket.”

I hope you’ll mark your calendar and tune in for both evenings. For details, check the TCM monthly calendar in September. 

“Good-Nite All” (1943)
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Live Screening & Presentation: Film Forum NYC

“Soundies: Glamour, Gender and A Little More Libido”

Ed Coleman of Day, Dawn, and Dusk in “Faust”

In celebration of Pride Month, on Monday, June 20 at 6:30 p.m., I’ll be at Film Forum with another program pulled from the full Soundies catalog—this one featuring films that play with and push back on stereotypes of women and the exclusionary, emphatically heterosexual culture of the World War II era. 

 

Along with early-career glimpses of Dorothy Dandridge, dancer Cyd Charisse, and Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban, the program spotlights Soundies performers who reflect a looser, more expansive vision of 1940s America—including vocal trio Day, Dawn, and Dusk, the fabulous De Castro Sisters, and “dance impersonator” Arica Wild.  Monday, June 20 at 6:30 p.m.

Monday, JUNE 20 6:30pm
$9.00 Member
$15.00 Regular

BUY TICKETS

Film Forum

209 West Houston St. west of 6th Ave.
Map and Directions
Box Office: 212-727-8110