Take the 'A' Train (1951) User Reviews

Take the 'A' Train was a nice musical short for the Delta Rhythm Boys

[tavm · 7/10 · 16 December 2016]

Just watched this music video of this song written by Lee Gaines and Billy Strayhorn on a Facebook page. It has the Delta Rhythm Boys singing the song on a set meant to resemble a train station (or maybe it actually was shot at one, who knows?). There are some pretty women accompanying them to a club where we then see some female dancers doing their stuff to much of the song. I don't think much else is going on during the three-minute number but since there needs to be ten lines for this to be submitted on IMDb, I have to think of something else to say. Well, how about the fact that this was seemingly made in 1951 seems to put it past the time when there were what were known as panorams-jukeboxes that showed promotional films of hit songs at bus and train stations during the '40s. Maybe there were still some in existence during this time, I don't know. Anyway, I liked this Take the 'A' Train musical short.

To Sugar Hill

[boblipton · 6/10 · 26 May 2023]

The Delta Rhythm Boys perform a lively version of the Duke Ellington signature tune in this soundie.

It's a Billy Strayhorn composition. Although he wrote lyrics for it, the first recorded version with words was written for the Delta Rhythm Boys. Joya Sherrill wrote the lyrics that Ellington used for the rest of his career.

Soudies like this were made for playing on a device called the Mills Panoram. These were basically video jukeboxes, and for most of the 1940s, you could find them in bars, restaurants, and similar locations. Mills and other producers released well over 2500 soundies, and many musical talents, like Doris Day and Nat King Cole made their first movie appearances in them.