Fred Waller

A musical short with Richard Himber and His Orchestra at the center of things.

Ted MacDonald and his father, Edmund, sail to the South Seas to treat a cholera epidemic among the natives. Upon their return to Long Island, New York, Edmund is diagnosed with the disease, requiring him and Ted to remain on his ship, with regular visits by a doctor. Socialite Lois Brooke takes it upon herself to board the vessel, and she is also placed under quarantine. Lois and Ted fall in love, and during an extended visit to her home, he is seduced by her life of endless parties and hot jazz. An avaricious interloper attempts to come between Ted and Lois, but Edmund persuades them to return to the ship and continue their charitable mission.

A rising nineteen-year-old singer by the name of Billie Holiday made her screen debut in this musical landmark, which features Duke Ellington and his orchestra performing his symphonic jazz piece “A Rhapsody of Negro Life” set to scenes of everyday African American life.

This is the full ten minute film from which the Russ Morgan "Meet The Bandleaders" segment was created on video in the 1980s. It features Russ in his first year, singer Linda Lee, and Lewis Julian, a former NBC page boy. Also featured is 22-year-old Billy Fisher on saxophone and clarinet (in front of the bass drum), who later played with Al Donahue and the CBS Orchestra. He was later the arranger for the Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason shows and the Tony Awards.

Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.

This jazz musical short has a comedy plot about marital infidelity. Bandleader Cab Calloway plays a ladies man who dates the wife (Fredi Washington) of a train porter who is frequently absent from home. Calloway and his Orchestra perform "Zaz-zuh-zaz" and "The Lady with the Fan" at the Cotton Club in Harlem.

Jim Bradley has always played second fiddle in his family -- while his older brother, Herbert, goes off to college, Jim becomes a garage mechanic. When Herbert returns home, it's easy for him to steal Jim's girl, Polly Crawford. But trouble comes to the Bradley's town when Cragg murders his daughter and breaks into the family's home. Herbert goes for help, leaving Jim with an empty gun to protect their mother and Polly.

Cab Calloway performs at the Cotton Club before he takes his friends down to Harlem for a jitterbug party.

A one-reel short shot against a nightclub background in which several names from New York City radio programs do a variety of turns. Jack Gilford, a mimic, gives his takes on the likes of Harry Langdon, Rudy Vallee, George Jessel and Henry Armetta'. Loretta Lee sings a song and Babs Ryan does a musical number with the help of her brothers. Edward Paul and his orchestra provide the music.

A swing music short starring Ina Ray Hutton and her 'all-girl' band.

Soundie of the Delta Rhythm Boys' version of the eponymous classic song, accompanied by some dancing beauties.

Duke Ellington and his orchestra play two jazz compositions plus 'Stormy Weather' (sung by Ivy Anderson).

Moscow Moods is a 1936 American short film directed by Fred Waller. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).

Chester Waddington secretly marries society girl Patricia Flynn, a fact that is revealed at a party celebrating her engagement to another suitor. A brawl ensues.

In the first of Paramount's "Headliner" series, narrator Ted Husing travels up and down and around Broadway and other main stem New York City locations, and views the likes of Earl Carroll picking show-girls for hie Varieties; Al Jolson and Jack Benny rehearsing their radio programs; and other celebs, such as Gary Cooper visiting The Big Apple, and Bea Lillie and Sophie Tucker and others caught by the Headliner camera.

Here is Johnny Green conducting his lush dance orchestra in a medley of four of his own popular compositions. His band singer Marjory Logan and The Tune Twisters (male trio) sing two more Green songs (both with lyrics by James Dyrenforth): "What Now" and "Not Bad." Green chastises his second pianist (and arranger), Dave Terry, for infringing on Green's musical territory. With the aid of trick photography, Green, with a wave of his baton, reduces the orchestra to miniature size, then Dave Terry does the same to Green. The film closes with an intricate version of "Sweet Sue-Just You"(Victor Young-Will Harris), featuring Green's saxophone section.

Showcasing many songwriters of the 1890s, including William McKenna, Harry Armstrong, and eighty-six year old Theodore Metz (who wrote "A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight"). For a special treat, we get to see Maude Lambert sing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."

Lucky Millinder and His Band are joined by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Soundies short film in which Gracie Barrie sings "I've Got to Get Hot"

Singer-dancer Ina Ray Hutton started out on Broadway at age 8 and performed with the big bands of Harry James and Artie Shaw, but it was as a pioneering band leader herself in the 1930s that she made her name. Hutton organized her first all-women big band, Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears, in 1935. A few film appearances for the band and a starring role for Hutton in Ever Since Venus (1944), along with endless national touring, eventually led her to NBC and a musical variety show in 1956. In this Paramount short, one of a series directed by Fred Waller who went on to invent Cinerama, Hutton—grooving up front in her standard sheer evening dress—and the original Melodears, perform “Organ Grinder’s Swing Overture” followed by The Winstead Trio doing “The Bugle Call Rag.”