Tall Tales

Burl Ives (in his first screen appearance), Will Geer, and Winston O'Keefe are joined by blues legend Joshua White in this short film, in which they sing traditional songs.

It was meant to be the first in a series, in parallel with the Library of Congress's purely audio recordings of folk songs and sea chanteys in the 1930s, and it was co-directed by Willard Van Dyke, who later became director of film at New York's Museum of Modern Art. Ives is practically unrecognizable, being a burly man, just starting to put on some flesh. When he starts to sing, he is instantly recognizable. White's rendition of "John Henry" is definitely the highlight.