Dipsy Doodle

"Dipsy Doodle " 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.

In "Dipsy Doodle", Larry Clinton and his orchestra perform this little ditty. Compared to some of the other Soundies, this one is a bit dull, though well made. The print is clean and the sound is catchy.

Larry Clinton and his orchestra play the title song in this well-edited soundie.

Soundies were video shorts. They were played on a machine called a Mills Panaram; put a dime in, and you got one of about ten three-minute films that were changed on a weekly basis. The Panarams were installed in the sort of place you might see a jukebox. The majority seemed to be musical numbers, although there were a fair number of comedy shorts, and the occasional acrobatic team. From about 1940 through 1947, Mills and a few competitors made well over 2000 shorts for these machines. Many familiar faces, like Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong made them, and several future movie stars, like Doris Day and Ricardo Montalban had their first public exposure on film on them.

Clinton was a well known, if now obscure Big Band leader. The orchestration features a lot of brass.