Black and Tan

Simuland has pretty much said it all concerning this short. It's of no great value beyond the historical interest of seeing a very young Ellington and some members of his band. It's also interesting to note how "modern" some aspects of this are, despite the painfully dated racial stereotyping. Ellington's girl friend, for example, is obviously of the "live in" variety and the dancing costumes are fairly brief - two good indications that this is a "pre-code" film. Had this been filmed after the infamous Production Code went into effect, it would have been much more sanitized.

Anyone interested in actually seeing this will find it on (of all things) a recently issued DVD of the second-string musicals "Second Chorus" and "Mr. Impreium", tucked away behind the Special Features menu, along with another oddball short, "Boogie Woogie Dream" (1944) with a 27-year-old Lena Horne along with boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson and bandleader Teddy Wilson.