Jammin' in the Panoram

"Jammin' in the Panoram" 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.

This one features Stan Kenton and His Orchestra and is pretty much the epitome of average. In other words, it doesn't stand out among the many Soundies. It's just okay and Stan Kenton fans will no doubt like it.

Stan Kenton and his orchestra show up in this soundie playing pretty hot swing amidst a lot of editing to show their rapid rise.

Soundies were musical videos. They were played on video jukeboxes called the Mills Panoram, and from about 1940 through 1947, more than 2500 soundies were produced. They were valuable training grounds for up-and-coming talent. Doris Day's first movie was a soundie; so was Nat King Cole's. For a dime, you got the performers doing their songs. Then production stopped, the machines went away and people forgot about them.

This one shows a lot more editing than any other soundie I have seen.