NEEDLE DROP NOTES
January 21, 2025 posted by James Parten

Columbia’s Musical “Gems” (Part 1)

At the time that talkies began, Columbia was already regarded as more a mini-major – if only by sufferance. Their only name actor at the time was Jack Holt. Columbia may have been the first studio to adopt a specific fanfare for their logo, which went into use sometime in 1929 (It is confirmed as appearing on the Vitaphone soundtrack for the lost musical Broadway Scandals (November, 1929). Their best-known director was Frank Capra, whose glory days were about to come, but who was already seen at the time as having potential. Columbia decided to deal with Margaret Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz, for animation product. Both were shrewd business-people, and had knowledge of how to get around those with whom they were dealing. The studio that would become known as the Mintz studio put out a great deal of product, which seems to have satisfied the exhibitors. I have not noticed any complaints from theater owners in the trades. Eventually, the Mintz studio would become a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, and take on the name “Screen Gems” – in a slow-motion take-over, not unlike what Paramount would do, almost instantaneously, to Fleischer Studios in 1942. But in this case, Mintz would remain as producer until his death in December 1939.

Ratskin (8/15/29) was the sound debut for Columbia cartoons and Krazy Kat, who already by this time in his film career bore little connection to his comic strip roots. Animation is not much different than as seen in Krazy’s final silent for Paramount, “Sleepy Holler”, except for the addition of timed cycles of animation at various places to allow for the insertion of musical cues on the soundtrack. No attempt is yet made at synchronized speech, with vocal sounds either added as unsynchronized mumbles or as gibberish recited while the character’s lips open and close over and over. Still, timing is reasonably well-executed, and scoring on this furst effort is for the most part lively, as opposed to the next surviving title in the series, Port Whines, where most cues seem much too slow, and screen action is significantly hampered by desperate efforts to match action to slow melody. However, signs of life and progress were present by the time of our second title discussed below, and, with a very few exceptions, synchronization quickly moved up to snuff, including competent lip animation for talking and singing, and lively and loose rubber-hose animation, largely unrestrained by the challenges of sound.

Pioneer Krazy Kat goes West – but doesn’t get anywhere near Kokonino County. Title of this picture is a play upon the Paramount feature “Redskin”, starring Richard Dix – but makes no allusion at attempting reference to Ignatz Mouse, who had long ago disappeared from the animated series. Krazy encounters some native Americans, who decide to give him a hot “stake” (without Curly of the Three Stooges’ alternative of a “cold chop”). It’s been suggested that persons burned at the stake actually died of heat stroke rather than smoke inhalation. However, Krazy merely blows on the flames, giving the fire a chill, a case of sneezes, and an eventual fizzle-out – a gag lifted from Mutt and Jeff’s short, Playing With Fire (1925), one of two clues in Krazy Kat cartoons of some crossover of personnel from previous Bud Fisher units. Krazy does survive and prevail – though last shot is broken on surviving print of this film, leaving little clue as to what he does to the Indians, after flattening them into a sort of phonograph record.

The scoring of this cartoon is provided by Rosario Bourdon, a cellist who had been recording for Victor since the early 1910’s, and who had become a house orchestra leader for Victor, especially working out of the Camden New Jersey studios. It is unknown if this was his only score for the series (two films being missing among those that immediately followed, and “Port Whines” having no surviving original credits to determine musical director. All later scores for the Mintz studio would be provided by Joe DeNat.

Songs: “Tammany”, a 1903 novelty, dealing with a lodge that engaged in a lot of pseudo Native-American rituals, while becoming prominent in the Democratic party of Manhattan. They became known for political chicanery, and electoral alchemy, spanning several generations. This was at the very beginning of commercial recording. Billy Murray had an Edison cylinder close to the time of the song’s creation (embed below). Victor later had a two-step played by the Victor Dance Orchestra. In the 1930’s, the melody was used as a commercial jingle for Barbasol Shave Cream. For this reason, it shows up in a medley of commercial jingles recorded by Lester Lanin on Epic for the LP, “That Madison Avenue Beat” (an album suggested by an alleged instance where some inebriated patron at one of the band’s dance gigs asked him to play the jingle for Robert Hall.) “Mean To Me” was a 1929 pop recorded quite widely. Victor had a dance version by Leo Reisman’s Orchestra, and Columbia featured Ted Wallace and his Campus Boys, as well as issuing a vocal version by Ruth Etting. Brunswick had a dance version by Ben Bernie and hs Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra, and a vocal version by Chester Gaylord (the Whispering Serenader). Okeh had a vocal version by Seger Ellis. In England, Jack Hylton cut a version for HMV, and Alfredo and his Band had a version on Edison Bell. The Andrews Sisters revived it in 1940 for Decca, and there was a Bluebird release by Blue Barron. “Lucky Lindy” was a novelty written and recorded within days of Lindbergh’s landing at La Bourget airfield in Paris. Victor had a version by Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra. Columbia had a version by Vernon Dalhart. Harmony gave it to Jack Kaufman. There were covers on most other labels. A classical cue appears, utilizing Grieg’s “Morning” from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. Many recordings were made of the work, including Arthur Pryor on Victor, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra on Columbia, the Aeolian Concert Band on Aeolian-Vocalion, The Manhattan Symphony Orchestra on Cameo, the Capitol Grand Orchestra on Brunswick, Vessella’s Italian Band on Victor, the Court Symphony Orchestra on British Columbia, John Barbirolli on Victor red seal, Eugene Goossens and the Royal Opera Orchestra of Covent Gardens on HMV, Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic on Columbia, and Henri Rene on RCA Victor, among others. Other songs in the score which we’ve covered in discussion of other studios include the temporary theme song for the Krazy series, “Me-ow”, “Please Go ‘Way and Let Me Sleep”, “Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In the Morning”, “You’re In The Army Now”, “Turkey in the Straw”, “A-Hunting We Will Go” “London Bridge”, and “The Glow Worm”. There is also a mystery number which appears over the last hah broken away from the surviving film and over the end title, which I am unable to identify. As many cues tie in to visual gags in the presentation, identification of the title of this mystery piece might give a clue to the nature of the lost end gag and how Krazy really did rout the Indians – so any help on the tune’s identification will be appreciated.


Farm Relief (12/30/29) – A porker visits the site of Krazy’s farm, and livens things up fiercely when it turns out he is a secret vendor of bootleg hooch (complete with portable bar, and sawdust on the floor provided by stealing the dust from someone’s dream cloud with image of sawing wood). Everyone on the farm gets a dose, and goes whole hog with inebriation, including Krazy, who joins in a soused quartet rendition of “Down By the Old Mull Stream:, and ends the film attempting to obtain milk from an angry bull. SONGS: “Old Mill Stream” was a 1907 song that became a barber shop favorite. Recorded in 1911 by the Brunswick Quartette (no relation to the record label) on Columbia. Harry MacDonough covered it on Victor. The Excelsior Quartette did an Okeh version. (George Wiltern) Ballard and Nair appeared on Federal, Later revived by Bing Crosby with the Foursome on Decca (below), Guy Lombardo on Decca, Three Tobacco Tags in a country version on staff Bluebird, Jimmie Lunceford on Decca, the Three Peppers (a Harlem group with piano, guitar, and bass) on Decca, Abe Lyman on Columbia, the Golden Memory Boys on Bluebird, Benny Goodman on Columbia, Jerry Colonna on Decca, Bill Johnson on British Columbia, Arthur Godfrey and the Chordettes on Columbia, and the Mills Brothers on Dot. “This Is The Life”, a pop from 1914 by Irving Berlin, was recorded by Billy Murray on Victor, and the Peerless Quartette on Columbia, and seems to have had little other life on disc. It was revived on CD by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

Mention should be made of the likely lost cartoon, The Kat’s Meow (9/2/30), for which a new tune of the same title was written, which would become Krazy’s theme song to replace “Me-ow”, appearing on subsequent credits for many years of the early sound episodes, and once in partial vocal version in a 1931 episode to be discussed in a subsequent installment. It was published as sheet music (cover pictured above), identifying Joe De Nat as composer and Jimmy Bronis as lyricist. It is assumable the sheet music included a middle portion to the number we have not heard in other cartoons, and a full lyric, all of which seem to be lost to time except to those lucky few in possession of the sheet. Anyone with access to these missing elements of the song, or perhaps even a Vitaphone disc track, is invited to contribute.


Jazz Rhythm (6/19/30) – There is to be a musical performance at a local barn, and Krazy Kat is going by way of bull towing him, when they are not playing leap frog. At the barn, KK sets up his piano in a boxing ring, along with another piano played by somebody else. It proves to be a cutting contest between the two pianos, although most of what they’re plying is classical snippets, until Krazy breaks into the “St Louis Blues”, which is virtually the only jazz rhythm to be found in the entirety of the cartoon. SONGS: The “Blues” was first recorded by Prince’s Band in 1914 for Columbia. The first vocal performance was by Marion Harris in 1920 for Columbia. In 1921, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band waxed a well-known Victor version. Other famous recording include Bessie Smith (1925) for Columbia, Thomas (Fats) Waller in his 1926 debut for Victor on pipe organ, Ted Lewis on Columbia in 1926, Paul Whiteman on Victor in 1926,, Benny Goodman’s Boys on Brunswick in 1928 (titled as “Shirt Tail Stomp”), Louis Armstrong (1930) for Okeh, Bing Crosby with Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra (1932) for Brunswick), and Guy Lombardo (1930 for Columbia and 1939 for Decca, both featuring Carmen Lombardo’s exercise in circular breathing, holding one note for 12 bars). Just about anyone who claimed to be a jazz musician would ultimately record it. Notably, rival Disney studios would build a whole cartoon around the tune in “Blue Rhythm” for Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the following year.


Honolulu Wiles (7/17/30) – Not much plot – merely Krazy and Kitty in Hawaii, with everything either moving in rhythm or used as a musical instrument (such as the bamboo tubes of a native hut, serving as xylophone and panflute), and a lot of hula moves by Kitty. Some scenes seem to have made their way into color retracing for a later Technicolor extravaganza, Swing , Monkey, Swing. Song: “On the Beach at Waikiki’, a 1916 “hapa haole” (half-white) song, mixing lines of English and Hawaiian. This was the song that inspired Tin Pan Alley to go “wiki wacky” because of the line “Honu kaua wiki wiki”, meaning “Kiss me quickly”. Recordings included the Waikiki Hawaiian Orchestra on Edison Diamond Disc, Horace Wright and Rene Deitrich on Victor, the Waikiki Stone-Wall Boys on Columbia (recorded circa 1928 on an actual road trip to Honolulu), Kalama’s Quartette on Okeh, the Moana Serenaders on Decca circa 1934 (embed below), Kio Valencia’s Guitar Band on British Piccadilly, Les Brown (unknown if from Columbia or Coral), Gaylord Carter on organ on MacGregor, and The Harmony Hawaiian Quartet on Rondo.


The Bandmaster (9/8/30) – Krazy is leading a town band, whose drummer is using a trap drum set rather than having individual players on various drums. However, there is no storm in this cartoon, and nothing disturbs Krazy’s conducting. No appreciable plot, though Krazy does impression of Paul Whiteman. One of the earlier episodes of the series to make television. Song: “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, getting good mileage out of all of its strains, and “12th Street Rag”. The latter was recorded by The Palace Trio for Paramount around 1920, which seems to have been one of the first versions. The All Star Trio got it for Victor. Richard M. Jones had the Gennett version. Abe Lyman and his Californians cut it for Brunswick in 1926, and was one of the first to use it as a vehicle for instrumental effects by the orchestra. Johnny Marvin and Billy Carola recorded it for Victor in late 1926. Benny Moten recorded a very hot version for Victor in 1927. Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven recorded for Okeh in 1927, but it was not issued until 1941 on red Columbia. Satchmo played it in ballad tempo rather than as an up-tempo novelty. Sol Hoopii recorded a trio version for Columbia and with his Novelty Five for Decca. Roy Smeck and his Hawaiian Serenaders had rival versions on Banner and Rex. Vernon Geyer issued a Hammond Organ solo for buff Bluebird. Harry Robbins issued a xylophone version for British Columbia circa 1934. Fats Waller issued a version on Victor that was pure improvisation upon the basic chord pattern, without directly quoting the melody. Roy Newman and His Boys issued a Vocalion. Count Basie also issued a Vocalion in 1939. Perhaps the best-known version of the 78 era was by Pee Wee Hunt, first recorded for Capitol Transcription in 1947, and commercially for the label in 1948. Hunt, an ex-Casa Loma trombonist and vocalist, treated it in novelty fashion. Liberace would later cover it for Columbia. Arthur (Guitar Boogie) Smith had a version on MGM, as did pianist Jack Fina, and the Elliott Brothers Orchestra. Good Time Jazz would issue versions by the Firehouse Five Plus Two, Lu Watters, and Burt Bales. Del Wood would give it her honky-tonk treatment on Republic. Kid Ory issued a French Vogue, and a Verve session in 1957.

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The Apache Kid (10/9/30) – Krazy is a French low-life (an apache) and Kitty the singer at a small boiute, where she sings in French “Mon Homme”. Krazy is so tough, he rolls a cigarette, and it turns out to be a Camel – quite literally. KK gets into a fight with somebody, and they look daggers at one another – which they proceed to use to fight. Much of the action descends into the famous sewers of Paris, which were always great for hiding from the Surete. A bit unusual setting (mise-en-scene) for an American cartoon of the time. Song: “Mon Homme (My Man)” was written by Maurice Yvain, an introduced by Mistinguett, a leggy star of the French Music Hall, who recorded it for vertical-cut Pathe in 1920, and in 1928 for electrical Odeon. A dance version appeared in the United States by Paul Whiteman on Victor. Vocal recordings appeared by Ruth Etting on Victor, and by Fannie Brice on Victor blue seal (acoustic) and black label (electric). The song became associated with Brice (below). Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra performed it for Decca. Dinah Shore issued a 40’s Bluebird side. Billie Holiday would later revive it for Decca. Carroll Gibbons issued a British Columbia. Barbra Streisand gave the song a fine comeback in the Columbia LP years.


Lambs Will Gamble (11/1/30) – A tale of the stock market crash – and how stockbroker Krazy miraculously brings back prosperity to Wall Street, using the eagle from his last dollar to lay new coins that become a flock. An interesting time capsule on the war between the bulls and the bears, the latter attempting to hoard all the wealth, and celebrating in dance to the tune of “Grizzly Bear”. The song was a rag from 1911, recorded at the time by Billy Murray with the American Quartet on Victor, and by Arthur Collins on Columbia. The Collins version also appeared on various “scheme goods” labels, which reissued Columbia masters with odd-sized spindle holes for companies selling custom phonographs which could only play records with such oversized holes. Leslie Mayne and Cove issued a version on British Famous Records. The Band of 12th Hussars issued a spirited British Victory Record. The Imperial Symphony Orchestra issued a British Pathe. Sophie Tucker included it in a medley on Mercury records.

NEXT TIME: More Krazy music!

12 Comments

  • That’s not Paul Whiteman whom Krazy Kat is impersonating in “The Bandmaster”, it’s John Philip Sousa. The chin whiskers, the hat, and the jacket festooned with medals are all distinguishing features of the March King, not the King of Jazz.

    In “Honolulu Wiles”, when Krazy’s girlfriend starts strumming her heart-shaped banjolele we hear “My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle” by Walter Donaldson, featured in the 1920 Broadway revue “Silks and Satins” starring Aileen Stanley, who recorded the song for Victor later that year. In 1923, Stanley recorded another Donaldson song with a tropical island theme, “On the Isle of Wicki Wacki Woo”, but that one didn’t make it into “Honolulu Wiles”.

    I’ve long felt that the Fleischer studio missed an opportunity by failing to use “My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle” in “Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle”, co-starring Bimbo. Maybe the Royal Samoans didn’t have it in their repertoire.

    • Here’s The Bandmaster:

      https://youtu.be/7J-tdIsyh4o?si=GIJTUhOrXZ6-EIe2

    • Krazy does several impressions in “The Bandmaster.” After removing the mask, he morphs into Paul Whiteman, Charlie Chaplin, Ted Lewis and Ben Turpin.

      According to Wikipedia, the mask is Guy Fawkes. I suspect that that’s an error.

  • “Mintz would later engage in a partnership, resulting in several mid ‘30’s movie serials.”
    WHICH SERIALS?

    • Perhaps he was confused by the three “Weiss-Mintz Exploitation Serials” in 1936, only that was a man named Robert Mintz, not Charles.

    • If Charles Mintz ever made any movie serials, they weren’t released by Columbia. It was one Robert Mintz (no relation to Charles), head of a Poverty Row outfit called Exploitation Pictures, Inc., who formed a partnership with Louis Weiss to produce Columbia’s first serial, “Jungle Menace”, starring Frank Buck, in 1937.

    • The original article has now been amended thanks to readers noting the confusion over Robert and Charles Mintz. Thanks Mark, Paul and Richard for your input.

  • As a movie serial fan and historian, I’d like to know this as well. I think Columbia started releasing serials around 1937 – made by independent producers like the Weiss Brothers, Jack Fier, Larry Darmour and – most infamously – Sam Katzman. So, if Charles Mintz partnered with one of these producers, my guess would be it was with Weiss Productions. If it was in the middle ’30s, it might have been exclusively for the Weiss Brothers. As I said, I’d like to know this info. myself!

  • Looking forward to more of this series, James.

    Canned Music, the second sound Krazy Kat, gave Rosario Bourdon the on-screen musical score credit according to the Cumulative Copyright Catalog, but per the Discography of American Historical Recordings database, the Victor ledgers credit LeRoy Shield as the musical director: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800026840/MVE-55777-Canned_music

    The copyright catalog didn’t record the on-screen music credit, but the per the database, the ledgers list Bourdon as director and Joe De Nat as assistant director for Port Whines: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800027078/MVE-56074-Port_whines

    Sole Mates, Farm Relief, The Kat’s Meow, and Spookeasy have De Nat listed as director and Jack Stillman as his assistant director in the database.

    Slow Beau, which is clearly an earlier cartoon whose release was held up, lists Bourdon as director and Bruno Reibold as assistant director of takes 1–2 on July 2, 1929, and De Nat + Stillman for later takes on December 4: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800026186/MVE-55069-Slow_beau

  • Might as well also link to Ratskin‘s database record. listing Bourdon as director and Reibold as assistant director, and which also gives the date of July 2, 1929. So which cartoon was animated first, Ratskin or Slow Beau? https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/800026185/MVE-55068-Ratskin

  • The Grizzly Bear was a dance originating in San Francisco at the beginning of the 20th century. The song in this post is about the dance. The Youngbloods 1967 song “Grizzly Bear” is also about the dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIUdNwTkkoQ

  • Since we’re on the topic about discussing Columbia’s Krazy Kat, has anyone here ever gotten around to the short “L’il Ainjil”? I mean it’s a interesting yet experiemtal theatrical short in the Krazy Kat filmography as it’s the only that’s the most-faithful to adapt George Herriman’s Krazy Kat

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