Hair slicked and smile set to dazzle, Duke Ellington is standing at an upright piano when “Hot Chocolate” opens, conducting a band that’s already swinging. “Hot Chocolate” was among the more than 1,800 short films called Soundies that Ellington and hundreds of other entertainers made in the 1940s. As a showcase for black talent, Soundies also offer a bittersweet vision of an American movie mainstream that could have been. Produced during Jim Crow, the Soundies were as segregated as the rest of the country. (Ricardo Montalbán appeared in Soundies, including “He’s a Latin from Staten Island,” which, alas, I have yet to locate.)

Source: New York Times June 11, 2020 17:15 UTC