Includes stormy weather, jumpin jive and aint misbehaving, performed by the likes of cab calloway, fats waller, lena horne and mae johnson. The inimitable fats waller delivers the definitive ain t misbehavin and a superb duet with ada brown called that ain t right. Stormy weather was a world apart, even, from another picture released earlier that year, cabin in the sky. He also weaves in his own personal memoir and includes a selected discography listing the most representative. Stormy weather suffers from its portrayal of an idealization of africanamerican lives at the time that, while seemingly positive, is hardly exemplary of the realities of the time. One of several race films produced by the major studios in the early 1940s this one by 20th century fox, stormy weather offers a showcase of black entertainers. Our agreements with the content provider dont allow purchases of this title at. Stormy weather is a 1943 american musical film produced and released by 20th century fox. Cab calloway sashays and cavorts through geechy joe and jumpin jive.
Coincidentally, as the train with the body of waller stopped in kansas city, so stopped a train with his dear friend louis armstrong on board. Later, he recorded an instrumental version of the song before rerecording it as a vocal for his 1943 film stormy weather. Thomas wright fats waller may 21, 1904 december 15, 1943 was an american jazz. Thomas wright fats waller may 21, 1904 december 15, 1943 was an american jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. However it is a product of its time and some of the stereotyping does make you feel a little uncomfortable at times. Thomas fats waller came from a harlem household where his father was a baptist lay preacher and his mother played piano and organ. Slim storyline, and bill robinson was way too old to play a romantic interest of the young lena horne, but a great look at some of the biggest africanamerican stars of the day.
The inimitable fats waller delivers the definitive aint misbehavin and a superb duet. In fact, stormy weather released the same year that the threedaylong detroit race riots broke out after years of controversy over the integration of work and. Fats waller, ada brown, stormy weather, 1943 synopsis of. Fats waller biography facts, childhood, family life. While that picture the first bigticket hollywood film with an allblack cast certainly represented a leap of progress in terms of how people of color were represented in hollywood cinema, its themes were somewhat biblical, pitching. Lena hornes ethereal, gorgeous voice lends an unforgettable purity to her renditions of theres no two ways about love and the title song, stormy weather. The film is considered a primary showcase of some of the top africanamerican performers of the time, during an era when africanamerican actors and. Fred waller with duke ellington and billie holiday. The lyrics of this songincluding fats waller s word play comebacks are included in this post along with selected comments from the discussion thread of this youtube video. He steals the show in the film stormy weather, clips a plenty on you tube.
A concert from the bbc prom in 2014 which was david zinmans final concert as music director of the zurich tonhalle, with julia fischer playing dvoraks violin concerto and beethoven 6th symphony. However, the outstanding moments in the film are fats waller s performance, bill robinson tap dancing on a set of bongos, lena horne singing stormy weather, cab calloway and his band in the last musical number with an incredible choreography, and to top it off, the nicolas brothers astounding tap dance routine. Stormy weather 1933 uncredited music by harold arlen lyrics by ted koehler played during the opening credits and often in the score. Complete your lena horne, cab calloway, bill bojangles robinson and fats waller collection. He was the youngest of four children born to adaline locket waller, wife of the reverend edward martin waller. Here is the intimate, behindthescenes story told by his son of the legendary jazz man thomas fats waller. Etsy is the home to thousands of handmade, vintage, and oneofakind products and gifts related to your search. Performed on piano by fats waller and sung by ada brown. The story of fats waller paperback august 22, 1975. Complete song listing of fats waller on fats waller songs list covid19. Bill robinson sings and dances in his distinctive style throughout the film. After returning to new york, he began writing songs for another revue, early to bed.
Fats waller aint misbehavin with lena horne, dancer bill bojangles robinson, drummer zutty singleton, bassist slam stewart, trumpeter. Lena horne, fats waller, benny carter, and many other famous black performers star in this fictionalized biography of vaudevillianturnedactor bill bojangles robinson. Summary motion picture poster for stormy weather shows fats waller, lena horne and cab calloway. Lena horne s ethereal, gorgeous voice lends an unforgettable purity to her renditions of there s no two ways about love and the title song, stormy weather. Stormy weather 1943 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. The song was specifically written as the opening number for the allblack musical revue titled connies hot chocolates, hosted by the legendary harlem nightclub connies inn. Fats waller and the nicholas brothers, whose jumpin jive sequence was. The film is considered one of the best hollywood musicals with an africanamerican cast, the other being mgms cabin in the sky 1943. Fats must be one of the most musical human beings ever to have lived. Fats waller aint misbehavin stormy weather 1943 youtube.
Sometimes referred to as the greatest comedian who ever played jazz, fats appeal was as much visual as it was musical. There, aint misbehavin was sung by margaret simms and paul bass. Had waller lived longer he died just months after the release of stormy weather, at thirtynine he might have used the movies, or let the movies use him, in new musical ways. Aint misbehavin was composed in 1929 by fats waller and harry brooks, with lyrics by andy razaf. No matter what youre looking for or where you are in the world, our global marketplace of sellers can help you find unique and affordable options. Stormy weather 1943 stream and watch online moviefone. Tonhalle orchestra zurich in strauss, dvorak and beethoven. Its as lively as fats himself, a musical wizard who was famous for his reckless energy, bottomless capacity for food and drink, and prodigious talents as composer, entertainer, and piano stylist. Stormy weather soundtrack factory original soundtrack may, 1943 thomas wright fats. Fats waller aint misbehavin with lena horne, dancer bill bojangles robinson, drummer zutty singleton, bassist slam stewart, trumpeter benny carter. Hosted by cab calloway, it features lena horne singing the films title song, stormy weather, and a spectacular tap duet by the nicholas brothers. Fats waller is best remembered for his 1929 song aint misbehavin. Sir duncan craggs retires from the colonial service and returns to london with his new french wife. Waller returned to hollywood early in 1943 to film stormy weather with lena horne and bill robinson.
Black audiences saw a fats waller performance as a chance to dance, whereas the british and european audiences treated his appearances as concerts. It features the incomparable leana horne, fats waller, cab calloway, ada brown, and emmet babe wallace singing. Lena horne as selina rogers, bill robinson as bill williamson, ada brown as herself, dooley wilson as gabe tucker, katherine dunham and her troupe, paul bryant, the nicholas brothers, the tramp band. Fats s story is the story of the harlem rent parties where jazz flourished in the. In 1943 fats filmed stormy weather as well as touring at a hectic pace. It features the incomparable leana horne, fats waller, cab calloway, ada brown, and emmet babe. He is the author of a number of books on language and on race relations.
Synopsis of the 1943 musical film stormy weather, which starred lena horne june 30, 1917 may 9, 2010, bill robinson may 25, 1878. Fats waller may 21, 1904 december 15, 1943 born thomas wright waller was an american jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. His bestknown compositions, aint misbehavin and honeysuckle rose, were inducted into the grammy hall of fame in 1984 and 1999. Released 1943, stormy weather stars lena horne, bill robinson, cab calloway, katherine dunham the movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 17 min, and. And where else could you get lena horne, fats waller, cab calloway, bill robinson and the nicholas brothers all on one ticket. If you can get past that then youre in for a real treat. Stormy weather shows the behind the scenes events and relations between the players in a number of shows over a period of years, not just one show, which is the standard format for the genre. Africanamerican pianist fats waller wrote such jazz standards as aint misbehavin and earned fame for his comedic radio performances in the 1930s. Today, almost all of fats waller s studio recordings can be found on rcas onagainoffagain series the complete fats waller, which commenced on lps in 1975 and was still in progress during the 1990s. The couple are devoted to each other, but continually fli. Aint misbehavin 1929 uncredited music by fats waller and harry brooks lyrics by andy razaf performed by fats waller. Lena horne, cab calloway, fats waller, bill bojangles robinson, zutty singleton music from the soundtrack of stormy weather music. Fats waller aint misbehavin stormy weather 1943usage cc0 1.
Fats waller, byname of thomas wright waller, born may 21, 1904, new york city, new york, u. In accordance with the directives of government and health authorities, we have temporarily suspended operations. Ada brown, fats waller, and cab calloway and his band. It was composed specifically as a theme song for connies hot chocolates, an offbroadway musical comedy. In the us, white audiences would usually see him in clubs, and could listen or dance as they chose. Lena horne, cab calloway, fats waller, bill bojangles robinson. Fats waller, ain t misbehavin as seen, among other places, in the movie stormy weather, an early 1940s movie musical now somewhat forgotten at largethough not by jazz or film historians, or the library of congressin no small part probably due to its sometimes uncomfortable proximity to minstrelsy and stereotyping. Online shopping from a great selection at books store. Ada brown fats waller that aint right composed by irving mills nat king cole original soundtrack. Edited by azizi powell this pancocojams post showcases a youtube clip from the 1943 movie stormy weather that features fats waller and ada brown performing that aint right. He was on his way back to hollywood for more film work, after the smash success of stormy weather. In my first collection theres a poem called elegy for fats waller in which.
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