Betty Boop "Minnie the Moocher" w/Cab Calloway performance

Not your typical Betty Boop cartoon!   Graveyard scenes, tears, fears with a happpy ending. Grandpa Bob Effros played trumpet in many classic cartoons. Here is great jazz intro featuring Cab Calloway. Click arrow for some mind blowing entertainment!  
 Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZOXF83zBg&sns=em
Rated PG-13 by yours truly, Barbara & Jonathan.

Jazz influences and big band orchestras music on cartoons of the 1920's and 30's was powerful.  Opening of "Minnie the Moocher" 1932 features fabulous Cab Calloway.  Awesome dance movements and rythm band!   Remind you of anyone of post 1960?

Cab Calloway became one of the most popular entertainers  of the1930's and 40s,  following success of his first hit "Minnie the Moocher". Success did not come easy for Calloway. He became famous through perseverance and hard work. Calloway also went to law school until he met a man who would change his life forever.  Calloway met Louis Armstrong, who tutored him in the art of scat singing (using nonsensical sounds to improvise melodies)" (1)

According to grandpa and other knowledgeable sources we can say: Bob Effros probably did the laughter in the graveyard for this Betty Boop Cartoon.  He played trumpet on countless Max Fleischer cartoons including Betty Boop,  Popeye, Donald Duck.  As children, we always told our friends " listen to our grandpa on these cartoons!"    As young ones we knew little about his impressive career in Jazz Big Bands.

A wonderful personal memory: meeting Mae Questel, Grandpa's friend and better known as the voice of of over 150 "Betty Boop" cartoons.  At 11 years old, I was skeptical of all the famous people Grandpa claimed to know. (Remember, this blog is a journey of research, joy and love, delving into Bob Effros' jazz music, life and legacy).

I met Mae Questel in Forrest Hills, New York at my grandparents apartment.  She told us  "when she was 17, she won a local contest for a girl that sounded and resembled famous singer Helen Kane, whom resembled Max Fleisher's sexy, witty cartoon character."  According to IMDB, "Mae Questel came from an Orthodox Jewish family whom deeply disapproved of  her having an entertainment career and had their wills drawn up accordingly."  In the last years of her life, she starred in a Woody Allen movie - she showed them show biz can be a real career!

Mae Questel

I was only convinced by Mae of her identity, when she did her "Betty Boop" voices along with hilarious sounds imitating voices of "Popeye", "Olive Oyl" and the quacking voice of "Donald Duck". Grandpa Bob was also infamous for his celebrity impressions. The two of them completely delighted us grandchildren - whom adored these cartoons, and of course remain major fans.  Any writing of "Betty Boop",  credit must be given to Mae Questel's influences, not only to Helen Kane (photos below) but Esther Jones, known as "Baby Esther" a wonderful early African American Jazz singer.

Helen Kane

Note:"there is quite a bit of evidence showing that Kane stole her schtick from a Black woman named Esther Jones who went by the stage name Baby Esther. (2)

Jones, an African American singer in the late ’20′s, worked regularly at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Jones was known for singing in a distinctive baby voice. Her signature song was” I Wanna Be Loved By You” where she scatted the lines "Boop oop a doop.”

Esther Jones aka "Baby Esther"
Credits with more on Max Fleischer and other cartoons  in future posts.
"Minnie the Moocher" was banned due to early censorship laws. People felt that the content of the video was too mature be shown as a cartoon. To the best of our knowledge this cartoon and image are public domain.  If not, please advise, and they will respectfully be removed.

Grandpa Bob knew all these wonderful women through his  performing. Wish I could recall every detail of these fabulous female jazz singers!

1) http://www.biography.com/people/cab-calloway-9235609#early-life
2) http://madamenoire.com/466037/betty-boop-inspired-by-a-black-woman

"Why Don't You Get Lost?" Bob Effros/Phil Wall w/ "Calloway's Hot Shots"

A personal family favorite composed by Grandpa Bob Effros and friend, Phil Wall.

The group is most likely "Roane's Pennsylvanians" under the pseudonym of "Calloway's Hot Shots". Cab Calloway and numerous others bands recorded this humerous, satiricle break up song.

Band spin off's and credits are often difficult to authenticate. Liner notes and orchestra credits were minimal at best. Roane's Pennslyvannnian's were a group of Irish family brothers whom did not seem to get the recognition they were due.

Enjoy the lyrics! A  jealous, silly break up love song that we can all relate to at one time or another. A genuine sense of our Grandpa's humor!

The credits I have found for this version are:

Vocals by Cliff Nazarro (a popular comedian of the 20's and 30's) The orchestra includes: Harry Berman, Louis Martino, Terry Page, Dyke Bittenbender, Johnny Nadlinger, Joe Allard, Paul Savage and Herbert Lee. (Corrections welcome). Thank you Kevin Mueller for posting. http://youtu.be/Z8aRuiAwb_4

"Sweet and Hot" - Bob Effros, Composer and Trumpet Solo

Summertime

Call it intituition. Call it a familiar feeling. Call it whatever you want to call it. I may have never met my great grandfather but I have come to a strong understanding that I know the man he was. Bob Effros was a hard worker who put his family above everything. He influences me to be the man of principles that I am today.

My great grandfather not only worked to live, he lived to work. Playing music was not just a job for him, but also an outlet for expression. Jazz clubs in the 1930's and '40s allowed him to earn a living doing what he loved. While these clubs did well all year round, they were particularly popular in the summertime. It is for that reason that Bob loved the summer and considered it his favorite season. That same feeling of joy and excitement has been passed down to my generation and contributes to my love of the summer as well.

W.C. Handy: "Father of the Blues" performing his own "Memphis Blues"

"Life is something like this trumpet. If you don't put anything in it you don't get anything out. And that's the truth".  William C. Handy





Grandpa Bob adored W.C Handy: Memphis friend and fellow trumpeter known as "Father of the Blues".

At 11 years old, I composed my first letter to a US President.  What was the pressing issue? Being a young stamp collector, grandpa urged me to write the US Government in support of a Postage stamp honoring the well deserved W.C Handy  issued May 17, 1969.

Thanks to  Dorian Henry  for this  "Memphis Blues"   Lyrics below:
http://youtube/p1Jr0QgS1V8


"There's nothing like the Handy Band that played the Memphis Blues so grand.

Oh play them Blues.

That melancholy strain, that ever haunting refrain

Is like a sweet old sorrow song.

Here comes the very part that wraps a spell around my heart.

It sets me wild to hear that loving tune a gain,

The Memphis Blues".

2 Wonderful Pictures for Saturday

                                                                                Tomorrow is Ella Fitzgerald's birthday. To celebrate this wonderful woman's career is a photo of her with Marilyn Monroe. The Mocambo club refused to book Ella Fitzgerald because of her race, until Marilyn Monroe said she'd reserve a front row.

                                                                                       Louis Armstrong plays trumpet for his wife, Lucille, in front of the Great Sphinx of the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.

You Cannot Stop The Good Song From Being Played

In the early 1900's,  jazz music was not always played so freely.  For quite some time, black and white jazz musicians were forbidden to play together in public. After playing on Mississippi Steam Boats, Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke began playing late night, after hours shows in Chicago in the 1920's. This was a big deal because Bix was a white man. But, you cannot stop the good song from being played! As we discovered through our  research, Great Grandpa, Bob recorded with Armstrong and Beiderbecke during this period.


Photo credits: Louis Armstrong "Satchmo" and Bix Beiderbecke - approx. 1921
(photographer credits to follow)

As we all know, Louis Armstrong is an American Jazz legend.  In our  family he is considered a friend. His warmth and kindness towards Jewish people is remembered and outstretched to this very day.  I  believe that jamming with men like Great Grandpa Bob and Bix Beiderbecke cemented Armstrong's belief the music should not be segregated.   Stay posted for music recorded by these great trumpeters!

P.S. Fun fact: Louis Armstrong  spent  part of his childhood with  a  Jewish family, the Karnofsky's of  New Orleans.  Armstrong's Jewish influences and music like "Go Down Moses" remains a key song at  Passover Seder meals.  

Sources:
 Hentoff, Nat. "How Jazz Helped Hasten The Civil Rights Moment." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
"Louis Armstrong." 2014. The Biography Channel website. Apr 06 2014, 09:13http://www.biography.com/people/louis-armstrong-9188912

Integration, Segregation & Jazz Part 1

My Grandpa Bob always shared stories about becoming close friends with Louis Armstrong and W.C. Handy on the Mississippi River Boats.  During the early 20's, Black and White Musicians were segregated.

Socially they often jammed together when the river boats docked in cities along the "Great River". Eventually, (and more will be shared), the talented Jazz and Dixieland musicians were allowed to perform together - BUT only for White audiences.

We have been researching Grandpa's chronology. We know he started  performing in his teen years with Armstrong, Handy and Bix Beiderbecke and countless other talented Jazz musicians. They met on Mississippi river steamboats, traveled trains to New York, Chicago, Hollywood and Culver City -(our current home town).

 By the early 20's Grandpa Bob, Louis and Bix played  together and separately with Big Band Orchestras of Vincent Lopez , George Gershwin, Paul Whiteman, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman. (1)

  As Louis Armstrong said " many people don't realize that the Mississippi River does not flow up to Chicago!"  

 

(Image 1879-Public Domain)

Music from 20's and 30's never ceases to amaze me!  We are discovering  family members of  Jazz musicians and performers also archiving and sharing this brilliant, historical and upbeat period.
Jazz Radio, Concerts and Journalists are doing a magnificient job keeping Jazz music alive!  Thank you!

References:

1."Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong"  Terry Teachout, Author

2. The New York Times, Feb 15, 1987 "The Whiteman Concert of 1924 Lives On" John Wilson, Author

3. "Bix Beiderbecke - Wikipedia" 

4."Bix, Man & Legend" Sudhalter and Evan, Authors

5."Vincent Lopez Speaking" Autobiography, Vincent Lopez, 1961

Effros the Prankster

Below is an excerpt from Vincent Lopez's autobiography. In Lopez Speaking: An autobiography, the following passage entails one of the infamous pranks Bob Effros would often play on his pals. In this prank, Xavier Cugat the famous violinist, is the victim of one of Bob's practical jokes.

       "Cugie had developed quite a crush on a showgirl who often came into the Grill with her escort. Bob Effros, our first trumpeter, who knew her, persuaded her to give Cugie the ever-lovin' eye one evening. Then he fashioned a note which a waiter delivered to Cugat as the girl was leaving, giving a fictitious name and apartment number and saying she'd love to have him play the violin for her the next afternoon!
Cugie just couldn't keep the good news to himself.
"I know that girl quite well," Bob Effros confided. "The way to make a hit with her is bring her a strawberry shortcake. She's crazy about them."
So Cugat took both his violin and a big Lindy cake with him the following afternoon. The apartment the boys had picked for their joke was two flights up a dark stairway, on Tenth Avenue, in Hell's Kitchen! As Cugie stumbled up the last few steps, trying to see in the gloom, he suddenly heard a very angry masculine voice shout, "So you're the crumb who's been visitin' my wife I'm woikin!"
With that, prankster Effros smashed a couple of electric light bulbs, and the echoes in the narrow hall sounded like revolver shots. Cugat took the stairs three at a time as he reversed direction. He sprinted a full block before he realized that the footfalls and shouts following him belonged to Bob Effros and his practical joke pals."

Hit Radio 1920's "Singing in the Rain"

Bob Effros,trumpeter - Anoomi - Online Music Playlists   (credit)

"Singing in the Rain"  widely disputed whom actual composed.  Grandpa performed the
great hit with the The Philco Orchestra and continues to be a hit through the decades!

"Let A Little Pleasure Interfere With Business from The Philco Hour, 1931 ... songs mentions Billy Artz as director and Bob Effros as one of the trumpet players"

Beautiful album cover of "Boswell Sisters"  - performed and played often with Bob Effros The Boswell Sisters (Martha, Connie & Helvetia) Accompanied by:

(a) Victor Young And The Brunswick Orchestra. Personnel according to the CD-booklet
Bunny Berigan, Bob Effros (tp), Tommy Dorsey (tb), Jimmy Dorsey (cl, as),. The trumpeter who plays solos is Mannie Klein.
Credit:  Boswell Sisters.com