Ben Bernie- Sweet Georgia Brown

[RRaquello]

Ben Bernie had a great radio show in the 30's. He had a great line of patter, but, unfortunately, very little of it has survived. The little that has makes you want to hear more, but it seems it's all gone forever.

[birdandthe]

great stuff and great sound if electrical, if its acoustic its beyond belief !!!!

[Hernes6]

Hardly filmed in 1924-25, 2-3 years before the first soundies were made! The drummer could have been Sam Fink, who was with Bernie until 1929, when Dillan Ober replaced him.

[zjsprout]

@Hernes6 - This is the Deforest Phonofilm process, and it is quite certainly that early. Check out some of the Eddie Cantor clips and Sissle & Blake made a year or two BEFORE this one... Deforest 'borrowed' from several European and maybe a few US patents to make his sound on film process one of the first - though possibly least successful - optical systems, This was even several years before Vitaphone sound on disc was introduced.

[Olivierroaring20]

Excellent video!! Could you please tell me who's the crazy drummer ??

[hdksr2]

Loved seeing and hearing a very young Oscar Levant on the piano. His keyboard virtuosity was evident even in a very hot 20s band. Thanks so much for posting!

[MrSpear]

That was music, not the trash they call today 'music' back then you needed to have talent to be famous

[tuliquoi]

Je cherchais depuis longtemps l'original de ce morceau si célèbre. Merci à DGatsby de l'avoir mis sur le net.

[stlgtrace]

Does anybody know who the Trombonist is?

[jbernie888]

Ben Bernie is my great Uncle. Davy Bernie (his brother) was my grandfather. So this is very cool and I'm very proud!

[dirtbike5100]

Is that a trumpet, or cornet at the beginning and throughout?

[horarwgt]

Incredible film -- two years before "The Jazz Singer"! Ben Bernie's version of this tune on Vocalion 15002 soared to #1 in the summer of 1925, spending five weeks atop the chart over its 13 week run which began June 27.

[GrahamAtterbury]

Love it!!! More footage of your Great Granpa Bernie required on youtube. I've heard many versions of this, but originals are always best. :)

[alltheway62]

truly the best version of sweet georgia brown I ever heard !!!

[bixntram]

Great stuff.  Wish the film was better so I could have seen the trumpet player's mutes more clearly. He started with a derby, held horizontally above the bell (didn't know that's how they were used), then he wen to straight mute, then, I think to a harmon with the stem in. Any other trumpet players out there care to elaborate? Love this! The way BB moves around and used the violin just for a prop.

[alltheway62]

it makes me wanne dance....beautiful !

[madamefolger]

No guy made has got a shade on Ben Bernie ! Thanks for posting.

My Dad loved this tune. It became his signature tune after playing and singing it at every family gathering over the many years. Hat's off to Ben Bernie !

[icebreakersix1nine]

damn we are playing this in jazz band and it sounds nothing like it... only a little

[FireypepperCP]

@icebreakersix1nine

Same with me!

[MustaffaCuppa]

Loved this! Thank for posting.

[WSenator1]

YOWSAH!!!

[WSenator1]

When violinist Benjamin Kubelsky wanted to change his name when he entered vaudeville, he wanted to use the name Ben K. Benny. But he was told it was too close to Ben Bernie, another violinist (note instrument he's holding here). So Mr. Kubelsky decided on another name - Jack Benny.

[yosoyjuggernautbtch]

Nice execution of SOLO!

[NickInDetroit]

sweet!

[birdandthe]

remarkable sound for 1924-5

[fairalways]

Attaboy! Boy, that was ducky! The Real McKoy! Hotsy totsy! The Bee's knees! Berries! Makes this daddy want to take my sheba, boy she's a bearcat, to the back of my struggle buggy and lay some cash on her kisser, and get goofy, get a wiggle on, before I take her down the middle aisle! Everything is just Jake!

[tatacass1]

Que maravilha!!!!!!!

[ratsafrat]

The note about the sax solo is not exactly accurate... it wasn't just the first sax solo, according to some reports, it was the first solo filmed, period! Found this at another site...

quote

The performance of Bernie's saxophone player Jack Pettis on the " Sweet Georgia Brown" clip is the earliest film of a jazz solo.

unquote

[henrysgigs1]

Very rare footage. This is from a family archive? Wow! Brilliant! 

[ebuliavac]

I met Ben's son who goes by "Bernie." Great guy; gave me a tape or recordings I still have. Great video, thank you.

[WSenator1]

@ebuliavac - His name is Bernie Bernie?

[Heartbreakhotel112]

This video also featured the worlds first sax solo! You can hear it at 2:05

[dahsuerk]

the hit version of this song. Great!

[miereczek11]

thenks

[sbd650]

Marvelous jazzz standard!

[CaseyMacB4T]

Oscar Levant, piano!

Go Oscar!

[coreliandude76]

My!!! 1925 !!! My grandfather wasn't even born at that time.

[odysseetheater]

what a treasure ! thanks for posting !

[parlophonman]

Fantastic !

Thank you !

[Fiftiesflashback]

HOTCHA!

[iNspir8ion]

He was my great-great uncle. This makes us related, alfish88.

[pink0starburst]

Fo reals, man?!

[alfish88]

this is my great grandpa bernie...i have some amazing home footage passed down through my family of him

[daggerite]

Do you have the Warner Brothers cartoon that they caricatured him in?

[jd03150]

You should be proud of being a descendant of this man who left such a legacy of great music. I listen to some of his work almost every day of my life.

[TheMovies2009]

My grandma was only 1 year old lol great song

[jd03150]

I have a whole list of artists that I listen to on YT for various reasons. However, when I want something to lift my spirits and get my toes tapping, the choice is always Ben Bernie. For me, he determines what jazz was really all about in those days, even more than Paul Whiteman and others. The musicianship of his "lads" is unparalleled.

[VictrolaJazz]

I've got this precise arrangement by Bernie on Vocalion 15002, recorded March 19,1925, coupled with Yearning (Just for You).

[nerih]

Jewish musicians invented modern jazz as we know it. thank you lord!

[Morahman7vnNo2]

Define Modern Jazz as we know it and the Key Jewish figures.

[stlgtrace]

They did not invent it, but they helped. And they certainly knew how to exploit it for monetary profit!

[blabliblublablo]

just great.

[grezek]

Tight and hot Jazz

just the way I like it

[mothtube]

and the way i like my women

[Postduster]

The lyrics were written by Kenneth Casey. The rights to the music are currently owned by his grandson's (Kevin Casey) family after a long legal battle. I know Kevin well. We work for the same company in NY.

[bsgs98]

Oscar Levant on piano was probably only 18 or 19 years old. He was born 27 Dec. 1906.

[robowan]

Wow...had no idea. I've only recently discovered Oscar Levant by way of the films he appeared in. What a cool guy.

[8cccpeevostokzempf]

So you looked up Bird's B-day and subtracted from something and got 5. Very clever! I knew you had to be Canadian.

[Dshsm]

a jazz band being conducted with a baton... and it sounds sooo white.... but cool that the recording even exists

[DJYahelSherman]

Its not a baton its the bow of the violinist. But yeah great that this recording is around.

[Squarerig]

I am delighted,a lovely piece and on film too-seeing is believing!

[AangLover1]

be sweet if we played this is band. we can even frigin play 7th grade music by sight reading

[scrumsguy]

I'm playing it in Senior Jazz band, only a more modern version

[PBRascal]

Me too!

[DylanRed]

me too. but im in middle school jazz

[drafe007]

i think i saw a late 30s cartoon that parody mister bernie and a bunch of other celebrities and hollywood types thanks for the clip and now i know the origin of the term YOWZER, WOWZER!

[MartaBtrp]

The conductor is joker.I like hes style.

[albinozebra7918]

ahhh its nice to hear actual musical talent

[Largo64]

Wow! I had heard OF Ben Bernie, but never heard his band before! Thanks for this!!

[JimiyDoorsHamelech1]

ehh this is stupid, justin timberlake is better than this

[FG94]

wow ur u wouldnt know good music if it hit you in the head shutup and stop with ur lame comments :p

[Yardbird68]

Yowzer thats hot!!

[stlgtrace]

This is fabulous! These guys could certainly teach most of today's musicians a thing or two! They sound so great without all the electronic gadgetry that has been invented in the last 80 or so years! Yowsah, yowsah, yowsah!!!

[robbourassaguitarist]

Perfect.

[Bobchai]

I have a few old shellac 78 sides of Ben Bernie, but it's really neat to hear this video! Thanks!

[BodieIke]

Ben Bernie and all the lads with Oscar Levant at the piano. Sweet Georgia Brown was a big hit for Ben Bernie circa when he had the house orchestra at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Wish more of his radio program were available -- really great stuff from the 1930's and early '40's.

[bixntram]

Well, you could say this was corny, and you'd be right. You could also say it swings like hell in its own way and you'd be right. Thanks for posting!

[sidhe333]

wow!

thanx for posting

[RahdeeNda804]

This was hot!!!

[hapeverse]

Ben & his band is great!

[1567wet]

i love how the conductor bounces the whole time. GO RED KLOTZ! AND THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS!!! (i think this video is a bit old) JK

[sophinimartini]

wooow go jazz

[drawkacb]

yay for New Orleans jazz!

[McVouty]

This is definitely early hot dance music/jazz but NOT new Orleans Jazz.

[MrTwinCities]

That was life on radio network NBC network

[friendlybarman]

all of you are professional of jazz! I only enjoy this amzing music!!

[PhantomDog]

A "film synchronized with a gramophone?" It's the first music video.

[stampada]

The "hot" sax player, Jack Pettis (1891-????), was an original member of the 1922-23 New Orleans Rhythm Kings -- considered to be the best, early white jazz group. In the late 20s he made a lot of recordings with Ben Bernie, Irving Mills, and his own band. After 1930, he made only one record in 1937, and then... completely vanished from the face of the earth! In jazz circles, he is regarded as a solid, but not spectacular, instrumentalist.

[infrogmation]

Not at all! The Jazz Singer (27, not 29) brought sound to FEATURE film, but shorts-- first experimental, and then run as short features in the few urban theaters with electric sound systems-- predated it by several years. This is an example of one of those early soundies.

[glengillo]

Great film, but surely sound film did not commence until 1929, with the Jazz Singer?

[DresdenDixieland]

Nice thank you! Also try the Crackerjacks version of this tune. Greatest bass-sax you'll ever heard and a wonderfull woman on the slide trombone!

[HarborGuy]

DR. DeForest gave us the vacume tube to make radio possible I think.....he was first to amplify sound for boardcasting.......

[bansaraba]

I think this was a film synchronised with a gramophone record...

[bansaraba]

No, that's De Forest Phonofilm... Jack Pettis on sax and Oscar Levant on piano...

[tomsmith1946]

Jack Pettis I think on Sax.

[rob11227799]

damn son, thats old school. good stuff though, do you know who the saxman is?

[DGatsby]

Sorry, I couldn't say!

[8cccpeevostokzempf]

Charlie Parker?

[Atticus70]

Jack Pettis

[8cccpeevostokzempf]

Yeah--that's what tomsmith1946 said TWO YEARS ago--I was makinbg a JOKE you tight-ass--are you Canadian? eh? Charlie Parker wasn't even fucking BORN when this was cut. eh?

[Atticus70]

Sorry, i don't know you and had no idea that you knew it already. Charlie Parker was 5 years old when this was cut... Is writing "Charlie Parker" a joke? Hmmm, funny sense of humor. No, not Canadian. Are you?

[RatPfink66]

@rob11227799 That's Jack Pettis, one of the greats of the C-melody saxophone (along with Frank Trumbauer, who's much better known). He turned up on quite a few jazz sessions in the 20s. 

[Mousepie999]

@rob11227799  Sax solo by Jack Pettis