1940s AURORATONE featuring Bing Crosby

[antoniod]

If mah daughter lived with a man, ah'd nevah speakt ta her again! Aloha on the steeeeel guitaaaar!

[BuyBenco]

From "Going My Way" 44

[robertwmartens]

@BuyBenco No, it's not. That song does not appear anywhere in the film.

[BuyBenco]

@robertwmartens Just the church org made me think

[fryoung1]

Bing Crosby smoked pot before it was illegal, so it is kinda humorous that he would back something like this up.

[Lindabran]

Well Its very Cool Especially since Eddie Dunstedter was my Grandfather and I mean, If you want to Jump out on a limb and take a chance He really has some Great LPS and was abrilliant Recording Artist for Capital until the early 70.s Anyway very nice to hear such an Early stage of Mr.Pipe Organ Himself. He was an Amazing guy......Bing wasn't too bad either..:-)

[superseska]

any ideas on how this was made? i tried to google it but i came up with nothing. thanks for posting this!

[robertwmartens]

Mr. Stokes created the effects for his auroratones by growing crystals on glass slides and then photographing them with polarized light. I've found that the search terms Creating Auroratones, and Auroratone Effects, will bring up a decent bit of information on these films.

[hutchsky1209]

I found an article of the Rosicrucian digest, of all things, and an army paper. Stokes claimed you could enter another dimension of consciousness with it, if you watched and listened in just the proper frame of mind. It was touted as a treatment for mental illness. They donated some to army mental hospitals. Sounds like the sand box art therapy gimmicks they tried in the 80s. Fun bit of historical weirdness. Thanks

[robertwmartens]

You're welcome. Thanks for the info!

[robertwmartens]

I looked up "Cecil Stokes" on the web and found out that during the 1940's Mr. Stokes performed Auroratone concerts with Bing Crosby. Also, Bing and his brother Larry were investors in Stokes's Auroratone Corporation. So maybe this short was a promotion for that corporation. In any case, I feel that the mystery of this film is now largely solved due to your insight. Thanks a lot!

[3investigators]

Very impressive clip. Never seen it before! Thanks for sharing.

[binary132]

wow, beautiful. as a side note: did you know Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong were big time smoking buddies... lol

[boutsch]

The rhythmic shifts in tone make me think that a revolving color wheel, like the ones used to cast colored light on aluminum Christmas trees, was used to make this film.

[robertwmartens]

WOW - your comment is the first solid lead in solving the mystery of this film! Could there have been a whole series of mental aids like this produced in the 1930's and 40's? I'll bet some film or medical historian would love to research this apparently forgotten genre. Please let me know if you can find any more info - thanks!

[sphinxrising58]

Or it could be nothing more than modernday electronic Tomfollery.

[54spiritedwill54]

Bing Crosby is a truly great vocalist!

[chthonic19]

am i the only one who keeps seeing evil bird faces appear appear out of the imagery? aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee­e!

[chthonic19]

crosby was tripping his balls off when he laid down these vocals.

[bobfritz1466]

Bing Crosby, founding father of acid rock. Who knew?

[projektor4]

looks like polarized light, don´t quite know the technique but the lightshow artists of the late 60s shure did.

[pshitpshit]

I make a over different music on this film...just for try because, it's a very interesting film !

[pshitpshit]

I like this video !

[tokyohalogen]

this fucking rules.

[lemonsqueezermunich]

Thanks for posting! Very interesting!

[musicminded64]

Thanks for this link to your grandfather's films; i already saw some great magical shots like of those flags in the wind and the night shots... Most interesting: the celluloid effect and that film actually was 'reel'... Very inspirational.

[musicminded64]

It was all done by hand...: amazing.

[netram2000]

Stunning! I wonder if it had any impact on latter lightshows or if it was known by the artists of the 60s.

[CineGraphic]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was shown in theatres while the curtain was still closed. Most likely at the a Sunday Matinée.

[EdisonForChange]

It looks like heavy frost on a window. We see timelapse changes of the changing light outside. That's my guess.

[mellow6mike]

It is the same method as Norman Mclarens 'chain of mixes' which he used on La poulette grise etc. and its about the right time but it's not like his style, still great to see though. Cheers Mike

[oliver8bit]

Actually this reminds me alot of some of Norman McLaren's stuff. The very slow crossfades from one painting to the next brings to mind some of his techniques tho i cant quite remember which films. This is beautiful!!

[cbalducc]

This could have been from 1929's "King of Jazz", a musical filmed in an early form of Technicolor. God bless.

[perfectjazz78]

This song was not written until 1936 or later

[RobertCrostonFilm]

love it

[patthecatman]

everytime i play this, i exclaim "my God bing, you were Great!"

[cadillacchrome]

Oh WOW! How RARE this is! I'm so glad I stumbled across this tonight! The song is so wonderful! Thank you so much for posting this!

[StookieBill]

the 'organ' in the title might partly be a reference to the clavilux which was invented around this time - but this doesn't look like clavilux projections.

[penngidget]

Don't care what everyone thinks it is,Just thank you for sharing with us

[penngidget]

Don't care what everyone thinks it is,Just thank you for sharing with us

[iamdeprogram]

This must have been done with a optical process, on film, as an accompanyment to the music. "Music video" was not invented by Mtv; the idea of a visual intepretation of music dates back practically to the invention of film.

[leolodreamland]

to the invention of music even. there were colour organs even before electricity. look for castel. and newton proposed colours for the notes.

[whathefa]

I dont care for the Crosby tune but with the sound down..

It's like driving in a car on a sunny day and  looking out through a chipped prism.

[acetremendous]

This reminds me strongly of Fischinger as well - particularly his melted-wax stop-motion stuff. This is more colorful than those films though. Totally amazing!!!! My favorite animation is all from the 1930's and this is one of the best I've ever seen. Thanks SO much for sharing this bit of found film, I adore it.

[turtlestack]

This really is quite fantastic. Thank you for making it available!

By the way, when will you be posting 'A Christmas Dream'? I watched the clips over at your site and the stop motion animation by Karel Zeman & Hermina Tyrlova is absolutely beautiful!