Swing Dancing from the Movie Ghost Catchers (1944)

Swing Dancing from the Movie Ghost Catchers (1944). Kirby Grant and his Orchestra with Ella Mae Morse and the Mel-Tones. Dancers - Johnny Archer, Venna Archer, Bob Ashely, Dean Collins, Gil Fernandez, Lenny Smith, Betty Stoy, Irene Thomas, Mike Tremini. Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info

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[Kirke182]

Sometimes I find myself wishing to have lived in the swing era of the 40s since I love the music and then I realize I'm classified as Japanese-American. It would have been the worst time of my life.

[RockReynolds]

Awesome!

That's how dancin's supposed to be.

Rock

[hebneh]

I saw this movie on TV at least 40 years ago, and as I remember, Olsen & Johnson (the 2 comedians at the beginning) are putting on a show in the theater next door to this haunted house. There's an underground passage between the 2 buildings. I believe criminals are also using the house for some purpose, so it's not clear if there's a real ghost, or if it's the bad guys doing stuff.

[JubalCalif]

I certainly second that emotion! The late great Ella Mae Morse was a truly unique talent...almost a "force of nature"! What a voice! And a very sexy lady too...hubba hubba to the MAX, daddy-o! If she'd been any cooler, she'd have been frozen! You obvioiusly have VERY good taste, Patty !!!  :-)

[Allen Lewis]

I don't know how this great dance clip turned to race, but everything you see in this clip was already done by the lindy hoppers from the savoy ball room, they are all black... you don't see them it this clip.

[Moe Banshee]

awesome clip!!!

[PattyPetite666]

Ella is smoking in this one!

[Kirke182]

Errr, there's such a thing as a surname as well as records and documentation. They wouldn't take my word for anything--they'd do a background search and confirm I had a parent who was a Japanese national and if I changed my name legally, they'd know that too. Otherwise, every Japanese-American could have lied their way out of internment. I don't know of any that did.

[Anthony Starfield]

Kirke182, you could have just told the Americans that you were Chinese and very thankful that the brave American soldiers and pilots were driving the evil Japanese out of your Chinese homeland. Even today, nearly all Americans can't tell the difference between a Chinese person and a Japanese. Always wear an American flag pin or a red, white and blue tie, you'd be all set.

[Kirke182]

I would have been classified as Japanese-American then. I'm classified as that now according to the Census. The earliest legal challenge by a Japanese-American was in 1894 where the court decided Japanese are not white. In 1909, 1/4 Japanese is not white. In 1912, half-Japanese is not white. In 1910 and 1922, the courts reaffirmed that Japanese is not white. I fall within those parameters and would be classifed as Japanese and not white despite being half-white.

[John Erickson]

When you used the term classified that made me recall a few of the programs PBS has on the internment camps. I associate that term as being used by the government.

[Kirke182]

Ella Mae Morse was a terrific singer of that era and quite successful but never became a household name for some reason. She sang R&B and boogie-woogie without sublimating it into something cutesy-cute the way white female singers were supposed to do back then. That might have played a role in her not getting noticed more. What she sings here was not representative of her style.