King Biscuit Time (1942, 1952)

Silent footage. Max Moore, owner of Interstate Grocery in Helena, Arkansas, was the sponsor for radio station KFFA's "King Biscuit Time" program. We believe he shot this home movie circa 1942. In it, renowned blues musicians Robert 'Junior' Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson perform on the front porch of a small-town Arkansas grocery store. This is likely the earliest footage of these musicians performing together. The second portion of the clip is a 1952 tour featuring Williamson and his band. This film was preserved with a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Max Moore Home Movie Collection.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• King
• Biscuit
• Time
• Robert
• Junior
• Lockwood
• Sonny
• Boy
• Williamson
• Arkansas
• University
• of
• Georgia
• Library
• Media
• History
• music
• NFPF
• Home
• Movies
• Helena
• Interstate
• Grocery
• blues

[JERZEYBOB]

looks awesome,,, no sound tho,,, other vids play fine,,, i reeeally need to hear this...



[BrownMediaArchiveUGA]

@JERZEYBOB Sorry no sound. This is silent home movie footage.

[Marlg]

Totally amazing. Speechless. Coolest thing I've seen so far. Gives me hope that there's early films of everyone just waiting to be found. 50's BB, Gatemouth, Charlie Christian, more Bird, Herbie Nichols, etc...

[bjfsville]

the dancer behind Sonny Boy towards the end of the 2nd clip (1:54)

appears to be made up in 'blackface'...

[TheSnidge]

I'm absolutely astonished to see this-no idea it existed!

Absolutely priceless,must be the earliest clip of a major blues act in a genuine performing environment.

Sonny Boy would have been around thirty years old in earlier clip.

Thanks for posting.

[unclebud2]

Thanks for posting this! It's great to see even without the sound. Would love to see the other footage as others have mentioned.

[mickragger]

I'll second ProfScratchy's request; the country blues community worldwide would be extremely grateful if these films were accessible to the public!

Greetings from Berlin!

[ProfScratchy]

This footage is priceless. Is it true that the latter section of the footage is from a much lengthier film? If so, you would have the gratitude of blues fans everywhere if you would post it!

[Zigblues]

For fun: let's collectively try to figure out what they're playing based on the movie...

[lonesomedaveferguson]

Wow... That was like a beautiful peek into another time and place. Funnily enough I didn't miss the audio, Sonny Boy and Robert Jnr Lockwood... The music is there! You just can't hear it

[icepick60]

This is the most incredible clip I have ever seen on youtube. I never thought I would see color footage of Robert Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson from the 1940's. What a amazing treasure. I have had the great pleasure of being in the company of Robert Lockwood on numerous occasions and look back on those moments as being among my most precious memories. Robert was a great man and one of the greatest musicians I have ever heard.