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Bessie Smith: the first music video star? - Girls Rock Camp, celebrating women in music
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In honor of Girls Rock Camp this week occurring in Oakland this week, I am celebrating women in music, past, present and future.
Today I want to celebrate Bessie Smith, definitely one of the greatest influences on women (and men!) in music today, and possibly the first music video star as well.
But first, let me tell you what's happening at the second day of Girls Rock Camp: the 70 campers or so will learn more of the basics of their chosen instruments, whether it be the bass, turntables, drums, guitar, keys or vocals. The girls will also continue to pick band names and write a song that they will perform for a live audience this Saturday at 2pm at the Oakland Metro Opera House.
Follow the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp live blog.
After lunch they will learn how to make a zine and participate in a history of women in rock workshop, taught by yours truly. Bessie Smith is the first woman we will talk about and the video we're going to show the campers is part two of St. Louis Blues made in 1929. We want to showcase her powerful voice.
See what other famous women in rock we will talk about in our Girls Rock Camp workshop here
It got me thinking about what this video actually is. I have this way of using youtube just for the audio, but the sometimes the video is just as interesting (or bizarre or hysterical) as the audio itself.
In 1929, Kenneth W. Adams and W.C. Handy wrote a short film based on Handy's famous song "St. Louis Blues". Director Dudley Murphy directed this two-reel short to be shown before the featured attraction, similar to how newsreels and cartoons were shown in those days or a short cartoon will come first in today's Pixar movies.
At W.C. Handy's request, Bessie Smith was picked to be the star of the film. She had already made a huge hit in 1925 with her recording of "St. Louis Blues", which featured Louis Armstrong on cornet. The film was shot in June of 1929 in Astoria, Long Island and was shown between the years 1929 to 1932. It was Bessie Smith's only film appearence. The film features Fletcher Henderson's orchestra that includes, James P. Johnson on piano, Thomas Morris and Joe Smith on cornet, as well as the Hall Johnson Choir. Also notable was that the film had an all African American cast. The co-stars were dancer/actor Jimmy Mordecai as Bessie's good for nothing boyfriend and Isabel Washington Powell as the other woman.
Is this the possibly the first music video? And a concept video no doubt! Michael Jackson and Bessie Smith could have pulled off a good one together!
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