St. Louis Blues (1929 film)

St. Louis Blues
File:Poster of the movie St. Louis Blues.jpg Film poster
Directed by	Dudley Murphy
Produced by	W. C. Handy
Written by	Dudley Murphy
Starring	Bessie Smith
Cinematography	Walter Strenge
Edited by	Russell G. Shields
Distributed by	RKO Pictures
Release dates	November 5, 1929 (1929-11-05)
Running time	16 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

St. Louis Blues is a 1929 American two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues". Directed by Dudley Murphy, it is the only known film of Bessie Smith, and the soundtrack is her only recording not controlled by Columbia Records.

Bessie Smith had a hit on the song in 1925 and Handy himself asked Bessie Smith to appear in the movie. Handy co-authored the film and was the musical director. The film was a dramatization of the song, a woman left alone by her roving man. It features a band that included James P. Johnson on piano, Thomas Morris and Joe Smith on cornet, as well as the Hall Johnson Choir with some thrilling harmonies at the end.

The film has an all African-American cast. Bessie Smith co-stars with the dancer and actor Jimmy Mordecai as the boyfriend and Isabel Washington Powell as the other woman.

It was filmed in June 1929 in Astoria, Queens. The film is about 16 minutes long.

In 2006, this version was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Cast

• Bessie Smith as Herself
• Hall Johnson Choir as Themselves
• James P. Johnson as Pianist (uncredited)
• Alec Lovejoy as Bit Role (uncredited)
• Jimmy Mordecai as Jimmy the Pimp (uncredited)
• Thomas Morris as Cornetist (uncredited)
• Isabel Washington (uncredited)

External links

• St. Louis Blues at IMDb
• St. Louis Blues 1929 film