This was another Soundie I watched on YouTube. In it, The King Cole Trio with Nat King Cole singing lead are performing a song in which Nat tells of a woman who's not always the best in keeping appointments on time but he loves her anyway. Then, in extreme close-up, we see the woman he's crazy about in Ida James, a stunning beauty deserving of her entrance! I had seen her previously in Cab Calloway's 1947 Hi-De-Ho but I don't remember her singing there so this was the first time I heard her honey sweet voice warbling. The two make quite a charismatic pair here, don't they? With every discovery of these old "music videos" from the '40s that originally played on Panorams (film jukeboxes) at bars, restaurants, and bus or train stations, I marvel at all the musical talent that was displayed to several million people during this time. So on that note, Is You Is, or Is You Ain't My Baby? gets a high recommendation from me. P.S. The YouTube version I watched was off-sync but since I knew where the vocals matched I wasn't too bothered by that.
2 Reviews
One Can Hope
boblipton5 December 2022
Nat King Cole and his trio perform the title song, with Cole and Ida James doing the vocals.
It's one of more than two thousand "soundies" produced between 1939 and 1947, meant to be played on a device called a Mills Panoram. For seven years they could be found in bars, night clubs, and other places where people would gather. Think of them as music videos, available for viewing at a dime a song. Other companies got into the production end also.
Miss James was rated one of the top twenty female vocalists at the time, and the record of this song that the group cut with her was a hit. Porter, of course, would go on to general acclaim in the entertainment industry.
It's one of more than two thousand "soundies" produced between 1939 and 1947, meant to be played on a device called a Mills Panoram. For seven years they could be found in bars, night clubs, and other places where people would gather. Think of them as music videos, available for viewing at a dime a song. Other companies got into the production end also.
Miss James was rated one of the top twenty female vocalists at the time, and the record of this song that the group cut with her was a hit. Porter, of course, would go on to general acclaim in the entertainment industry.
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