Same I when I first heard this when I was child I some how knew what this song was even though I never heard before and growing up I've always had a love for jazz Possibly past life???
Incredible film -- two years before "The Jazz Singer"! Ben Bernie's version of this tune on Vocalion 15002 soared to #1 in the summer of 1925, spending five weeks atop the chart over its 13 week run which began June 27.
Ben Bernie had a great radio show in the 30's. He had a great line of patter, but, unfortunately, very little of it has survived. The little that has makes you want to hear more, but it seems it's all gone forever.
My favorite version of this song! Saxophonist Jack Pettis really swings out toward the end of the song! Many thanks for posting this truly great film. Joe Cro
Hardly filmed in 1924-25, 2-3 years before the first soundies were made! The drummer could have been Sam Fink, who was with Bernie until 1929, when Dillan Ober replaced him.
@rob11227799 That's Jack Pettis, one of the greats of the C-melody saxophone (along with Frank Trumbauer, who's much better known). He turned up on quite a few jazz sessions in the 20s.
@@jimdrake-writer Pettis could do something Rudy never could - play real jazz. I wish we had more recordings of him. After leaving Bernie, Pettis did very well with a depression style hotel band. He only recorded once after Bernie, for the Mills combine (Master/Variety) in 1937.
@@RatPfink66: Another saxophonist of the “Jazz Age”agreed with you: in an interview I did with Rudy Vallee, he said that improvisation was not one of Rudy Wiedoeft’s strengths, and that Wiedoeft himself acknowledged that he wasn’t good at it.
Loved seeing and hearing a very young Oscar Levant on the piano. His keyboard virtuosity was evident even in a very hot 20s band. Thanks so much for posting!
Many of these old Phonofilms still exist & it would be nice if compilation DVDs were issued. "The Jazz Singer" still gets most of the credit for being first on sound on film which is simply not true. These give us more of a glimpse of the Roaring 20s as most sound feature films weren't out until late 1928 or 1929
"Sweet Georgia Brown" by Ben Bernie and His Orchestra (1925) - Covered by many artists, this jazz standard tells the story of a woman named Georgia Brown who is often portrayed as a charming and influential figure, sometimes interpreted as a madam.
No guy made has got a shade on Ben Bernie ! Thanks for posting. My Dad loved this tune. It became his signature tune after playing and singing it at every family gathering over the many years. Hat's off to Ben Bernie !
Brilliant! Apparently (according to Wiki) they made the first recording of "Sweet Georgia Brown". How amazing would it be to play in a band like that? True skill and musicianship.
This meeting between you and I is the culmination of thousands of years of b-ball. This is b-ball in all its glory, this is the final game! It's just you and me, Barkley. No refs. No whistles. No rules. Just you, me, and Sweet Georgia Brown.
I have a whole list of artists that I listen to on YT for various reasons. However, when I want something to lift my spirits and get my toes tapping, the choice is always Ben Bernie. For me, he determines what jazz was really all about in those days, even more than Paul Whiteman and others. The musicianship of his "lads" is unparalleled.
When this film was shot, people like Freddie Keppard, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Noone, and Bix were creating enduring art. From a historic perspective, this is an interesting short, but Bernie's band was hopelessly corny.
@Hernes6 - This is the Deforest Phonofilm process, and it is quite certainly that early. Check out some of the Eddie Cantor clips and Sissle & Blake made a year or two BEFORE this one... Deforest 'borrowed' from several European and maybe a few US patents to make his sound on film process one of the first - though possibly least successful - optical systems, This was even several years before Vitaphone sound on disc was introduced.
i think i saw a late 30s cartoon that parody mister bernie and a bunch of other celebrities and hollywood types thanks for the clip and now i know the origin of the term YOWZER, WOWZER!
The audio is actually better than most or all records of the day, and better than the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system introduced in 1927. I assume this recorded on an optical track on the film instead of the Vitaphone record.
It may have been recorded on a separate camera driven by the same motor. There are photos of the two camera setup on the web. My guess as to why: Theodore Case's sound light source required different sensitivity film.
Great band and video...thanks for posting this ! If you'd like to hear authentic big band music of the 1920s and early 30s today; go to Iguana NYC on Monday and Tuesday nights to hear Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks. They worked the films: Cotton Club, Aviator, Ghost World and 5 seasons of Boardwalk Empire. Iguana is at 240 W.54th St NYC
Imagine & remove the thru-the-cardboard-toilet roll sound... 'cause if you were standing there IN FRONT OF THE BAND, this jam ROCKED!! how could you not dance with cocaine infueled abandon.
Great stuff. Wish the film was better so I could have seen the trumpet player's mutes more clearly. He started with a derby, held horizontally above the bell (didn't know that's how they were used), then he wen to straight mute, then, I think to a harmon with the stem in. Any other trumpet players out there care to elaborate? Love this! The way BB moves around and used the violin just for a prop.
and the darn sax players on the right are pulling double duty. when they're not playin' sax, they're playin' clarinet. now THAT'S a woikin' musician! wonder if they got paid double scale for that? hmmm.......
Just like early baseball, etc. They played because they loved it... there was never any money it... now they play for money and don't like the game / or the band, etc. That was when America was great in many more ways than today.
According to Artie Shaw, “doublers” who played sax and clarinet equally well were in demand but were not paid extra in studio sessions. In several of Gus Haenschen’s and Ben Selvin’s orchestras, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were seated next to each other in the reed section-but they as well as Shaw said that Goodman, for all his brilliant clarinet improvisations, had one of the worst saxophone tones of any professional woodwind player.
The lyrics were written by Kenneth Casey. The rights to the music are currently owned by his grandson's (Kevin Casey) family after a long legal battle. I know Kevin well. We work for the same company in NY.
This is going to be public domain in 2 weeks
Does this mean I can use on my YT vid?
@@sikwheelie ik im late but yes
@@flashkingbro8704 thank you
The time-line of this conversation is amazing.
@@Islander1975exactly
The world needs more music like this :3
Yeaj
Yeah
Yes definitely no expection.
The 14 people who gave this a thumb down really need to question their lives!
or just their ability to NOT fat finger the like button...
agreed
And their sanity 😶 I mean I’m not even from this time yet I love this music
They were Washington generals fans.
Memories...I recall first hearing this tune as a boy. Loved it then, love it now.
Same I when I first heard this when I was child I some how knew what this song was even though I never heard before and growing up I've always had a love for jazz
Possibly past life???
What was it like during the great depression? Did you ride the rails?
Incredible film -- two years before "The Jazz Singer"! Ben Bernie's version of this tune on Vocalion 15002 soared to #1 in the summer of 1925, spending five weeks atop the chart over its 13 week run which began June 27.
Those instruments just all combine to make a great sound.
Ben Bernie had a great radio show in the 30's. He had a great line of patter, but, unfortunately, very little of it has survived. The little that has makes you want to hear more, but it seems it's all gone forever.
"This film contains the first ever Sax solo recored on film." WOW!! :D
My favorite version of this song! Saxophonist Jack Pettis really swings out toward the end of the song!
Many thanks for posting this truly great film.
Joe Cro
My!!! 1925 !!! My grandfather wasn't even born at that time.
This is the best version of this I ever heard!!
Very rare footage. This is from a family archive? Wow! Brilliant!
I've got this precise arrangement by Bernie on Vocalion 15002, recorded March 19,1925, coupled with Yearning (Just for You).
it makes me wanne dance....beautiful !
Hardly filmed in 1924-25, 2-3 years before the first soundies were made! The drummer could have been Sam Fink, who was with Bernie until 1929, when Dillan Ober replaced him.
Ben Bernie was from my hometown.... Bayonne NJ
what a jumpin' tune!
sweet sounding. looks so cool
@rob11227799 That's Jack Pettis, one of the greats of the C-melody saxophone (along with Frank Trumbauer, who's much better known). He turned up on quite a few jazz sessions in the 20s.
According to Ben Selvin, even Rudy Wiedoeft held Jack Pettis in high regard.
@@jimdrake-writer Pettis could do something Rudy never could - play real jazz. I wish we had more recordings of him.
After leaving Bernie, Pettis did very well with a depression style hotel band. He only recorded once after Bernie, for the Mills combine (Master/Variety) in 1937.
@@RatPfink66: Another saxophonist of the “Jazz Age”agreed with you: in an interview I did with Rudy Vallee, he said that improvisation was not one of Rudy Wiedoeft’s strengths, and that Wiedoeft himself acknowledged that he wasn’t good at it.
I met Ben's son who goes by "Bernie." Great guy; gave me a tape or recordings I still have. Great video, thank you.
I love Ben Bernie and this song!!!
Great dance music thanks
Wow! I had heard OF Ben Bernie, but never heard his band before! Thanks for this!!
Je cherchais depuis longtemps l'original de ce morceau si célèbre. Merci à DGatsby de l'avoir mis sur le net.
You should be proud of being a descendant of this man who left such a legacy of great music. I listen to some of his work almost every day of my life.
Loved seeing and hearing a very young Oscar Levant on the piano. His keyboard virtuosity was evident even in a very hot 20s band. Thanks so much for posting!
Timeless classic.
Many of these old Phonofilms still exist & it would be nice if compilation DVDs were issued. "The Jazz Singer" still gets most of the credit for being first on sound on film which is simply not true. These give us more of a glimpse of the Roaring 20s as most sound feature films weren't out until late 1928 or 1929
truly the best version of sweet georgia brown I ever heard !!!
I am delighted,a lovely piece and on film too-seeing is believing!
Window to history...Wow.
"Sweet Georgia Brown" by Ben Bernie and His Orchestra (1925) - Covered by many artists, this jazz standard tells the story of a woman named Georgia Brown who is often portrayed as a charming and influential figure, sometimes interpreted as a madam.
No guy made has got a shade on Ben Bernie ! Thanks for posting.
My Dad loved this tune. It became his signature tune after playing and singing it at every family gathering over the many years. Hat's off to Ben Bernie !
This is great! The video of them is fantastic!
Soooo Great!!!
Fantastic !
Thank you !
magic! great stuff!!!!
Great sax solo at the end
Bing Crosby's backng band takes this to another level.
Brilliant! Apparently (according to Wiki) they made the first recording of "Sweet Georgia Brown". How amazing would it be to play in a band like that? True skill and musicianship.
Such talent!
Que maravilha!!!!!!!
This meeting between you and I is the culmination of thousands of years of b-ball. This is b-ball in all its glory, this is the final game! It's just you and me, Barkley. No refs. No whistles. No rules. Just you, me, and Sweet Georgia Brown.
My great uncle!
What is it real!!
Kinda make sense cause of your name
great version !
the hit version of this song. Great!
I have a whole list of artists that I listen to on YT for various reasons. However, when I want something to lift my spirits and get my toes tapping, the choice is always Ben Bernie. For me, he determines what jazz was really all about in those days, even more than Paul Whiteman and others. The musicianship of his "lads" is unparalleled.
When this film was shot, people like Freddie Keppard, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Noone, and Bix were creating enduring art. From a historic perspective, this is an interesting short, but Bernie's band was hopelessly corny.
Note Oscar Levant on the piano.
remarkable sound for 1924-5
all of you are professional of jazz! I only enjoy this amzing music!!
Made using Dr. Lee DeForest Phonofilm sound system
Circa 1924 1925
@Hernes6 - This is the Deforest Phonofilm process, and it is quite certainly that early. Check out some of the Eddie Cantor clips and Sissle & Blake made a year or two BEFORE this one... Deforest 'borrowed' from several European and maybe a few US patents to make his sound on film process one of the first - though possibly least successful - optical systems, This was even several years before Vitaphone sound on disc was introduced.
The sax soloist is Jack Pettis.
Loved this! Thank for posting.
the first ever filmed sax solo occurred after my grandma was born...
history
i think i saw a late 30s cartoon that parody mister bernie and a bunch of other celebrities and hollywood types thanks for the clip and now i know the origin of the term YOWZER, WOWZER!
Nice execution of SOLO!
awesome footage
I have a few old shellac 78 sides of Ben Bernie, but it's really neat to hear this video! Thanks!
This video also featured the worlds first sax solo! You can hear it at 2:05
Definitely not the first.
@@dogerecords5312 The worlds first filmed sax solo.
The audio is actually better than most or all records of the day, and better than the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system introduced in 1927. I assume this recorded on an optical track on the film instead of the Vitaphone record.
Chris Marrou this uses Dr. Lee DeForest Phonofilm sound on film method, the method was devolved by DeForest in 1923 with the help of Theodore Case.
It may have been recorded on a separate camera driven by the same motor. There are photos of the two camera setup on the web. My guess as to why: Theodore Case's sound light source required different sensitivity film.
sweet!
THIS WAS RELEASED BEFORE I WAS BORN
WOW
Dig that mic stand. Now that's furniture!
Great band and video...thanks for posting this ! If you'd like to hear authentic big band music of the 1920s and early 30s today; go to Iguana NYC on Monday and Tuesday nights to hear Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks. They worked the films: Cotton Club, Aviator, Ghost World and 5 seasons of Boardwalk Empire. Iguana is at 240 W.54th St NYC
Kick Ass!
Imagine & remove the thru-the-cardboard-toilet roll sound... 'cause if you were standing there IN FRONT OF THE BAND, this jam ROCKED!! how could you not dance with cocaine infueled abandon.
viva la musica
It ALSO contains a teenaged Oscar Levant on the piano.
great stuff and great sound if electrical, if its acoustic its beyond belief !!!!
❤❤❤❤
First music video ever.
Great stuff. Wish the film was better so I could have seen the trumpet player's mutes more clearly. He started with a derby, held horizontally above the bell (didn't know that's how they were used), then he wen to straight mute, then, I think to a harmon with the stem in. Any other trumpet players out there care to elaborate? Love this! The way BB moves around and used the violin just for a prop.
and the darn sax players on the right are pulling double duty. when they're not playin' sax, they're playin' clarinet. now THAT'S a woikin' musician! wonder if they got paid double scale for that? hmmm.......
Just like early baseball, etc. They played because they loved it... there was never any money it... now they play for money and don't like the game / or the band, etc.
That was when America was great in many more ways than today.
THAT WAS JACK PETTIS
Probably not.
According to Artie Shaw, “doublers” who played sax and clarinet equally well were in demand but were not paid extra in studio sessions. In several of Gus Haenschen’s and Ben Selvin’s orchestras, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were seated next to each other in the reed section-but they as well as Shaw said that Goodman, for all his brilliant clarinet improvisations, had one of the worst saxophone tones of any professional woodwind player.
Notice no music scores used. All from memory. All those notes...
As Ben Bernie would say: "Yowsah!"
damn we are playing this in jazz band and it sounds nothing like it... only a little
Yowza, yowza.
The lyrics were written by Kenneth Casey. The rights to the music are currently owned by his grandson's (Kevin Casey) family after a long legal battle. I know Kevin well. We work for the same company in NY.
Lol we have to sing this for choir XD
Is that a trumpet, or cornet at the beginning and throughout?
@rob11227799 Sax solo by Jack Pettis
Well, you could say this was corny, and you'd be right. You could also say it swings like hell in its own way and you'd be right. Thanks for posting!
The Jazz Era !
DAMN
Jack Pettis
THIS SHIT FIRE
The sheet music I have shows a copyright of 1925...,Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard & Kenneth Casey as writers...,
it reminded me of tom and jerry
Wow...had no idea. I've only recently discovered Oscar Levant by way of the films he appeared in. What a cool guy.
DR. DeForest gave us the vacume tube to make radio possible I think.....he was first to amplify sound for boardcasting.......
those guys swing ;)
Excellent video!! Could you please tell me who's the crazy drummer ??
@jbernie888 Wow! Thats amazing. What a great bloodline to carry on! :)
Is it true the pianist is 18 year old Oscar Levant?
Yowzer thats hot!!
Yeessss
My great
grandfarther is in this
which musician?
oohh cool 👍
Is it free to use these artisting playing this music? Is this public domain?