Film clip of Bessie Smith singing in St. Louis Blues: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A film clip with Bessie Smith singing in St. Louis Blues. It consists of a single reel of positive, black-and-white, 16mm acetate film with variable-area optical sound. The clip opens with Bessie Smith sitting on the floor with a bottle of alcohol beside her. She then begins to sing "My man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea…" The footage then cuts to Smith singing the same song in a bar, as she stands by the counter. She is joined in chorus by other patrons in the bar while a band place a tune. At the end of that performance, the band plays another tune with a faster tempo.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1929
• Directed by: Dudley Murphy, American, 1897 - 1968
• Produced by: W. C. Handy, American, 1873 - 1958
• Subject of: Bessie Smith, American, 1894 - 1937
• Subject of: Hall Johnson Choir, American, founded 1925
• Subject of: Johnny Lee Jr., American, 1898 - 1965
• Distributed by: Sack Amusement Enterprises, American, 1920 - 1979
• Owned by: Ernie Smith, American, ca. 1925 - 2004
• Type: sound films
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Duration (digital file): 00:04:48
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film): 220 ft
• Place filmed: Astoria, New York City, Queens County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Race films
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2015.275.34.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Anonymous Gift in memory of Ernest (Ernie) R. Smith, Jazz Historian
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.