Benny Goodman

This biography of musical legend Benny Goodman contains testimonials from various contemporaries and scholars, and offers several clips of the man in performance. Nearly two-dozen songs can be heard including "California, Here I Come," "A Fine Romance," "Why Don't You Do Right," "I've Got a Heart Full of Music," and "Bugle Cal Rag."

In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."

TV goes Hollywood when Steve Allen visits Universal-International to prepare for his upcoming title role in "The Benny Goodman Story."

Animated sequences are set to two Benny Goodman numbers.

After losing a coveted role in an upcoming film to another actress, screen queen Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) protests by refusing to appear at her current movie's premiere. Her agent discovers struggling actress Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane) -- an exact match for Mona -- and sends her to the premiere instead, with young musician Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell). After various mishaps, including a case of mistaken identity, Ronnie and Virginia struggle to find success in Hollywood.

The story of seven scholars in search of an expert to teach them about swing music. They seem to have found the perfect candidate in winsome nightclub singer Honey Swanson. But Honey's gangster boyfriend doesn't want to give her up.

A soldier falls for a chorus girl and then experiences trouble when he is posted to the Pacific.

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou.

After their annual free concert at Chicago's Dearborn Settlement, Benny Goodman and his band are packing up to go to their next engagement when a kid steals Goodman's clarinet. Goodman and Popsie pursue him to a tenement flat where he has led them to hear his brother play the trombone. Shenanigans ensue following Goodman's offering the brother a job with the band.

John Gunther, a great traveler in many parts of the globe, presented on the American ABC channel the documentary program "John Gunther's High Road" from September 7, 1959 to October 1, 1960, namely 30 episodes. Two adventure trips filmed in distant places were broadcast: The first documentary film was shot exclusively for the show and the second film offered was a great classic adventure or exploit film by another director.

The employees of a failing radio station must put on a huge ratings winner to have any chance of continued operation.

One of the greatest comedians of early television, Sid Caesar hasn't had his work shown in perennial reruns, so it's especially gratifying to see a collection of his classic sketches released on video, with Caesar himself introducing the material. Besides being a truly gifted comic, Caesar benefited from having some brilliant supporting players, including Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, and Nanette Fabray. Some of his illustrious writers, including Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Mel Brooks, appear in interviews setting up the sketches. The sketches themselves include some all-time classics such as Caesar and company playing the figurines populating a medieval town clock (a brilliant bit partly written by Neil Simon and his brother, Danny, who reminisce after the sketch).

Documentary short film intended to drum up support for the Fifth War Loan Campaign. It shows a happy family in the future of 1960 enjoying the prosperity and advantages made possible by the successful prosecution of the war, and how the sacrifices of 1944 have made the world a better place.

Two small-town sisters who've come to New York City for very different reasons find themselves competing for the affections of a brash magazine photographer. Comedy.

A film featuring some of best jazz musicians from the early twenties.

Hasselgård died in a car accident 75 years ago, aged just 26, he became a legend like so many other young dead in jazz history. The clarinetist Åke Stan Hasselgård managed to play with many of the greats both in Sweden and in the USA.

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance

A young trumpeter rises through the jazz world and finds love.

Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.

Walt Disney animation animated cartoon musical compilation ("The BIG Parade of MIRTH and MELODY"; "Offering hits re-released from 'Make Mine Music' and 'Melody Time'"; featuring cartoons from the 1946 musical, "Make Mine Music," and the 1948 musical "Melody Time") featuring Donald Duck, Joe Carioca, and other Disney cartoon characters, and also songs by Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Frances Langford, Roy Rogers and Trigger, The Andrews Sisters (Laverne, Maxene, and Patty Andrews), Freddy Martin and his orchestra, Sons of the Pioneers, Jerry Colonna, and Ethel Smith

This concert film made in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles in 1976 captures a memorable performance conducted by the doyen of American composers, Aaron Copland. It includes some of his greatest and most attractive music, from the patriotic flourish of Fanfare for the Common Man and the spirited orchestral fantasy El Salón México, to the colloquial warmth of his suite from the opera The Tender Land. Of particular importance is the collaboration with the great Benny Goodman in the masterwork he commissioned and premiered, the Clarinet Concerto.

Mitzi Gaynor and her guests Gavin MacLeod (The Love Boat), John McCook (The Young and the Restless), and musician Benny Goodman explore trends of the 1970's ranging from Jazz and Disco to Soap Operas and King Tut-mania. Songs include "Satin Doll," "I'm Hip" (with Goodman), "Nice Work if You Can Get it," and "Can't Smile Without You."

In 1955, on his report, a medical examiner wrote in the box: age, “about 53 years”. Charlie Parker nicknamed Bird just died, at 34. His death will be the ransom of a life that was not denied to the excesses or the consuming flame of genius. His wildest improvisations will open the door to future jazzmen. Between shadow and light this film will pay tribute to one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.

The jazz clarinetist and bandleader dubbed the King of Swing performs his final concert in 1980 at an unassuming club in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens.

Le Grand Échiquier

Jazz is a ten part series that explores the evolution – and the genius – of America’s greatest original art form, focusing on the extraordinary men and women who could do something remarkable – create art on the spot. Jazz celebrates their profoundly enduring, endlessly varied, and infinitely alluring music in the context of the complicated country that gave birth to and influenced it, and was in turn transformed by it.

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.

Star Time is an American variety series which aired on the DuMont Television Network from September 5, 1950 to February 27, 1951, and starred singer-actress Frances Langford.

The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Bio’s Bahnhof

DuPont Show of the Month is an acclaimed 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour anthology drama series hosted by June Allyson, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. During the Golden Age of Television, DuPont Show of the Month was one of numerous anthology series telecast between 1949 and 1962. Superficially, it resembled Playhouse 90 and other anthologies, but DuPont Show of the Month focused less on contemporary dramas and more on adaptations of literary classics, including Oliver Twist, The Prince and the Pauper, Billy Budd, The Prisoner of Zenda, A Tale of Two Cities and The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Big Party

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.

“The Bell Telephone Hour” was a musical variety show that aired on “NBC” TV from 12 January 1959 to 14 June 1968 that showcased the best in Broadway, Classical, Concert, Jazz and Popular music each week. The series had its’ own house band appropriately named the “Bell Telephone Orchestra”. The show also had its’ own theme song being the “Bell Waltz” composed by “Donald Voorhees” who was also the show's Orchestra conductor. Some of the greatest violinists of the 1960’s performed on this show that aired in the old “Black & White” format. Some of these great violinists included “Erica Mornin”, “Isaac Stern", "Michael Rabin", "Ruggiero Ricci", "Yehudi Menuhin" and "Zino Francesacatti". From time to time some of the great singers and bandleaders of the 1960’s would perform on the show as well. Some of these were “Bing Crosby”, “Gordon MacRae”, “John Gary”, “Leslie Uggams”, “Mary Martin”, “Nelson Eddy”, “Patti Page” and “Roy Rogers”. The TV show followed on the heels of its’ predecessor with the same name on “NBC” radio that aired from 29 April 1940 to 1958 on Monday nights at 8 PM. The name of the show was derived from its’ Major sponsor “Bell Telephone Laboratories”. The TV version began airing on Friday nights at 8:30 PM once a month. It later was given it’s same time slot now airing every other week alternating with another show on the other weeks such as News shows and specials. The show time slot changed quite often over the years. In September 1960 it aired at 9 PM and in September 1961 it moved to 9:30 PM. In October 1963 it moved to Tuesday nights at 10 PM, September 1965 it moved to Sunday night at 6:30 PM and in September 1967 it made its' final move back to Friday night at 10 PM.

The Danny Kaye Show is an American variety show hosted by Danny Kaye that aired on CBS from 1963 to 1967 on Wednesday nights. Directed by Robert Scheerer, the show premiered in black-and-white, but later switched to color broadcasts. At the time, Kaye was at the height of his popularity, having starred in a string of successful films in the 1940s and '50's, made successful personal appearances at such venues as the London Palladium, and appeared many times on television. His most recent films had been considered disappointing, but the television specials he starred in were triumphant, leading to this series. Prior to his television and film career, Kaye had made a name for himself with his own radio show, and numerous other guest appearances on other shows.