I'm a bit confused by the RKO connection, since the Kino notes
specifically designate the video series a "four-part tribute to the
Paramount musical shorts." Perhaps the article will clarify the issue.
Thanks.
 
Meryem
 
 
On Thu, 26 Mar 1998 [log in to unmask] wrote:
 
>         Both Murphy's *Black and Tan Fantasy* and his Bessie Smith short,
> *St. Louis Blues,* are mesmerizing.  A discussion of Murphy's film work
> can be found in William Moritz, "Americans in Paris," in Jan-Christopher
> Horak, *Lovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 1919-1945,*
> 118-136.  Moritz states the shorts were RKO releases, which may well be,
> since I believe they were part of a series of musical short subjects made
> to promote RCA's new variable-area sound recording system, although, as I
> recall, *Black and Tan Fantasy* contains animation that looks very
> Fleischeresque, which would be the Paramount connection.  I doubt
> Paramount would have released through RKO!
>
>         Moritz's chapter gives a good overview of the career of Murphy,
> who was *definitely* an interesting dude, creating music videos forty
> years before music videos.
>
 _______________________________________________________________________________
>                           William Lafferty, PhD
>
> Department of Theatre Arts
 [log in to unmask]
> Wright State University                           office (937) 775-4581 or
 3072
> Dayton, OH  45435-0001  USA                            facsimile (937)
 775-3787
>
>         The universe was once conceived almost as a vast preserve, landscaped
>   for heroes, plotted to provide them the appropriate adventures.   The rules
>   were known and respected, the adversaries honorable, the oracles articulate
>   and precise as the directives of a six-lane parkway.  Errors of weakness or
>   vanity  led,  with  measured  momentum,  to  the  tragedy  which   resolved
>   everything.  Today, the rules are ambiguous, the adversary is  concealed in
>   aliases, the oracles broadcast a babble of contradictions.
>
>                                  --- Maya Deren, from her notes for *At Land*
>
> ----
> Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
> http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite
>
 
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