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22-638: McEnery is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: David McEnery (1914–2002), American musician Jeff McEnery (born 1984), Canadian comedian John McEnery (born 1943), English actor and writer John McEnery (1833–1891), American politician Kate McEnery (born 1981), English actor Peter McEnery (born 1940), English actor Ruth McEnery Stuart (1849–1917), American writer Samuel D. McEnery (1837–1910), American politician Tom McEnery (born 1945), American businessman and writer [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with

44-752: A disc jockey for WOAI in 1953, and also appeared on WOAI-TV. In November 1953 he bought a recording studio, Marathon Recording Company, in San Antonio. Red River Dave was featured in several full-length westerns and short subjects as a singing cowboy . including the Columbia Pictures feature Swing in the Saddle (1944), and the Universal Pictures featurettes Hidden Valley Days and Echo Ranch (both 1948). He also starred in 14 Soundies , three-minute musical films shown in coin-operated "movie jukeboxes", and

66-544: A pioneer television broadcast from the 1939 New York World's Fair , where his band entertained at the Swift Premium exhibit. He worked for radio station WOR (AM) in New York City. He was a radio personality in border radio for station XERF . From the 1940s McEnery had a daily radio show for several years at station WOAI in his home town of San Antonio, where he set up a booking office for himself and his band. He became

88-413: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles David McEnery Red River Dave McEnery (born David Largus McEnery ) (December 15, 1914 – January 15, 2002) was an American artist, musician, and writer of topical songs. His two best-known are " Amelia Earhart's Last Flight " (a memorial tribute to the recently deceased pilot) and "There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere". He

110-410: The surname McEnery . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McEnery&oldid=992621252 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description

132-600: The Official prints and negatives). The trade publication Billboard reported in February 1951 that Official Films had spent $ 300,000 preparing the Soundies film library for television syndication, under the series title "Music Hall Varieties"; Official earned more than $ 700,000 from local TV stations. Three documentaries have been produced about Soundies. Don McGlynn produced and edited The Soundies in 1986, hosted by Cab Calloway ;

154-562: The Soundies machines and films became obsolete. Almost all of the Panoram jukeboxes were either junked or modified into self-service "peepshow" machines. Most remaining Panorams are in the hands of collectors and are occasionally offered for sale. The library of approximately 1,800 Soundies films was made available first to home-movie companies Castle Films and Official Films , then to television via Official's TV division, and ultimately to home video (via England's Charly Records , which acquired

176-583: The backs of his used guitars. Red River Dave's songs have been recorded by Hank Snow and Tex Ritter . Soundies Filmed professionally on black-and-white 35 mm stock , like theatrical motion pictures, they were printed on the more portable and economical 16 mm film. The Panoram "movie jukebox" was manufactured by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago. Each Panoram housed a 16 mm RCA film projector, with eight Soundies films threaded in an endless-loop arrangement. A system of mirrors flashed

198-959: The film was broadcast nationally on PBS . Dewey Russell compiled an hourlong, direct-to-video history, "Soundies: Music Video from the '40s" in 1987, narrated by Michael Sollazzo. Chris Lamson produced "Soundies: A Musical History," hosted by Michael Feinstein , in 2007 for PBS. For today's filmmakers and archivists, Soundies are known for preserving rare performances of African-American artists who had fewer opportunities to perform in mainstream films. Such artists as The Ink Spots , Fats Waller , Duke Ellington , Louis Jordan , Sister Rosetta Tharpe , Dorothy Dandridge , Big Joe Turner , Bob Howard , Billy Eckstine , Count Basie , The Mills Brothers , Herb Jeffries , Cab Calloway , Meade Lux Lewis , Lena Horne , Louis Armstrong , Nat King Cole , and Stepin Fetchit all made Soundies (several of these were excerpted from longer theatrical films). The Soundies concept

220-673: The films were changed weekly. The completed Soundies were generally made available within a few weeks of their filming, by the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America. Several production companies filmed the Soundies shorts in New York City, Hollywood, and Chicago: James Roosevelt 's Globe Productions (1940–41), Cinemasters (1940–41), Minoco Productions (owned by Mills Novelty, 1941–43), RCM Productions (1941–46), LOL Productions (1943), Glamourettes (1943), Filmcraft Productions (1943–46), and Alexander Productions (1946) led by William D. Alexander ). The performers recorded

242-450: The image from the lower half of the cabinet onto a front-facing screen in the top half. Because of the mirror arrangement, the films had to be printed with the image "flipped" (with the titles appearing backwards on the screen). Each film cost 10 cents to play, with no choice of song; the patron saw whatever film was next in the queue. Panorams could be found in public amusement centers, nightclubs, taverns, restaurants, and factory lounges, and

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264-503: The leading Soundies performers. Many stars of the future made appearances in Soundies at the beginning of their careers, including Gale Storm , Dorothy Dandridge , Ricardo Montalbán , Liberace , Doris Day , Gloria Grahame , Cyd Charisse , Alan Ladd , Marilyn Maxwell , and Yvonne DeCarlo . Many nightclub and recording artists also made Soundies, including Harry "The Hipster" Gibson , Benny Fields , Frances Faye , Gloria Parker , Charles Magnante , Milton DeLugg , and Gus Van . In

286-809: The market for jukebox films, the other companies disbanded, and some sold their films to the Soundies concern. Soundies emphasized variety from their beginning; the first three bandleaders who contracted for Soundies were boogie-woogie specialist Will Bradley , established popular music maestro Vincent Lopez , and Hawaiian singer-leader Ray Kinney . Soundies displayed all genres of music, from classical to big-band swing, and from hillbilly novelties to patriotic songs. Harry McClintock , Jimmy Dorsey , Louis Jordan , Spike Jones , Stan Kenton , Kay Starr , Johnnie Johnston , Les Brown , The Hoosier Hot Shots , Charlie Spivak , Cliff Edwards , Martha Tilton , Sally Rand , Nick Lucas , Gene Krupa , Anita O'Day , Jimmie Dodd , Merle Travis , and Lawrence Welk were some of

308-597: The mid-1940s, during a moratorium imposed by James Petrillo of the musicians' union, Soundies resorted to filming nonmusical vaudeville acts, featuring exotic dancers Sally Rand and Faith Bacon , animal acts, acrobats, impressionists, and jugglers. Beginning in 1941, Soundies experimented with expanding its format, and filmed comedy Soundies with Our Gang actor Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer , Broadway comic Willie Howard , dialect comedians Smith and Dale , Harry Langdon , Snub Pollard , and The Keystone Cops . Most of these films were nonmusical, and were not as well received as

330-576: The music in advance, and mimed to the soundtrack during filming. The movie-jukebox idea developed several imitations and variations of the technical design; the most successful of these imitators were the Techniprocess company (managed by Rudy Vallee ) and the Featurettes company, which used original novelty songs and usually unknown talent (17-year-old Gwen Verdon appears in a couple of the Featurettes as "Gwen Verdun"). As Soundies quickly gained most of

352-515: The musical Soundies. Soundies abandoned the comedy-sketch idea, but continued to produce filmed versions of comic novelty songs. Some bandleaders recognized the promotional value of Soundies. Will Bradley, Vincent Lopez, and Ray Kinney were the first, as has been mentioned, and Ozzie Nelson , Cab Calloway , Louis Armstrong , Lawrence Welk , and Louis Jordan followed. The most prolific Soundies bandleaders were Johnny Long (18 titles) and Stan Kenton (17 titles); cowboy entertainer Red River Dave

374-415: The original Soundies "jukebox" concept was revived by French company Cameca as Scopitone . Similar to Soundies, Scopitones are short musical films designed to be played on a specially designed coin-operated jukebox, but with new technical improvements - color and high-fidelity sound. Scopitones were printed on color 16mm film with magnetic sound, instead of Soundies' black-and-white film with optical sound. By

396-487: The use of rubber and precious metals, prioritizing these resources for military use during wartime. This meant that Mills Novelty could no longer build and sell Panoram machines, and had to confine its activities to keeping the existing projectors supplied with films. Soundies became strictly a production company, dedicated to making its own musical shorts. The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America remained active until 1947. With commercial television developing rapidly,

418-401: Was almost as prolific (14 titles). More than 1,800 Soundies minimusicals were made, many of which have been released on home video. The Soundies films were regularly described and reviewed in the entertainment and music trade publications, such as Billboard . During their first year, the Soundies made millions of dollars (in dimes). However, in late 1941, the federal government restricted

440-716: Was born in San Antonio , Texas , United States. He got the nickname "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing "Red River Valley" at Brackenridge High School in San Antonio. He first appeared on radio at age 18, in 1932, for KABC in San Antonio. In 1936 he became "cattle whip and lariat champion" at a state competition. That same year he broadcast a live singing performance from the Goodyear Blimp over CBS AM radio station WQAM in Miami. His career really took off with his topical song " Amelia Earhart's Last Flight ", broadcast in

462-472: Was revived in 1951 by producer Louis D. Snader . Radio stations relied on transcriptions—recorded musical performances. Snader brought the idea to television with films, which he called " Snader Telescriptions ." Snader hired dozens of pop-music acts and vaudeville performers, many of whom had already appeared in Soundies, to star in his new films. Snader Telescriptions are often confused with Soundies because of their similarity in length and personnel. In 1958,

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484-403: Was the company's most prolific cowboy entertainer. Columnist Lester Ketner of Boxoffice Magazine asked Red River Dave "why he did not run for some political office next May. Dave's answer was, 'I'm gonna run for sheriff, just to keep outa jail.'" In the latter part of his life, McEnery became a well-known painter of Texas landscapes and Western Americana themes, and was often known to paint

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