A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano used to play such music. Bars of this kind are common in the South and Southwest United States. Many eminent country music artists, such as Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton, and Merle Haggard to name a few, began their careers as amateur musicians in honky-tonks.
Sophie Tucker was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. She was known by the nickname "the Last of the Red-Hot Mamas".
Milton Ager was an American composer, regarded as one of the top songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. His most lasting compositions include "Ain't She Sweet?” and “Happy Days Are Here Again”.
Jack Selig Yellen was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for writing the lyrics to the songs "Happy Days Are Here Again", which was used by Franklin Roosevelt as the theme song for his successful 1932 presidential campaign, and "Ain't She Sweet", a Tin Pan Alley standard.
Honky is a derogatory term used to refer to white people, predominantly heard in the United States.
Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition. The film stars Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor and features Buddy Ebsen, George Murphy, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley and Binnie Barnes.
The Singing Fool is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, The Jazz Singer. It is credited with helping to cement the popularity of American films of both sound and the musical genre.
The Desert Song is a 1929 American pre-Code operetta film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring John Boles, Carlotta King, Louise Fazenda, and Myrna Loy. It was photographed partly in two-color Technicolor, the first film released by Warner Bros. to include footage in color. The film included a 10-minute intermission during which music was played.
Paris is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film, featuring Irène Bordoni. It was filmed with Technicolor sequences: four of the film's ten reels were originally photographed in Technicolor.
Courage is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film, produced by Warner Bros. in 1929 and released early in 1930. The movie is based on a stage play of the same name by Tom Barry which was a hit on Broadway in 1928.
"Some of These Days" is a popular song, written and composed by Shelton Brooks, published in 1910, and associated with the performer Sophie Tucker.
My Man is a 1928 black and white part-talkie American comedy-drama musical film directed by Archie Mayo starring Fanny Brice and featuring Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. It was Brice's feature film debut at the age of 37. She was a star in the Ziegfeld Follies before she started acting in motion pictures. At the time Warner Bros. made this film there were still some silent movies in production and being released. My Man used intertitles but included talking sequences, synchronized music, and sound effects using a Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It was not until 1929 that talking movies would completely take over, but Warner Bros. had completely stopped making silent movies and switched to sound pictures by the end of that year, either part talking or full talking. Warner Bros. also started making movies in color as well as sound movies.
Good Time Charley is a 1927 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Michael Curtiz. The film apparently had a Vitaphone soundtrack of music and effects. It was considered to be a lost film. However, as of January 2021, the film is listed as extant at the Library of Congress.
Tenderloin is a 1928 American part-talkie crime film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Dolores Costello. While the film was a part-talkie, it was mostly a silent film with a synchronized musical score and sound effects on Vitaphone discs. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. Tenderloin is considered a lost film, with no prints currently known to exist.
They Learned About Women is a 1930 American Pre-Code sports drama musical film directed by Jack Conway and Sam Wood, and starring Van and Schenck in their final film appearance together.
Why Be Good? is a 1929 American sound comedy film produced by First National Pictures starring Colleen Moore and Neil Hamilton. While the film has no audible dialogue, is accompanied by a Vitaphone soundtrack that features a musical score with sound effects and some synchronized singing.
Shine On, Harvest Moon is a 1944 musical–biographical film about the vaudeville team of Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, who wrote the popular song "Shine On, Harvest Moon." The film was directed by David Butler and stars Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan Sheridan's singing voice was dubbed by Lynn Martin.
International Sound Version is a term for a film in which all dialogue is replaced with music and foreign inter-titles. It was a method used by movie studios during the early talkie period (1928-1931) to make sound films for foreign markets. This method was much cheaper than the alternative, the "Foreign Language Version", in which the entire film was re-shot with a cast that was fluent in the appropriate language.
Maybe It's Love is a 1935 American comedy film directed by William C. McGann and written by Jerry Wald and Harry Sauber. The film stars Gloria Stuart, Ross Alexander, Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Helen Lowell and Henry Travers. The film was released by Warner Bros. on January 12, 1935.
"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is the debut single by American country music artist Loretta Lynn, released in March 1960. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in Washington State, maintaining her role as a housewife and occasional member of a local country music band. The composition was later recorded in California after Lynn was given money by a local businessman, who was impressed by her singing. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was then issued as a single under the newly founded and independent Zero Records label in March 1960.
