Using archival performance footage, still photographs, and interviews with six surviving band members and others associated with the group, the film is considered one of the major catalysts for bringing attention in the 1980s to a women's band that performed in the late 1930s through the 1940s to primarily black audiences.[1][2]
The documentary was co-produced by Jezebel Productions and Rosetta Records, in association with Channel 4 (UK). Directors Schiller and Weiss established Jezebel as an independent film company "that reflected their political and artistic values" and their films "uncover stories of people and communities whose lives were overlooked and systematically erased from cultural memory".[3]
The film was screened at numerous film festivals in both the US and Europe, and has been included in college curricula and workshops. It aired on TV in the US, the UK, and other countries worldwide.
Synopsis
International Sweethearts of Rhythm opens with archival footage of Anna Mae Winburn on vocals and the band performing the song "Jump Children", interspersed with contemporary comments by Winburn, Tiny Davis, and Rosalind "Roz" Cron discussing the challenges the band faced due to gender, and celebrating the success of the band amongst their fan base. Throughout the film, except during interview sequences, the band's music is heard in the background, sometimes with still photographs of the band and individual members seen onscreen.
The film discusses the origin of the band at the Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1937, interspersed with archival footage of life at the time for African Americans in the rural South. Band members discuss the early touring years of the group, designed to raise awareness and funds for the Piney Woods School. The film discusses the transition of performance venues from schools and churches to theaters and night clubs, and the split of the band from Piney Woods School into a professional jazz band starting in 1941. Scenes are included of women performing many different types of non-traditional jobs during World War II, and Winburn discusses her former role as director of a male jazz orchestra that was interrupted when many of her musicians were drafted into US military service.
Interviews include men associated with the band discussing how they felt about working with an all-female band. Trumpeter Tiny Davis talks about how she joined the band, and the effect that other professional musicians joining the group had on the quality of the band's performances. A comparison is made between all-white jazz bands popular at the time and the sound of the predominantly black Sweethearts. Archival footage includes the white singer Ina Ray Hutton and her all-female band, the Melodears. The popularity of the Sweethearts among black audiences is discussed, as well as the circuit of black theaters where they performed. Day-to-day life on tour is described, including the band sleeping on the bus while traveling through the segregated South. White musician Roz Cron talks about some of the ways she had to disguise herself in order to pass for black while in southern states, as well as help she received from people of color to avoid arrest because during that time and place, it was illegal for musicians of different races to perform together.
The film also discusses members' rejection of the "novelty band" label due to their hard work which was comparable with male bands of the era. Tiny Davis' role as the heart of the band is mentioned and contemporary footage of her performing excerpts from the song "Mack the Knife" is included. Band members such as Vi Burnside and musical arranger Maurice King are given credit for their contributions to the band's sound. Top name performers of the time who were fans of the band are mentioned, such as Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, who was said to have tried unsuccessfully to convince Davis to leave the Sweethearts and join his band. Drummer Panama Francis recalls a "battle of the bands" between his all-male band and the Sweethearts. Newspaper headlines and anecdotal memories about long lines of fans waiting to get into the band's performances at places such as the Apollo Theater and the Regal Theater are shared. The band's European tours with the USO at the end of World War II are depicted. The film discusses the demise of the group due to lack of jobs for female musicians after service men returned home, as well as many Sweethearts leaving the band to start families of their own. The film ends with some members discussing the positive impact of the band on their lives, followed by an excerpt of the band performing one of their signature songs, "Jump Children".
Interviewees
The following musicians or others involved with the band are named and seen onscreen in an interview setting:
Some fans of the band are interviewed onscreen but they are not identified by their full names, so they are not included in this listing.
Performances
The closing credits do not include a listing of the songs performed by the Sweethearts in the film, but archival footage of excerpts of the songs "Jump Children" and "She's Crazy with the Heat" are presented, among several others.
Production
While Schiller and Weiss were doing research for Schiller's directorial debut film Before Stonewall (1985), they came across archival footage of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. They had originally intended to include that footage in Before Stonewall to "show women doing untraditional things during World War II—the men were away and the women could play".[4] But they realized there was a film to be made about the Sweethearts, a band with which the filmmakers were previously unfamiliar. The "more we dug, the more incredible the story became. You know, what they had to put up with as women and as a mixed, but mostly black group."[5]
That initial footage was from a short film called Jump Children, obtained from the film collection of David Chertok. His collection also included four other "soundies" that featured the Sweethearts during 1945 and 1946, after they returned from USO tours of Europe. Clips from those five soundies were used in the film. Other sources of film footage included a 1940s US government film about venereal disease "warning against the evils of jazz clubs, alcohol and women".[6] The filmmakers located their interview subjects thanks to the work of Marian McPartland who had organized a Sweethearts reunion for the 1980 Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival. Band member Roz Cron provided information that allowed the directors to contact the former Sweethearts interviewed in the film.[6]
The film's opening credits state "Jezebel Productions and Rosetta Records presents".[7]Rosetta Records had released a sound recording titled International Sweethearts of Rhythm in 1984, which featured sixteen songs from the band recorded in early 1945 and 1946.[8] According to Rosetta Reitz's papers held at Duke University, she met producers Schiller and Weiss in 1983, and "the three, along with Reitz's daughter Rebecca, began to share creative responsibilities for the project. In 1986, with much of the work on the film completed, Reitz parted company with Schiller and Weiss over creative differences and disagreements over copyright license issues. Schiller and Weiss retained control of the project and began showing the finished film in late 1986."[9] The legal dispute between the parties ended in 1990.[9]
The producers also received a grant from the Women's Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television for preservation efforts associated with the 2007 restored version released on DVD.[7]
Critical response
Reviews of the film were generally positive. As of November 2019, there are no reviews or scores collected on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic.
In her review for the documentary's premiere at the New York Film Festival, critic Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times that the film is "a delightful 30-minute trip down memory lane. The group of the title is an interracial, all-women swing band that enjoyed enough popularity during the 1940s to be remembered affectionately by the fans who are interviewed here."[11]
Reviewing the film upon its original release, Scott Cain from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that the film "makes you glad that documentaries were invented. The film offers toe-tapping selections by the 1940s band interspersed with lively reminiscences by the participants, who have aged gracefully in the intervening 40 years."[12]
In a review in the scholarly journal The American Historical Review, Vicki L. Eaklor says of the film that "oral and documentary history are blended masterfully to tell the story of a band that should not be forgotten…. Underlying it all, literally and figuratively, is the music, always the music: the sound track and footage of the band in performance evoke the 'International Sweethearts' more vividly than any artifact or recollection."[13]
Reviewer Robert Arnett wrote in the journal Southern Quarterly: "The film is an interesting oddity. It touches many bases in its thirty minutes, yet does not develop any of them to a point that seems satisfactory or complete. The music, though, is irresistible, and the surviving bandmembers, especially Tiny Davis, are infectious in their enthusiasm for the band."[14]
A review in The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York) stated "One of the significant issues raised in 'International Sweethearts of Rhythm' is that, had they not been women, let alone black women, a number of the band members might have enjoyed mainstream careers, and a more lasting fame. Another is that despite the prejudice of the time, these musicians experienced a freedom that then was rare for women, and that helped shape their lives."[15]
A review in Library Journal, which helps librarians with purchasing decisions, concluded with "recommended for collections of jazz, black studies, or women's studies that can afford it".[16] Similarly, a review of the 2007 "newly restored" DVD in Educational Media Reviews Online, an online database of reviews aimed primarily at academic librarians, gave the DVD its highest rating of "Highly recommended".[17] As of October 2019, the film is held in 227 libraries worldwide.[18]
Screenings
The film was shown primarily at film festivals in the United States between 1986 and 1989, with international festival screenings in subsequent years. One website states that the film was shown "at over 100 festivals worldwide".[19] Although the film has no direct mention of homosexuality, some band members were openly gay and the directors also identify as lesbians,[5] so the film has been included in some LGBT film festivals. Additionally, Jezebel Productions released another short documentary in 1988 featuring Sweethearts member Tiny Davis and her female partner of over 40 years; that film and International Sweethearts of Rhythm were often shown together at LGBT film festivals starting in 1988. The Sweethearts documentary has also been shown at some colleges and universities,[20][21][22][23] frequently as part of classes or workshops on film, jazz history, or gender studies. It was also aired on television in the US, England, and other countries.
Selected film festival screenings
New York Film Festival (World premiere: September 28, 1986);[11][24] on a double bill, tickets to this screening were sold out in advance.[25]
Lesbisch-Schwulen Filmtage (Lesbian Gay Film Days) (Hamburg, Germany: October 2007)[39]
Television airings
The film made its television debut on December 29, 1986 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.[40] Channel 4 was credited with production assistance for the film.[41]
The US television premiere was on March 6, 1987 on the Bravocable television network.[42] In 1994, it was included as part of a PBS series called Through Her Eyes that "featured the work of independent women producers and filmmakers on themes reflecting women's self-expression".[43]
The film's official website states that it was aired "in 13 countries including Britain, France, Holland, America (both PBS and Bravo), China, Denmark, Australia, Canada and Japan"[41] and it has also been broadcast in Yugoslavia, Denmark, and Zimbabwe.[44]
Other selected screenings
On December 4, 1990, the film was one of three documentaries screened as part of the second Smithsonian Residents film program hosted by the Hirschhorn Museum, as a "tribute to the careers of famous blues singers and musicians".[45]
In early 1991, the film was included in a segment called "Sisters in Jazz" which was part of a tour titled "Passion, Politics, and Popcorn" that represented selections from the 1989 and 1990 New York International Festival of Lesbian and Gay Films that played in 12 cities across the United States.[46]
In 1997, the film was screened at the Edinburgh Filmhouse in Scotland as part of a women in jazz double bill of director Schiller's works.[47]
In 2013, the film was included in a six-part Tribeca Film Institute program titled America's Music: A Film History of Our Popular Music from Blues to Bluegrass to Broadway, in a segment called "Swing and Jazz" that also featured episode 6 ("Swing, the Velocity of Celebration") of the Ken Burns' Jazz documentary series. The National Endowment for the Humanities provided grants to more than fifty libraries or nonprofit organizations across the US to bring America's Music to their communities.[48][49]
In spring 2014, the film was shown with two other Schiller and Weiss documentaries in Bremen, Germany during the Jazz 'n' the Movies film series, in a segment titled "Frauen im Jazz".[50]
Awards and honors
American Film Festival: First place/Blue Ribbon[41][44]
In 2007, a "newly restored" version of the film was released on DVD, distributed by Jezebel Productions. The DVD release also included two other Jezebel Productions documentaries related to women in jazz: Tiny & Ruby: Hell Divin' Women (1988) that featured former Sweethearts trumpeter Tiny Davis; and Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love (1990).[7] An extra feature included on the DVD is a seven-minute interview with Schiller and Weiss recorded in 2006 upon the Sweethearts film's twentieth anniversary.[17]
In 2013, the film was available in streaming format via Amazon's video service,[53] but as of 2019 it is no longer available on that platform.
In 2019, the film is available in streaming format via Kanopy,[54] but not all institutional subscription packages will include this particular title.
See also
The Girls in the Band, a 2011 documentary film directed by Judy Chaikin that includes some footage from International Sweethearts of Rhythm (1986)[55]
Related Research Articles
Patricia Theresa Schemel is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. Born in Los Angeles, Schemel was raised in rural Marysville, Washington, where she developed an interest in punk rock music as a teenager. She began drumming at age eleven, and while in high school, formed several bands with her brother, Larry.
Barbara Jean Hammer was an American feminist film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She is known for being one of the pioneers of the lesbian film genre, and her career spanned over 50 years. Hammer is known for having created experimental films dealing with women's issues such as gender roles, lesbian relationships, coping with aging, and family life. She resided in New York City and Kerhonkson, New York, and taught each summer at the European Graduate School.
Jesse Albert Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles Calhoun and Chuck Calhoun. His best-known composition as Calhoun was "Shake, Rattle and Roll".
Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist. Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.
Gerry Rogers is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and politician. She was leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party from 2018 until 2019. She served in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as NDP MHA for the electoral district of St. John’s Centre from 2011 to 2019. She became the party's leader after winning the April 2018 leadership election. She resigned as party leader prior to the 2019 provincial election and did not seek re-election.
Su Friedrich is an American avant-garde film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She has been a leading figure in avant-garde filmmaking and a pivotal force in the establishment of Queer Cinema.
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an American jazz ensemble, believed to be the first racially-integrated all-female band in the United States.
Anna Mae Winburn(néeDarden; August 13, 1913 – September 30, 1999) was an American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid-1930s. An African-American, she is best known for having directed the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female big band that was perhaps one of the few – and one of the most – racially integrated dance-bands of the swing era. In 1944, the band was named as the country's favorite all-female orchestra in a DownBeat magazine poll.
Helen Elizabeth Jones Woods was an American jazz and swing trombone player renowned for her performances with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, and Schiller. It premiered at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 27, 1985. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 2019, the film was restored and re-released by First Run Features in June 2019. Later in 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The Gay Marriage Thing is a 2005 documentary film directed by Stephanie Higgins, who attended the Emerson College film school graduate program. The film follows the heated debate over same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 through the perspective of a lesbian couple who wishes to legally marry, as that state became the first in the U.S. to grant same-sex marriages.
Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement is a 2009 American documentary film directed and produced by Susan Muska and Gréta Ólafsdóttir for their company Bless Bless Productions, in association with Sundance Channel. The film tells the story of the long-term lesbian relationship between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer, including their respective childhoods, their meeting in 1963, their lives and careers in New York City, Thea's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and Edie's care for her partner, and their wedding in Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, because gay marriage was not then legal in their home state of New York.
David France is an American investigative reporter, non-fiction author, and filmmaker. He is a former Newsweek senior editor, and has published in New York magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, and others. France, who is gay, is best known for his investigative journalism on LGBTQ topics.
Greta Schiller is an American film director and producer, best known for the 1984 documentary Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community and the 1995 documentary Paris Was a Woman.
Ernestine Carroll Davis, better known as Tiny Davis, was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.
Andrea Weiss is an American independent documentary filmmaker, author, and professor of film/video at the City College of New York where she co-directs the MFA Program in Film. She was the archival research director for the documentary Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community (1984), for which she won a News & Documentary Emmy Award.
Radical Harmonies is a 2002 American independent documentary film directed and executive produced by Dee Mosbacher that presents a history of women's music, which has been defined as music by women, for women, and about women. The film was screened primarily at LGBTQ film festivals in 2003 and 2004.
Rosalind Cron was an American alto-saxophonist. During the 1940s she played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female jazz big band. She toured and performed for American soldiers in post-war Europe and was broadcast on national and international radio.
References
1 2 Sher, Liz (Spring 1987). "The International Sweethearts of Rhythm". Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women. 4 (1): 59–60. ISSN0741-8639.
↑ Gabbard, Krin (n.d.). "Swing Jazz"(PDF). www2.lawrence.edu. Seeley G. Mudd Library, Lawrence University. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
1 2 Edelman, Rob (1987). "The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: An Interview with Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss". Cinéaste. Vol.15, no.4. New York. pp.32–33. JSTOR42683190.
1 2 3 Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss (directors) (2007). International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All-Girl Band (DVD) (Newly restoreded.). New York: Jezebel Productions. OCLC123905581. 837101327985.
↑ International Sweethearts of Rhythm (LP sound recording). Women's Heritage Series. New York: Rosetta Records. 1984. LCCN85-755221. OCLC13180498. RR 1312.
↑ "Westchester Guide". The New York Times (Late City Finaled.). February 12, 1989. p.Section WC, 12. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
↑ Harrington, Richard (January 13, 1988). "A Lineup Fit for King; For His Birthday, the Music of the Movement". The Washington Post. Washington, DC. p.Style section, D7.
↑ Barnes, Harper (March 13, 1992). "Remembering Jazz's Maxine Sullivan". St. Louis Post Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p.5F.
↑ Arnold, Gary (December 4, 1990). "Laurel and Hardy series of shorts". The Washington Times. Washington, DC. p.F4.
↑ Hartl, John (February 14, 1991). "Gay-Lesbian Film Tour Makes Stop at Neptune". The Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington. p.G4.
↑ Kerr, Alison (April 16, 1997). "Sisters of Swing". The Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. p.19. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
↑ Pickett, Mary (September 13, 2013). "Explore 'America's Music' in new film/performance". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. p.GO7.
↑ "America's Music"(PDF). www.library.eiu.edu. Eastern Illinois University. January 11, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
↑ "Magische Momente". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Berlin, Germany. March 13, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
↑ "Women's Festival Winners". Variety. Los Angeles, California. April 15, 1987. p.31.
↑ Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss (directors) (1986). International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All-Girl Band (VHS tape). New York: Cinema Guild. LCCN86-700147. OCLC15230105.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
