George Hall and His Orchestra (1937) User Reviews

A 'Short' Promotion ,1930s-Style

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 20 December 2006]

This 11-minute short begins with a disclaimer by Warner Brothers, warning of some racially offensive material in it. The short is mainly about is showcasing the orchestra, I guess. I don't know what else the point of this film could be. Perhaps back in the '30s bands would be promoted through this venue, among other things. We hear a couple of instrumental numbers along with a vocal by Dolly Dawn. She's actually quite good, showing some "spunk" with her down-home southern song.

Then, there is a short comedy break when the objectionable material appears. The band, sleeping overnight at the basement of a theater because all the hotels were booked for the night, hears some noise. "Oh, it's just the colored janitor," someone remarks. "Let's have some fun with the skeleton dance," says Dolly. So, they play a little, a guy gets dressed up in a skeleton costume and scares the crap out of the janitor, a Stephin Fetchit-type character. It is funny, but it's true that it is racist.

Nonetheless, most of this short is music and it's decent but, overall, not something I would watch a second time.

"The day the music ALMOST died . . . "

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 3 March 2015]

. . . could be a more apt subtitle for this 1936 Warner Bros. "Melody Master" live-action musical short, GEORGE HALL AND HIS ORCHESTRA. Mr. Hall and his fellow White people are so busy dreaming up and perpetrating racist pranks, you see, that they have no time left over to book gigs properly, or to reserve hotel rooms at all. Constantly behind schedule since there are so many minorities for them to harass and so little time, the band arrives at their final destination in the middle of the night with no accommodations available. George simply orders his musical minions to break into the old theater in which they plan to perform, suggesting that they quickly rehearse and crash there for the night. Falling bricks awaken them first thing in the morning, as a demolition crew works on the condemned building. Had the theatrical relic been imploded like an early Vegas casino, George would have learned quickly whether or not the politically incorrect could enter Heaven (a place that Time forgot?).

George Hall And His Orchestra (Roy Mack, 1936) **

[Bunuel1976 · 4/10 · 14 April 2008]

This short subject (many similar efforts were made at this time to promote particular songs or, as is the case here, bands) is included on the Warners DVD of their gangster picture BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936). Being a one-reeler, the film is quite harmless in itself – and, at least, manages to poke fun at the people involved since they're ostensibly seeking out a contract and, being broke, can't afford hotel accommodation and, so, have to make do with the theater where the audition is to be held for their sleeping quarters! The punchline is that the next morning, construction workers arrive and start tearing the place down…which suggests that the band is outmoded as the theater itself, and that they've all been taken for a ride (just as they had themselves done to the colored and, typically for this era, indolent nightwatchman when one of their number had donned a skeletal outfit to scare the boy out of his wits). All in all, however, it seems depressing to me that so many of these inconsequential fillers have survived over the years and are being allowed a new lease on life via the DVD format when many a noteworthy film (or portions from same) has been lost to the ravages of time!!

If You Wanna Know What Good Music Is?

[msladysoul · 5 December 2002]

If you wanna know what good music is, its this. Anyone who wants to know what the Big Band Era was like, this is a short to look for, I enjoy it myself, you can catch, if you can on Turner Classic Movies. I own this myself. This music is what good music is, without the cursing and nudity, you can listen to music like this and hear about what love is really about.

Good old fashioned racism...1930s style.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 24 August 2011]

This is a Vitaphone musical short--and Warner Brothers made a ton of these in the 1930s. It features George Hall and His Orchestra--who I assume are pretty much forgotten today. I am no expert on this but can't recall them.

The film starts with the band arriving late and not having any place to stay. So, they break into the club where they are going to perform. Once there, a lady with the band decides to sing (is this lady biracial--she sure looks like it--though back then something like this was pretty much unthinkable). Then, out of the blue, a poor black guy (basically a Stepin Fetchit sort of horribly stereotyped character) wanders in, so they do what any red-blooded American would do--scare the crap out of him by having one of the band members dress up like a skeleton. While this is woefully unfunny and plays into a nasty racist stereotype, it was unfortunately the sort of thing average folks thought was funny--laughing at blacks getting scared (and acting ridiculously scared at that). It's a sad thing as this is all that really stood out for me in this film.

Is the singer light-skinned black lady? Steppin fetchit sort of black guy wanders in for some nice old fashioned racist fun--with skeleton.

Dolly Dawn Sings

[boblipton · 6/10 · 30 October 2022]

George Hall and his orchestra hit town for an appearance the next day. There's no hotel reservation, so they break into the hall they're to appear in and rehearse.

Hall began leading orchestras in the 1920s, and his music sounds like sweet jazz judging from this Vitagraph short. This was at the height of the band's popularity. The usual venue was hotels, and Hall was based at the Taft in New York in this period. In 1941, Hall turned the band over to his vocalist Dolly Dawn and retired. She led the band for only a year. Most of the men were drafted into World War II.

Hall died in 1989 in his nineties.

Not One of the Better Shorts

[Michael_Elliott · 1 May 2011]

George Hall & His Orchestra (1936)

** (out of 4)

A few musicians are trying to make their big break but considering they have no money for a motel they decide to just sleep in a theatre basement. Throughout the night they "dream" about breaking into the business as well as rehears a few numbers. Overall this isn't the best short put out by Warner and Vitaphone but there are a few interesting bits that make it worth sitting through if you're a fan of this eras music. The most noticeable part happens when a black janitor (appears like an unbilled Willie Best) comes in not knowing the musicians are there and they decide to do a "skeleton dance" to scare him away. Many people have objected to this sequence and the DVD even featured an apology from Warner but I thought it really wasn't needed as the studio and Hollywood in general did much more damaging and offensive things than this. Cole Porter's 'Night and Day' gets a quick shot here but the highlight has to be 'When a Lady Meets a Gentleman Down South', which features Dolly Dawn singing. THe rest of the numbers are decent at best but considering this things runs just under 9-minutes there's really nothing too bad or boring here. Again, this is just mainly going to be for music fans.