User Reviews

Rivals MGM and Warner Bros. pulled all the stops with their thirties Technicolor "historical featurettes", though (curiously) it was the latter, more budget-minded, studio that really milked this genre. This "Musical Gem" comes from the former and could pass as a costume test for "Gone With The Wind", even though it predates the novel by over a year. There's more "production polish" here than in most feature films.

Basically it's a showcase for Stephen Foster's "The Old Kentucky Home", with a bit of bio background covering the song writer's final impoverished years... one haunty lady at a music store scoffs his future legacy, while the pretty storekeeper (Stephen's gal) listens to the melody and fantasizes a huge plantation scene with spectacular dance numbers. Most modern viewers will squirm at the "happy darkies" presented (complete with watermelon scene), though, to its credit, one talented gospel group is given a good, straight forward, spotlight. It is a bit of a shame that Turner Classic Movies periodically airs this "problem" picture, while leaving other questionable (but better documented) short subjects like "Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs" in the vault.

Here's a Technicolor short with four or five of Foster's tunes, and the old unexamined story of his life. His work was enormously popular, but there was nothing like a worthwhile copyright system in effect at the period. As a result there was little point in a music publisher paying him for his work/ Just buy a copy of the sheet music for whatever it cost, then print your own copy.

Like James A. Fitzpatrick's better remembered Traveltalks, this shows off some beautiful Technicolor. Anyone familiar with the Traveltalks will be surprised to learn that Fitzpatrick started producing sound shorts in 1925, but they were musical shorts It was only in 1930 that he began to be the Voice of the Globe and ruin some fine photography with his stolid, emphatic blathering.

Memories and Melodies (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely well-made and highly entertaining MGM short tells the story of Stephen Foster, the famous songwriter who was poor most of his life but classic songs like "My Old Kentucky Home" eventually made him a legend. Being from Kentucky the before mentioned song as well as Foster are very visible and I even grew up a dozen miles from the place he called home. It was interesting hearing a bit about his life but the most shocking thing for me was how well made this movie was. I've seen a few dozen TravelTalks shorts from FitzPatrick and seeing his directing style here really caught me off guard in a good way. I thought it did a masterful job telling the story and the way he handles the drama was extremely well done. The views of blacks will certainly be looked at as politically incorrect with the watermelon site being extremely old fashioned.

This is a short film from MGM that is in Three-Color Technicolor-- the first truly full color film used in movies beginning about 1934. Up until then, color films were two-color varieties-- such as Two- Color Technicolor and Cinecolor...and the pictures looked rather orangey green. So, it's obvious when you watch the film that it is the new Technicolor process. However, the film is much darker than it was originally and could use restoration.

This film is a sort of biography of Stephen Collins Foster, the writer of such popular American mid-19th century tunes as "My Old Kentucky Home", "Camptown Races" and "Swanee River"*. It's all handled with a weird reverence...sort of like Foster was about to obtain sainthood (though in real life he simply died at age 37 after, seemingly, living in the gutter in New York for several years). As a result, it's very dull and comes off as rather fake.

By the way, some of Foster's lyrics were pretty racist, as that was the tone of the day. You'll hear some of these and see some troubling depictions of happy slaves eating watermelon and dancing...so hold on tight! It IS embarrassing and wrong...what else can I say?!

*If you actually care, there is no Swanee River. The Suwanee River, however, is in north Florida and I guess "Suwanee River" just didn't have the right ring to it!

An MGM MUSICAL GEMS Short Subject.

Composer Stephen Foster leaves MEMORIES AND MELODIES as his legacy to a young woman who loved his music.

This sentimental, tuneful - and somewhat racist - little film focuses on Foster's lilting, delightful music. The bulk of the story is a reverie of an afternoon ball at a Kentucky plantation, the proceedings entirely buoyed by Foster's songs. The early Technicolor throughout is a major plus to the film.

No acting credits are given, but movie mavens should recognize Nora Cecil as the persnickety sheet music customer.

The following songs by Foster are performed - "The Old Kentucky Home"•"Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming"•"Camptown Races"•"Oh, Suzanna"•"Beautiful Dreamer"•"Old Uncle Ned"•"Ring, Ring, the Banjo"•"Old Folks at Home"•"Massa's In De Cold, Cold Ground."

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

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Born on the Fourth of July in 1826, Stephen Collins Foster would become America's first truly important professional composer and the most famous songwriter up to the time of the Civil War. He had a natural inclination for music and was greatly influenced by both his Scots-Irish roots and the black music he heard around him. Sentimental ballads & minstrel tunes would predominate among his 280 compositions.

He only visited Dixie once - although he was considered to be the ‘Song Writer of the South' - being a Northerner all of his life. Never practical with money, Foster usually sold his songs for flat fees, leaving the often substantial royalties to be earned by publishers & performers. (Along with the titles mentioned above, Foster is also remembered for the favorites `Nelly Bly,' 'Old Dog Tray,' 'Old Black Joe,' & `Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair.')

Foster married Jane McDowell in 1850, but his descent into poverty left him a prey to alcoholism & melancholia and she finally left him in 1862. Stephen Foster died on January 13, 1864, in the charity ward of a New York City hospital, alone and deeply in debt. He was only 37 years old.