Duke Ellington—”Old Man Blues” (1930)

On June 24, 1930, Duke Ellington’s manager Irving Mills secured a movie deal with Radio- Keith-Orpheum Pictures. William LeBaron, vice-president in charge of R.K.O. production, signed the “the world’s hottest jazz band, Duke Ellington’s Negro orchestra” on a contract for a fee of $27,500. The band, then a sensation of New York‘s Cotton Club, would appear in “Check and Double Check,” directed by Melville Brown.

Duke Ellington and his Orchestra at the RKO Studios in Culver City, California, during August 1930. The band was directed by pianist Duke Ellington with: Arthur Whetsol, Freddy Jenkins and Cootie Williams-trumpets; Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton and Juan Tizol-trombones; Harry Carney-clarinet, alto sax and baritone sax; Johnny Hodges-clarinet, soprano sax and alto sax; Barney Bigard-clarinet and tenor sax; Fred Guy-banjo and guitar; Wellman Braud-double bass; and Sonny Greer-drums. The solos are by Nanton, Carney, Hodges and Jenkins.

The songwriter team of Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby furnished the music for “Check and Double Check,” with the Duke adding a few of his own compositions, such as “Ring Dem Bells” and this “Old Man Blues.” At the time Ellington said that one of the reasons the production, which began for him on August 4th, is so expensively spectacular is because “the boys is so hot they burns the notes right off the music . . . and the studio has to give ‘em a new part after every performance.”

Amos ‘n’ Andy, otherwise known as Freeman F. Gosden and Charles J, Correll, made over 4,000 15-minute radio shows during their partnership. In their first (and only) all-talking feature length motion picture this popular white radio team received a lot of criticism because they appeared in black face to play their parts. Nevertheless, “Check and Double Check” was nationally released in 330 theaters simultaneously and was RKO’s biggest box office success before its 1933 release of “King Kong.”