4 reviews
This was another Soundie I watched on YouTube. In this one, Spike Jones and His City Slickers are gun totin' hillbillies waiting for the other fuedin' family to show up. Del Porter sings about wanting to eat the biscuits that Mirandy always cooks up though maybe it's out of habit since they cause teeth to fall out! Oh, and they're hard enough to use as bullets later on especially on an enemy ship at sea as this "music video" from the '40s ends. This was one of many that played on Panorams (film jukeboxes) at various restaurants, bars, and bus or train stations during the period. Quite corny but still charmingly watchable so on that note, Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy is worth a look.
"Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy" was not intended for theatrical release, but as a "Soundie" for a coin-operated Pan-O-Ram. Spike Jones and his City Slickers made four Soundies, each based on one of their early records. These low-budget novelties were filmed just before RCA released Spike's million-seller, "Der Fuehrer's Face;" the band was still unknown at the time.
One fan of these early Spike Jones novelty songs was Walter Lantz, who used "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy," and "I'm The Greatest Man In Siam" as the basis of two of his Swing Symphonies. Two of the City Slickers from this short, Del Porter and King Jackson, provided vocals for two other Lantz cartoons, "Apple Andy" and "Cow Cow Boogie."
The short itself is performed to a pre-recorded track, and is a rather crude production. But the band itself is in top form, making this short great fun.
One fan of these early Spike Jones novelty songs was Walter Lantz, who used "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy," and "I'm The Greatest Man In Siam" as the basis of two of his Swing Symphonies. Two of the City Slickers from this short, Del Porter and King Jackson, provided vocals for two other Lantz cartoons, "Apple Andy" and "Cow Cow Boogie."
The short itself is performed to a pre-recorded track, and is a rather crude production. But the band itself is in top form, making this short great fun.
. . . was between the Barton's and the Coy's, as depicted in PASS THE BISCUITS, MERE ANDY. To keep things simple, each Barton has a long black Civil War treasonous general black beard, while every Coy sported the same sort of facial hair, only in reddish hues. As is still True Today, Southern "Red State" wenches cannot cook a lick, and the Coy's Mere Andy proved worse than most. As suggested during this True-to-Life Story, she eventually was shipped out behind enemy lines, in hopes that her culinary efforts would soon drive the Axis of Evil to Unconditional Surrender. Unfortunately, she never got the Fuhrer, Mussolini or Hirohito to sample any of her blunderbuss biscuits. She was unmasked as a foreign saboteur, and fried with okra and grits for Sunday brunch at the SS Club.
Spike Jones and his City Slickers perform their popular novelty song -- when Jones and his boys got their hands on them, everything was a novelty song -- in this funny soundie.
Soundies were short films, about three minutes in length. The were meant to be played on a machine called a Mills Panoram, a video jukebox that was typically to be found in bars, lounges, and similar venues. You put a dime in and got a performance from the ten on the machine. The movies would be changed weekly, and from 1940 through 1946, Mills and other companies produced more than two thousand soundies.
A nice part of the humor is that Spike and the boys know it's basically mimed to the record, so they feel free to make things musical instruments that couldn't serve as such.
Soundies were short films, about three minutes in length. The were meant to be played on a machine called a Mills Panoram, a video jukebox that was typically to be found in bars, lounges, and similar venues. You put a dime in and got a performance from the ten on the machine. The movies would be changed weekly, and from 1940 through 1946, Mills and other companies produced more than two thousand soundies.
A nice part of the humor is that Spike and the boys know it's basically mimed to the record, so they feel free to make things musical instruments that couldn't serve as such.