Came here this morning because of a article in the Spokane paper. Midrid was a member of the Couer d' lane tribe of Indians. She was considered the first great "white" Jazz singer even though she was half Indian. She also knew Bing Crosby who was a partner of her brother. She helped them get their start and they in turn introduced her to Paul Whiteman and she became his lead singer. Just came to hear what she sounded like. Wonderful, better times, when people acted as if.
Pains me to say this but the great black entertainers in the 20th century have been ignored and shut out. Mildred is not the only one....there are so many great blues singers and guitar players that were transcendent and way better than the white boys who borrowed and stole from them. Even some of the better known ones like T-Bone, Charlie Patton, Big Joe Williams, Pearl Bailey, Big Joe Turner, Ernestine Wade, Fats Waller, Spencer Williams, Louie Jordan, Guitar Slim, Alvin Childress, Bessie Smith, W. C. Handy, Laura Bowman, Alvin Lee, pioneering film maker and impresario Oscar Micheaux and the incomparable Bert Williams and his fabulous partner George Walker are slighted or ignored or not given the accolades that they deserve for their musical and entertainment contributions. Even the great and transcendent Louis Armstrong is fading away. These entertainers have wrongly been stigmatized and some even erased from history. Take some time and learn about this great legacy these fabulous pioneers made and learn from them.
this is my favorite mildred song. she is the greatest. the highest compliment ever paid me was that i was mildred reincarnated. it was a lie. im not that good. but what a wonderful compliment!
I don't know how you figured out that this dance number would be so well synched with this song. The trio of entertainers and the song itself is wonderfully amazing and lovely to look at and wonderful to hear!. Astaire and Rogers (when she danced) and Bailey - Hall of Famers, or should be.
Love the song....my favorite of hers though was her Havana song, which I used to sing at piano bars in Philly, and up and down the East Coast back in the late 60s/early 70s. The only improvement to this clip would be to just have a 78 rpm visual spinning, since images of Astaire and Rogers are intensely distracting and a COMPLETE NON SEQUITUR! Like listening to an early Lakota Tribe war dance recording with visuals of Astaire and Rogers! Yes! That disparate! I still have the 8 (?) album 1960s mega-collection of all Mildred's LP works I bought in Chicago in the mid-60s.....yum....damn - she was good!