Mills Novelty Company. Panoram Soundies Machine. USA, 1939/1940. Wood, glass, metal, plastic. 74-1/2 x 36 x 28 inches (189.2...

Description

Mills Novelty Company
Panoram Soundies Machine
USA, 1939/1940
Wood, glass, metal, plastic
74-1/2 x 36 x 28 inches (189.2 x 91.4 x 71.1 cm)
Applied manufacturer's labels to interior

Only briefly in production prior to World War II, the Panorams manufactured by Mills Novelty Company are often referred to as movie jukeboxes. With a glass screen and a concealed film projector, the Panoram played short films called Soundies. Coin-operated and placed in bars and pool halls, they were a an early and popular form of public audiovisual entertainment.

With a segregated programming catalogue, business owners had the ability to restrict content played on the Panoram for their similarly segregated businesses. Despite this, Soundies became an important part of Black film history. Fritz Pollard, a legendary professional football player and first Black head coach of a National Football League team, became manager of the Soundies New York office in 1942. Cultivating talent and recording in Harlem and the Bronx, Pollard brought Black audiences around the country Panoram content. These short films featured stars like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, but also lesser known musicians, actors, and bandleaders, particularly Black women bands that would otherwise not have access to a national audience. Though short-lived (they disappeared from commercial activity not long after the war's end), the Soundies were a significant stepping stone in the evolution of Black entertainment culture.

Sold with a 16mm reel of eight period Soundies selected by Jenette Kahn. Soundies were designed to be looped in groups of eight, and Kahn selected an integrated mixture of acts for her reel, which includes performances by Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Armstrong, and others.

An additional example of this work can be found in the collection of the Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, New York.



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