[78-L] Musical Mobsters

[David Lennick]

Slang:

BANANA OIL..Vaughn de Leath

Booze:

ALL THE BOYS LOVE MARY..Van & Schenck
	(little known song..Mary's father has a still)

The Depression:

There have been a number of compilations on LP and CD, some of them now hard to 
find. Great one on Stash (LP), another fine one on ProArte/Intersound (CD) both 
long out of print.

dl

Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr. wrote:
> Al Barnes wrote:
>> I'm trying to help a friend come up with some musical themes, and need the
>> collective wisdom of the 78-L list.
>>
>> Here's the question in her words:
>>
>> --------------------------
>> I am looking for songs from the Jazz Age (preferably 1923-1935) that
>> mention a number of
>> different subjects for some K-12 education programs that I'm putting
>> together.
>> I'll need to find recordings and/or sheet music as these songs will be
>> performed live by my band.
>> The topics I'm planning to cover are:
>>
>> Jazz Age Slang
>> The Mob
>> Women of the 1920s & 30s
>> The transition from Silent film to 'Talkies'
>> The Depression
>> Prohibition
>>
>> If anyone has any suggestions, please post them to this thread.
>> Your help is greatly appreciated!
>> -------------------------
>>
>> I can help her with a lot of this, but in particular, I can think of
>> nothing from the 20s/30s directly
>> related to The Mob. And what's one good tune with lots of slang?
>>
>> This group seems to be quite adept at such endeavors, so I look forward
>> to any suggestions.
>>   
> During this time, music did not often reflect the current events. 
> However, there were some cute ditties that dealt with social issues. One 
> that comes to mind was by Paul Specht called "Roll 'em Girls".
> When I first heard the number, I thought they were referring to 
> cigarettes and lib. The fact is, they were referring to the practice of 
> rolling socks down to expose the knees.
> 
> Roll em girls, roll 'em
> Go ahead and roll 'em.
> Roll 'em down below your pretty knees!"
> 
> Here's Billy Murray http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAceqH2atQM
> 
> Bobbing hair, shortening dresses. Cute.
> 
> Lyrics
> http://paroles-de-chansons.abazada.com/
> 
> Let your students enjoy "Cheaper by the Dozen" and the sequel, which is 
> not as well done, "Belles On Their Toes", both rich with scenes of the 
> era, mannerisms, music and mores. Homemade root beer! One scene is about 
> the girls braving the beech with their socks rolled down.
> I think you can get these movies cheap in Amazon. You will like them 
> yourself.
> 
> For depression era, there's no movie yet that has the impact of "Grapes 
> of Wrath", thought "Paper Moon" is good but may have scenes questionable 
> for a classroom.
> 
> Old Elliot Ness Untouchables shows for gangster stuff.
> 
> You could show them an MGM Metro Movietone short or 2. They illustrate 
> the transition between vaudeville and sound movies quite clearly. These 
> are available on DVD, Special Edition "The Broadway Melody", with 
> Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love.
>