[78-L] Mamie Smith Mystery

[David Lewis]

Mamie Smith was in a short called "Jail House Blues" in 1929. According to Wikipedia, no complete print of the film exists, though clips from it are making the rounds. Mainspring has a .pdf of an online Mamie Smith discography, by Brian Rust, at:
 
http://www.mainspringpress.com/MSMITHdiscog.pdf
 
The entry for the audio of the two musical selections from "Jail House Blues" goes thusly:
 
Acc. by Porter Grainger, p, and unknown one-string fiddle. Camden, NJ, April 9, 1929.
50603-1-2-3 The Jail House Blues / You Can’t Do It
Vic custom recording
NOTE: These recordings were made for the soundtrack of a Columbia Picture film short. They have been
reissued on several LPs and CDs, the most accessible being Document DLP555 (LP) and DOCD5360 (CD);
all reissues, however, are dubbed from a 1961 NBC broadcast rather than the original Victor disc and may
not be complete.
 
So what 1961 broadcast was this shown on? And is this the source of the two clips also this broadcast? From this, I surmise that NBC had access to the full film in 1961, but it has been lost since? 
 
The one-string fiddle would certainly have been Tosh Hammond, who also played on some Butterbeans and Susie records.

Uncle Dave Lewis uncledavelewis at hotmail.com