"Soundies" were the granddaddies of music videos: single-song musical movies that played in special jukeboxes during the 1940s. Some of the biggest musical stars (and stars of the future) appeared in these films: Louis Armstrong, Spike Jones, Liberace, Fats Waller, Stan Kenton, Cab Calloway, and many others. Thanks to Soundies, hundreds of unique musical performances were photographed for posterity. These mini-musicals were originally nothing more than a ten-cent novelty. Today, to film and music fans, they're a priceless part of history. Scott MacGillivray and Ted Okuda, authors of the landmark resource book The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America , now offer this revised and expanded guide to the Soundies musicals. This all-new book picks up where the original left off: more than 1800 titles are classified by performer, title, and date-many with new, individual annotations and all with new cross-references for easy reading and consultation. There is also a historical account of the prolific Soundies production companies, a look at Soundies' many competitors and descendants (including telescriptions and Scopitones), a checklist of the dozens of Soundies home-movie editions, and a listing of alternate titles to help collectors identify the films more easily.

All in one handy volume: The Soundies Book .