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CAB CALLOWAY PERFORMS "MINNIE THE MOOCHER" 1931 JAZZ SONG w/ SCAT SINGING XD62545 — DeepCutsArchive
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CAB CALLOWAY PERFORMS "MINNIE THE MOOCHER" 1931 JAZZ SONG w/ SCAT SINGING XD62545

Scat singing
1940s1943Rare


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Help us preserve, scan and post more rare and endangered films on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCddem5RlB3bQe99wyY49g0g/join Website: https://PeriscopeFilm.com This "soundie" (essentially a 1940s music video) features Cab Calloway performing "Minnie the Moocher". This was Calloway's 1931 jazz hit, characterized by his signature scat singing ("hi-de-hi-de-ho"), theatrical dancing, and high-energy band performance. It's not clear exactly when this version was filmed, as there is no copyright date shown, but it likely is from the mid-to-late 1940s. "Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song co-written by Cab Calloway and first recorded in 1931 by Calloway and his big band orchestra, selling over a million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is famous for its nonsensical ad libbed lyrics, also known as scat singing (for example, its refrain of "Hi de hi de hi de ho"). In performances, Calloway would have the audience and the band members participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of a call and response, eventually making it too fast and complicated for the audience to replicate. First released by Brunswick Records, the song was the biggest chart-topper of 1931.[2] Calloway publicized and then celebrated a "12th birthday" for the song on June 17, 1943, while performing at New York's Strand Theatre. He reported that he was then singing the song at both beginning and end of four performances daily, and then estimated his total performances to date: "she's kicked the gong around for me more than 40,000 times. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. For almost two decades, we've worked to collect, scan and preserve the world as it was captured on 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have endangered films you'd like to have scanned, or wish to donate celluloid to Periscope Film so that we can share them with the world, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the weblink below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit https://www.PeriscopeFilm.com

About Scat singing

Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. This is different from vocalese, which uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos.

More about Scat singing→

Added 6 May 2026

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