She Was Once the Biggest Star in Jazz. Here’s Why You’ve Never Heard of Her.

[scott]

May I remind you that being or supporting a communist - as long as it's political and not part of any plot to overthrow the government or commit treason -is and always was totally legal in this country?

Yes you may, and I do know that. She was brought in front of HUAC (which I do think was wrong as said as much) because she supported a communist who advocated violent overthrow of the US Government.

HUAC persecuted people for "offenses" that could not legally be prosecuted, and prosecuted people based on lies and patently unreliable hearsay. It was a huge failure of our system of laws.

I agree, which is why I wonder why people gloss over the actual support for actual communists. Why obfuscate it now?

[phillygirl]

OK, it was from a 1943 Mae West movie, which I doubt I ever saw. However, according to Wikipedia, she actually had her own TV show in 1950 (before my time), so maybe I saw her recreate the scene on something like the Ed Sullivan Show. We watched him, Lawrence Welk, and Mitch Miller religiously.

Yes, in reading a bit about her, apparently that was her thing. She did it frequently at her concerts and I presume on her show. Alicia Keyes did a tribute to her at one of the awards shows and recreated that as a nod to her.

[phillygirl]

I think the article intentionally glosses over the fact that she openly supported a communist for NYC City Council. I don't think the HUAC was a good thing, but I've noticed that many stories about people with an oblique association with it leave out that there were actual communists and supporters during that time and almost every time the person being written about did support a communist.

I grew up being told by college academics and liberals that Alger Hiss was unfairly treated by the US government and he went to jail on trumped up charges. Nope - he was a soviet spy as confirmed much later.

Thanks. I actually wanted to look to see if there was any real connection, but got distracted and abandoned it.

[phillygirl]

Check out the sound at :53. Is that the keyboard continuing while she turns I'm hearing?

Could be that the audio and video are not perfectly synched. Could be a movie issue.

[Newman]

Could be that the audio and video are not perfectly synched. Could be a movie issue.

I don't think so. Obviously she's playing the piece. Even faking it at such a level would be a feat of virtuosity. But those notes are floating in the air, plus we're hearing a note-perfect rendition, and I don't see note-perfect in that scene. Check out her hand descending in a fast & furious run at :39. I'm also suspicious at 1:04-1:05 that there are more notes being played than what I see her playing.

If I had to guess, I'd guess this is a show-stopper for her, as you say earlier here, but to achieve the note-perfect effect, the sound is in fact a studio performance, and the film of her stage act is cut & spliced to fit. We take that technique for granted in many movies, such as "Mr. Holland's Opus."

[scott]

I don't think so. Obviously she's playing the piece. Even faking it at such a level would be a feat of virtuosity. But those notes are floating in the air, plus we're hearing a note-perfect rendition, and I don't see note-perfect in that scene. Check out her hand descending in a fast & furious run at :39. I'm also suspicious at 1:04-1:05 that there are more notes being played than what I see her playing.

If I had to guess, I'd guess this is a show-stopper for her, as you say earlier here, but to achieve the note-perfect effect, the sound is in fact a studio performance, and the film of her stage act is cut & spliced to fit. We take that technique for granted in many movies, such as "Mr. Holland's Opus."

I think that's true. There was no way to get sound suitable for film on a stage back then. She had to play it in a sound booth and then film it to match.