Wild Women Don't Have the Blues - Blues documentaries

Wild Women Don't Have the Blues
Calliope Film Resources

National Television Premiere: PBS

Selected by the Sydney and Leipzig International Film Festivals... the Toronto and Bremen International Jazz Festivals... and others...

"A SUPERB hour-long examination not only of the idiom itself, but also of its social origins, evolution and impact on black America ... A PRICELESS PIECE OF GENUINE AMERICANA."

- Leonard Feather, music critic and historian, Los Angeles Times

"Vintage clips, some great old songs and a wealth of juicy anecdotes combine to make 'Wild Women Don't Have the Blues' AN ENJOYABLE, ENLIGHTENING HOUR."

- TV Guide

"DON'T MISS THIS SHOW -- 'Wild Women' is everything its title implies."

- The Boston Globe

"One of the most thoughtfully researched, wisely edited documents on music in recent memory."

- Leslie Rubinstein, entertainment writer and author, Total Television

AWARDS

VITAS Festival "Best Exploration of Music"
American Film and Video Association Red Ribbon
C.I.N.E. Golden Eagle

In the 1920s a generation of great women blues performers -- Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Mamie Smith and others -- launched a craze for the blues that swept it into the American mainstream for all time.

Through their stories, "Wild Women" brings to life the flourishing of black American popular culture between 1910 and 1930 -- from the tent shows and vaudevilles in the South to the cabaret scene in Chicago and Harlem and the recording craze of the roaring twenties.

You'll hear "St. Louis Blues," "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues," and more than thirty other "good old blues" recorded by the greats themselves -- including Bessie Smith's only film, and a lively performance by the legendary Alberta Hunter.

Plus... additional music and reminiscences from Koko Taylor, Ida Goodson, Danny Barker, Blue Lu Barker, Sammy Price, Mae Barnes, Doll Thomas, and Chris Albertson, record producer and author of "Bessie."

(one hour, color)
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