Ina Ray Hutton And Her Melodears - Medley

[@harvies1894]

Great swing!!!

[@伸一佐藤-h7e]

スイング初期に早くもこんな素晴らしいオールガールビッグバンドがあった事はもっと高く評価されても良いと思われます!

[@christopherlucy1772]

This was a pretty good big band..

[@clementmckenzie7041]

My brother married the great grand daughter of their youngest sister. The one that couldn't pass as white. His wife looks just like her only brown.

[@MrRJDB1969]

I hate to be bearer of bad news for you, but Ina Ray Hutton was White (Caucasian), both her female and male band members were White, she was married to White trumpeter, Randy Brooks, her singers, The Frazee Sisters, Stewart Foster, etc etc, were White, Will Hudson , who composed a few of the songs she recorded, was White, and Ina herself was White (Caucasian), as it states on her marriage certificate to husband, Brooks - they were both White. Now, June Hutton, the younger sister, married Axel Stordahl, who was also White (Caucasian). Back in the 30's and 40's "mulatto" did not mean what it does today, it simply meant any mixture of races, i.e., White and Asian, White and Cherokee Indian, Black and Asian. I've read where June Hutton was a half-sister, which is neither here nor there, but both women shared the same father, Odie Daniel Cowan, who was White. If anything, Ina Ray Hutton, may have had some Cherokee Indian in her lineage, but hell, so do I, but to say "pass as White" when clearly Ina Ray was at least 95 % White, is ludicrous or ridiculous. Ina Ray Hutton said herself, that she was White. During that time period, entertainers that actually were Black, were doing just fine, such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, etc, so there was no need to hide anything... from anyone.

[@clementmckenzie7041]

@@MrRJDB1969 My brother is married to her sister's great-granddaughter and she is not white, her mother was not white and according to their family their great-granny and grandmother could almost pass for white but not enough to make it safe to do so, people tend to confuse her for Jewish or Latin. Sometimes, southern Italian or Middle Eastern. So I don't doubt you believe that she was white, or fit your definition of being white, or believe her claim that she was white, but I can say unequivocally that not all of her family members saw themselves as white, though many lived as white. Which is common in some African American families. You should know by the way that though some black musicians were doing fine, many, many oh so very many African American musicians who could pass as white did, because it made life easier, white musicians were paid more, much, more and there were many more venues and bands you could play in as a white musician than as a black musician, You seem to have a delusional impression of what it was like to be a black entertainer at this time. Even Leana Horne at this time worked under dehumanizing work conditions, and Eartha Kitt, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, and Nat King Cole had to enter venues they performed in through the kitchen. Sammy Davis ran with the rat pack and enjoyed their protection but he was not paid the same rate. So no black musicians were not doing fine. Most were not doing well at all. Most had to watch white artist steal their acts and become rich from it.

[@MrRJDB1969]

@@clementmckenzie7041 - Well, neither Ina nor June, were "black" or completely black either. Just because there exists a drop of, say, (example) Cherokee or Navajo blood in someone's genes, but the other 98% is something else, that single droplet does not cancel out the other 98% of who they are. Whether Ina was White with a bit of Cherokee, Italian, Chinese, etc, somewhere in her lineage, does not change the fact that both she and her sister, stood by the fact they were both White, that's how they saw themselves, how their marriage certificates saw them, and in Ina's case, how her appearance clearly showed. Yes, there were many black celebrities back then, who were very happy and did not have reason to hide their race, so no, Ina wouldn't have had a reason to hide it either. Ina was White, being a percentage of something else, doesn't erase all that she is or was. If Ina saw herself as being White, certificates state the same, etc, I think I'll go with that, since I, nor anyone else, really knows. Furthermore, it really isn't any of our business anyway.

[@clementmckenzie7041]

@@MrRJDB1969 really, because Carol Channing was half black and a jazz star so she could have presented herself as a black woman, but she spent 60 years passing as a fully white woman, because as she said, she knew she would not have been given the opportunities she received as a professional artist if the world knew she wasn't really white. You are gilding the reality of how black people were forced to live in those times to fit your fantasy narrative of what you think their lives were like. America decided very early in its history what black was and what white was and what each group had a right to expect from life, so she may have been white in her mind ( though I doubt it) and in yours but not in American culture of her time. And no wishful retooling of Americans cultural history you can concoct will change or even challenge that reality

[@cameron7644]

​@clementmckenzie7041 very interesting! I was looking up her family's census records and I don't know if you were aware already, but her father Odie Daniel Cowan was Black too! He was recorded in an early census as a young Black boy in St Louis, MO and his parents were recorded as Black also. They then moved to Chicago, also recorded as Black. Apparently just like Ina and June, their father was also light enough to pass, because after he abandoned Marvel & the girls, he was recorded as "White" on his war draft record, married a White woman, and was recorded as "White" on every census after. I've seen people trying to use her father's WW draft papers as proof that he was "White" lol. I wonder if Ina embraced her Blackness in her personal life. Aside from the Black features I can see in her photos, there's a certain Blackness about her essence in general too. The way she danced, the way she constantly performed "Black" songs like Truckin, Doing the Suzie Q, Cabin in The Sky & more. When I hear her talk and sing, especially in her early performances, I hear a definite "Blaccent". She apparently hung out with a lot of Black peers during her time too. I wonder how she felt about having to "pass" in general, given she was kind of forced into that situation by her mother and manager, from what it seems. But I understand it was one of the only ways out, growing up poor and with a single mother in southside chicago. I believe all the people in the comments getting angry about people mentioning her Blackness, are just racist and don't want to accept that one of their beloved "Blonde bombshells" was in fact Black! Thank you for sharing.

[@jnawilliamtucker3631]

If she ain't black, then growing up with black people rubbed off big time. She moves like black people do. She could tap with anybody of her day, and that was the heyday of tap. Her vocal inflections sound soulful. Her band are mainly white and funky as hell. That tune called Truckin' is some serious funk, swing

[@clivelouden7549]

My dad went to Transylvania college and told me he had a classmate who played trumpet and joined were band. Only a few years ago I found these wonderful videoes. Transy in Lexington,KY had a first rate music school trumpeter Billy Butterfield was alumni had band played on Columbia with strings on U Tube and 2 albums with Ray Conniff duets. One of her husbands was Randy Brooks whose trumpet solo Tenderly was #1, 1946, he had stroke they split. In 1967, he died smoke inhalation in fire across the street from my Nasson college 1960-64, by Sanford, Maine, where he is buried. At 11 he played with Rudi Vallie band in Maine, a virtuoso. Small world. UTube has her half sister, had same mother a pianist, June on her TV show a better songer no tap dancing a clip shows duet with Sinatra with a mustache, that Zorro movie? They sing a duet joking about their adopted names. She married Axel Stordahl who arranged for Sinatra. He passed and she married actor Kenneth Tobey TV Whirleybirds many films. He passed 95, never remarried. I spoke to Melissa Ritz who has created a small play reinacts Rae’s life story blonde sing and tap dances she has a wonderful U Tube. Her show was in NY and DC nar me I wish I could have seen. I have 1,000 big band records and like her talented band but Les & Larry were friends have 54 of their albums best dance/stereo band. My dad bought my 1st LP their Band of Year in March 1960, I was 17. It had Bandstand Boogie. My dad worked in NY ABC TV Master Control and connected song from Philly to all America. I met Dick Clark in ABC snack room and got his autograph. That last Saturday night show was in August 1960, the highlight was being allowed to watch Jackie Wilson rehearse NIGHT the Tchaikovsky song. I got his autograph and told him he was like Caruso. He said my voice is a gift. Have many of his hits. I have heard/read that ELVIS and Michael Jackson said that Jackie Wilson was there favorite singer. How about that. CLIVE not DAVIS. I bought Whitney Houston DVD saw movie twice. Clive had great scenes in movie with Whitney the VOICE. Actress from London was Whitney. What songs could she and Jackie have sung? They could have done an operatic movie like Mario LANZA and GRAYSON? Movie ends with Porgy and Bess Jackie was a pop singer but he was also African American. God bless American music.

[@MrRJDB1969]

Tap dancing originated in Ireland and Hutton, herself, was Caucasian, and said so.

[@dariowiter3078]

To the guy who uploaded this video, Soundies were a product of the 1940s, not 1930s. Soundies, according to Wikipedia, lasted seven years as a form of entertainment in America from 1940 to 1947.

[@perttihamalainen9265]

Thanks! So I've labeled this wrong. Ina Ray Hutton's wonderful all girl band "Melodears" existed 1934-1939, so these songs are from short films made during that period. I'll take "soundies" off.

[@raphaelbeck229]

I just LOVE when I find references for contemporary jazz, as it is the case with the 100 cent song to the airship, from cuphead soundtrack

[@Barbie4BigGirlz]

I find it absolutely intriguing that she and her sister passed as white women. Sad they were filled with such self loathing but I can tell that she is a sista

[@clementmckenzie7041]

@@Barbie4BigGirlz not self loathing. It was the 1920's this was survival. Black women like her couldn't ever get jobs as a maid. No white women would have her in her house around her husband and son. Her choices especially as talented as she was were pass and make some real money or be some white man's whore. She didn't come from far enough up the social tree to marry into black high society.

[@permijitdunkley1697]

.....