SPIKE JONES: McNamara's Band

[@martindodge6922]

Seventy eight years ago, when I was a four year old, my favorite records were Spike Jones. Twice, when Jones was in town, my grandfather took me down to the Carman Theater in Philadelphia to see Jones onstage -- a treasured memory.

[@russs7574]

Often overlooked is that it takes a tremendous level of musicianship to be able to clown around the way these guys do.

[@synthonaplinth5980]

For anyone who loves music, there are very few Spike Jones episodes WITHOUT at least one jaw-dropping moment.

[@HooDatDonDar]

This one gets me, because the band look like a lot of amateur goofballs in funny clothes who have been having a few drinks. Then, for no reason, and out of nowhere, they execute a precision close-order drill you would swear they could never do. I think the shock is what makes it so funny. Note how pleased Spike looks with himself at the end.

[@leemclaury6251]

Better then what’s on tv today in 2020.

[@peterfreeman1585]

I agree. Sadly, however, that is not a high bar to exceed.

[@MrYfrank14]

Still better four years later

[@canadagood]

Modern audiences don't always realize that TV shows in 1954 would be broadcast over the airwaves to 12 inch television sets with 4 inch speakers. Nobody watching at home in the fifties saw this show with 1/10 of the sound fidelity and image quality that we watch it today.

[@donlittle929]

Crazy and wild but what might be overlooked is the great musical talent of these guys. Remember watching Spike on TV as a kid.

[@demef758]

To play the fabulous music that they did, all the while creating all of the zaniness of a Marx Brothers movie, they HAD to be incredibly talented!

[@123barriejohn]

Great stuff. I used to love it when I was a boy and they played anything of his on the radio - whistles, bells and gunshots included! My father had the words to MacNamara's Band on a big sheet, and we used to sing it every Christmas, with different members of the family being given different toy instruments to play at the appropriate times. Though we did it every year we still almost cried with laughter. Those were the days!

[@joelamromin5379]

Fun stuff. I read on the liner notes of an old Spike album that in High School, he was the drum major-just like here. Legend has it that he once led his band out of the parade route and brought it back to rejoin the parade at the right spot. True? I dunno, but fun!

[@Moluccan56]

That would have been up his alley.

[@56ghostwriter]

Wow, that took me back a few years to my high school band days! Half step, pinwheel...good times. Today is the 50th anniversary of my high school band marching in the St Patricks Day parade in Dublin Ireland! What a trip! Our band director was a HUGE Spike fan it was the gateway for my appreciation of him.

[@mickbrenton]

I’ll take this entertainment over the Batchelorette any day!!!

[@davidpennock4475]

Great, great, blooming great. If I was born today and not 1941, I could have been stuck with "One Direction" I makes one wonder, what happened to humour and music.

[@cinderellalifestyle]

loved seeing this, as a band Mom....:-) always loved the suits,...Spike had to have a full time tailoring shop, and a wizbang designer. (plaids, bold checks, not easy to sew!) Cheers!

[@DoctorPhobos]

When I was in the Air Force, specifically Air Weather Service, we had an unofficial song that would be sung to the tune of "McNamara's Band". The AWS Song Oh, I'll never forget, the day was wet, The General wanted to fly. He said, "My boy is it OK For me to go on high?" When I said, "No, it's going to snow", You should have seen him frown! Say, I'm the only guy that ever Kept the General down. Chorus: We are the men, The Weather Men. We may be wrong, Oh, now and then. But when you see Our planes on high-- Just remember we're the ones Who let them fly. I read the codes and spot the plot, My maps are very neat; With isotherms and millibars These charts are most replete. I slip the slide-rule, check the graph, Consult the weather vane; I order sunshine every day But all I get is rain. Chorus The teletype's hot, synoptic's shot, Anemometer's going around, My pressure lines are intertwined, My fronts are underground. The winds that blow from high to low, Have blown me off the track. I'll have to throw my books away And use the Almanac! Chorus

[@lucrio4088]

Fantastic! I’ll be sharing this one with the lads for sure.

[@HooDatDonDar]

Oh, me name is MacNamara, I'm the leader of the band Although we're few in numbers, we're the finest in the land We play at wakes and weddings and at every fancy ball And when we play the funerals, we play the March from Saul CHORUS Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang and the horns they blaze away McCarthy pumps the old bassoon while I the pipes do play And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute and the music is something grand A credit to old Ireland is MacNamara's band Right now we are rehearsing for a very swell affair The annual celebration, all the gentry will be there When General Grant to Ireland came he took me by the hand Says he, I never saw the likes of MacNamara's Band Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang and the horns they blaze away McCarthy pumps the old bassoon while I the pipes do play And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute and the music is something grand A credit to old Ireland is MacNamara's band Oh, my name is Uncle Julius and from Sweden I did come To play with MacNamara's Band and beat the big bass drum And when I march along the street the ladies think I'm grand They shout, there's Uncle Julius playing with an Irish band Oh, I wear a bunch of shamrocks and a uniform of green And I'm the funniest lookin' Swede that you have ever seen There is O'Brians, O'Ryans, O'Sheehans and Meehans, they come from Ireland But, by yimminy, I'm the only Swede in MacNamara's Band Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang and the horns they blaze away McCarthy pumps the old bassoon while I the pipes do play And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute and the music is something grand A credit to old Ireland is MacNamara's band

[@Moluccan56]

Thank you for that. I sang it to myself!

[@PrinKband]

Ecellent stuff, I can't wait to see what else you will upload!

[@dhansel4835]

They need to bring this back to compete with "Naked and Afraid" !

[@birmington]

I always used to think that Hennessy Tennessee FLUTLES the flute. What a disappointment to know that he TOOTLES the flute. I guess I'll get over it.

[@Moluccan56]

Love that drum pattern!

[@kentondickerson]

The Blonde majorette looks a lot like Vera Ellen.

[@rotunda57]

Look at the section beginning at 0:42 - that's a left-handed Sousaphone the guy is playing! Never saw one before.

[@zulunibba6721]

sorry to burst your bubble but around 0:42 the screen gets mirrored so what you see is actually a right handed one as usual.

[@tkhering]

@@zulunibba6721 - Right. Oddly, it was broadcast that way.

[@Fatspanner100]

Loving these clips. If only someone would re-broadcast everything that's available, Channel 4 or BBC 4 would be ideal outlets. Odd thing about this one, at about 45 seconds, the image is reverse scanned for a while, the banjo players suddenly become left handed and the bass drum has back to front writing on it. Still classic though.

[@johns.4708]

Those guys knew drill, too. Wow.

[@thomasklugh4345]

Somehow, when I was a kid, I always thought of a television audience as being a lot larger than shown here (time 1:04).

[@colleenhenry-bs6ij]

Love the formation😂😂😂😂

[@JustineWittich]

Many weren't aware that Spike and his musicians all had backgrounds in classical music training, They had more fun than monkeys.

[@joeybonin7691]

I think I'll get me a plaid suite.

[@HooDatDonDar]

It will look nice. Especially if you buy a plaid suit, to wear while you are living in the suite. The trouble is, people will keep asking you ‘Are you in mourning for somebody?.

[@mikehayes3418]

I've just found this channel !!! Yes !!! But ... I can't find a vid of "Beetlebomb " !!!!!!!!!! :)

[@larrybrennan1463]

It's actually Feitelbaum, a character created by Doodles Weaver, who narrates "The William Tell Overture" and the "Dance of the Hours", both which feature races with Feitlebaum being the winner.

[@henningandersen9027]

What's the English name of the march from 0.43.....? In Danish it is "mit navn er Mads Mathiesen...." The melody is by Samus O'Connor.

[@persalling7487]

Den hedder faktisk "McNamara's Band" og er fra 1889. Jeg kender den også som Mads Mathiesen fra min tid i FDF/FPF.

[@TralfazConstruction]

The lovely and energetic majorettes are the real story here.

[@HooDatDonDar]

Yes, I saw this several times before I noticed Spikes men in the back, behind the majorettes, were actualy doing some pretty good legwork. I had not been watching their legs, for some reason.

[@RoyFive]

Wish they had sung the words.

[@alberte.3059]

Television doomed these vaudeville acts...

[@demef758]

Actually, TV highlighted old vaudevillians. What doomed all of these marvelous acts was unfortunately the birth of rock and roll, and the rise of the young Boomers who craved it. Plus, the vaudevillians got old and died off, unfortunately. The WWII generation was simply The Best!

[@PrinKband]

Boom boom!

[@domitype]

Precisely done, no comedy bits at all!

[@HooDatDonDar]

This is DRILL. You know whum sayin’?

[@martinelli66]

je n'ai jamais vu des costumes aussi affreux

[@jimmcgrath10]

The majorettes have nice legs and should be naturally bare-legged (no stockings, leotards, tights, nor panty-hose)! And why not hair on their legs? Girls' hairy legs are beautiful and feminine!

[@berzerker1100]

Jim McGrath yep I was stationed in Europe back in the day, I've seen some of the most beautiful women with hair on their legs, like wow, who cares lol.. I was just amazed

[@jimmcgrath10]

North Americans can learn a lot from Europeans re: women!

[@jimmcgrath10]

I saw a post about 6 kids aged 12 yrs., 5 boys and 1 girl. The girl was the only kid with hairy legs!

[@brendamaybery6897]

Women back then wore stockings..bare legged was un-polished for a lady.

[@robertburnett5561]

That was before it was none of our business. Today, everything is.