Louis Prima
Biography: Louis Leo Prima was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans–style jazz band in the late 1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band group in the 1940s, helped to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s, and performed frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s. From the 1940s through the 1960s, his music further encompassed early R&B and rock 'n' roll, boogie-woogie, and Italian folk music, such as the tarantella. Prima made prominent use of Italian music and language in his songs, blending elements of his Italian and Sicilian identity with jazz and swing music. At a time when ethnic musicians were discouraged from openly stressing their ethnicity, Prima's conspicuous embrace of his Sicilian ethnicity opened the doors for other Italian-American and ethnic American musicians to display their ethnic roots. Prima is also known for providing the voice for the orangutan King Louie in the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book. Description above from the Wikipedia article Louis Prima, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: December 07, 1910
Deathday: August 24, 1978
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Known For
Louis Prima: In Person!
2010-01-01
Louis Prima: In Person!
Overview: A retrospective of rare performances highlighting the many phases of Prima's remarkable 50+ year career. Culled from the basements and shelves of TV and motion picture archives, this DVD presents the very best of those performances - not only the BEST, but the rarest! Featured artists include Keely Smith, Gia Maione, Sam Butera, Jimmy Vincent, The Witnesses, and Sarah Spiegel.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2010-01-01
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The Jungle Book
1967-10-18
The Jungle Book
Overview: The boy Mowgli makes his way to the man-village with Bagheera, the wise panther. Along the way he meets jazzy King Louie, the hypnotic snake Kaa and the lovable, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, who teaches Mowgli "The Bare Necessities" of life and the true meaning of friendship.
Genres: Family Animation Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-10-18
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Rose of Washington Square
1939-05-05
Rose of Washington Square
Overview: Rose Sargent, a Roaring '20s singer, becomes a Ziegfeld Follies star as her criminal husband gets deeper in trouble.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-05-05
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The Continental Twist
1961-12-12
The Continental Twist
Overview: Sam Butera and the Witnesses perform several Twist numbers to save a small New Orleans nightclub and raise the bail to get Louis Prima out of jail.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-12-12
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Senior Prom
1958-12-01
Senior Prom
Overview: At a college party, a girl named Gay (Jill Corey) meets a guy named Tom (Paul Hampton) and they soon fall in love. Tom's bandmate, who goes by the nickname "Dog" with his own girlfriend whose nickname is "Flip", form a friendship quartet together with Gay and Tom as they plan for the Senior Prom. But Gay's childhood friend Carter has been convinced they are meant to be engaged and gets rather petty about her new love. Tom is also an aspiring singer whose debut record didn't take off when first released, but may be in for a revival. Which stars will end up performing at their Senior Prom? Tune in to find out!
Genres: Music Comedy Romance Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-12-01
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Swing It
1936-06-30
Swing It
Overview: Louis Prima, between song numbers, tells how he happened to get a job in a Hollywood cafe playing music while a couple, unrelated to anything else, play a slot machine in the background. This short was reissued in 1944 and again in 1952. Lucille Ball has a bit part. Song numbers include; "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", "Up a Lazy River", "Dinah","Basin Street Blues" and "Johnny Get Your Gun."
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-06-30
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The Star Reporter in Hollywood
1937-10-22
The Star Reporter in Hollywood
Overview: Part of Paramount Headliner: Hollywood Star Reporter series
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-10-22
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Swing Cat's Jamboree
1938-08-06
Swing Cat's Jamboree
Overview: "Swing cat" Louis Prima and his jazz quartette play songs and accompany featured singers and dancers.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-08-06
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Hey Boy! Hey Girl!
1959-08-05
Hey Boy! Hey Girl!
Overview: Meant primarily as TV fare, this standard, song-filled romantic drama stars Louis Prima as himself, and his real-life wife Keely Smith as Dorothy Spencer, a devout woman with a good singing voice. Dorothy is active in her local parish which like all parishes, is constantly thinking of ways to raise funds. One of the needy projects is a boys' camp, so when Dorothy is approached by Louis Prima to sing with his band she agrees only on one condition -- that he perform a concert benefit for the parish church and boys' camp. The interactions between Dorothy and Prima lead toward romance and a happy ending, as well as a popular album with the same title song featured in this film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi (NY Times Review).
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1959-08-05
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The Champ's a Chump
1936-06-20
The Champ's a Chump
Overview: As a ploy to sign a championship college boxer to a contract, Big Boy enrolls in the college the youth is attending.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-06-20
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You Can't Have Everything
1937-08-02
You Can't Have Everything
Overview: Starving playwright Judith Wells meets playboy writer of musicals, George Macrae, over a plate of stolen spaghetti. He persuades producer Sam Gordon to buy her ridiculous play "North Winds" just to improve his romantic chances, and even persuades her to sing in the sort of show she pretends to despise. But just when their romance is going well, Gordon's former flame Lulu reveals the ace up her sleeve...
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-08-02
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Start Cheering
1938-03-03
Start Cheering
Overview: After retiring from movies to get an education, a man discovers his ex-staff is trying to have him expelled.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-03-03
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Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
1937-11-26
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
Overview: In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do their stuff. The trouble really begins when the gangster's strong-arm tactics nearly cause a singer to lose his fiancée. A wide variety of entertainers appear including cowboy crooner Gene Autry, baseball hero Joe DiMaggio, and big band stars Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis, and the Kay Thompson Singers. Songs include "Mamma I Wanna Make Rhythm," "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round," "Heaven?," "I Owe You," and "It's Round-up Time in Reno."
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-11-26
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DTV: Golden Oldies
1984-09-01
DTV: Golden Oldies
Overview: Compilation of DTV music videos from on The Disney Channel, combining tunes from the 1940s through the 1960s with footage of Disney animation.
Genres: Animation Comedy Family Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1984-09-01
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Rhythm on the Range
1936-07-01
Rhythm on the Range
Overview: Cowboy Jeff Larabee returns from the east and meets Doris Halloway, a young girl, that he regards as a vagabond, till he learns that she's the owner of the farm where he works. He tries to win her heart, but without success, until she is endangered by gangsters
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-07-01
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Louis Prima: The Wildest!
1999-10-22
Louis Prima: The Wildest!
Overview: Documentary about the mid-20th century Vegas bandleader and trumpeter Louis Prima, who showed the world what a rock show could be.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-10-22
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Playgirls International
1963-10-29
Playgirls International
Overview: Another nudist "documentary" from Doris Wishman. A print of this film has yet to surface.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-10-29
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Jazz Ball
1956-01-01
Jazz Ball
Overview: A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-01-01
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Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
1975-02-02
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
Overview: Hapless driving instructor and former Gunnery Sergeant Rafferty, living in squalor near Hollywood, California, doesn't put up too much of a fight when two ladies hitch a ride and attempt to kidnap him in their attempt to get to New Orleans; while initially put off, Rafferty finds he's charmed by the kooky pair of misfits and the three of them drive to Las Vegas, Nevada and later Tucson, Arizona, where their bond eventually unravels.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-02-02
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