St. Louis Blues

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A short musical film with the title St. Louis Blues. It consists of a single reel of black-and-white 16mm acetate film with optical sound. The film begins with a group of men arguing over a game of craps in the hallway of a building. A Janitor excoriates them for making a mess but is pacified with a small amount of money. A man named Jimmy and an unidentified woman approach the group and Jimmy joins the game. After winning a round, Jimmy and the woman enter an apartment in the building. The woman asks Jimmy what would happen if his significant other, Bessie, walked in and he tells her to not worry about it before embracing her romantically. The film cuts back to the hallway where Bessie has entered the building; the gathered crowd quiets as she enters.

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