MTV may have popularized music videos, but they didn’t invent them. In 1941, “soundies,” three-minute black-and-white films featuring big band, jazz and swing-era artists, came on the scene. These films were viewed at nightclubs, roadhouses and restaurants for a dime through a movie jukebox called a panoram. Learn more about these forerunners to the music video in “Soundies: A Musical History.” This PBS show is hosted by Grammy nominee, jazz singer and pianist Michael Feinstein. Check your local listings for March airing times.
For those of you who were too young to remember the forties and fifties, you may remember the sixties, seventies and the Civil Rights Movement. Check out an excellent coming of age story during this time period in Looking Back to Move Forward: Reconciling the Past – Liberating the Future (AuthorHouse; Paperback; 176 pages; $14.50) by Kelvin De’Marcus Allen.