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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Peg And The Panoram

It’s been too long around here since we’ve heard and seen Peggy Lee. Here she is with her husband Dave Barbour and his quartet in a 1950 Soundie. Soundies used to run on machines called Panorams, coin-operated juke boxes in bars, restaurants, factory break rooms, even some corner service stations. They played short films. In went your quarter and out came Count Basie, Claude Thornhill, The Sons of the Pioneers, maybe the Hoosier Hot Shots or, if you were lucky, Peggy Lee.

By the time that was made, Panorams had largely disappeared from taverns and nightclubs. For a few years in the ‘50s and early ‘60s, the more sophisticated Scopitone succeeded them. For a Scopitone memory including a brief history, a demonstration with two of its big stars and the story of Dangerous Desmond’s investment scheme, see this Rifftides archive post.

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Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, … [MORE]

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