The Singing Brakeman (1929)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Camden

The Singing Brakeman is a 1929 short film, starring Jimmie Rodgers, and released by Columbia Pictures and the Victor Talking Machine Company. Rodgers sings three of his songs: "Waiting for a Train", "Daddy and Home" and "Blue Yodel".

Background and production

On August 4, 1927, Rodgers' songs were recorded for the first time during the Bristol sessions by producer Ralph Peer. His second session the same year produced "Blue Yodel". The song became Rodgers' first hit and propelled him to national popularity. By the end of 1929, his available recordings had sold twelve million records.

In November 1929, Rodgers traveled to the Victor Talking Machine studios in Camden, New Jersey to film a short to be released on the Columbia-Victor Gems series of short films. The songs featured Rodgers' characteristic guitar playing and yodeling. The sound recording was made by Sooy Brothers on the Western Electric system. The short is nine minutes long, and it was contained in a single movie reel.

Two versions of the film exist. The first version credited Jasper Ewing Brady as the director. L. D. Clawson and Frank Zukor were included as the cameramen. The copyright year indicated 1929 and it included Columbia Pictures' logo on the opening. The second distributed version did not feature the logo, and has slight differences in the actors' performances. Rodgers' performance had also a slight variation.

An uncredited jazz band performs an excerpt of "The Memphis Blues" under the opening and closing titles. The filmmakers used the record Victor BVE-51751, a soundtrack by conductor Rosario Bourdon and the sixteen-piece Motion Picture Orchestra, created for "Beginnings and endings for Columbia Pictures".

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