Review of New Orleans

This film of special historical significance because it is one of the few, or, often, the only Hollywood film, that showcases some of the early African American luminaries of jazz and blues, including noted singer Billie Holiday. As such, some reviewers complain about the major intrusion of whites into the story, and the placement of the major African American players near the end of the list of credits, rather than where they should be: near or at the top. I agree with the latter complaint; however, not the former one...........To me, it's clear that the intent of the film is 4 fold:1) To acknowledge the importance of the New Orleans Storyland, in the development of American jazz and blues. 2)To document the importance of the transfer of the center of jazz and blues development from N.O. to Chicago, with the enforced disbanding of the Storyland district 3)The difficulty in convincing polite white society and the music establishment that African American jazz and blues was an art form worthy of being taken seriously and enjoyed. 4) The symbolic acceptance of jazz and blues by many of the white establishment, and the intrusion of all or mostly white bands as jazz bands. I believe the screen play largely succeeds in these goals by incorporation of whites as well as African Americans as major players in the story.........In the film, the N.O. city council and white establishment is blamed for legislatingA the dismemberment of Storyland, due to the attraction of the jazz emporiums to a certain debutant, as foreshadowing similar attractions of other gentile young whites, to their detriment. The film doesn't make it crystal clear that Storyland was primarily legally established to concentrate prostitution there, to better regulate it. However, historically, actually, it was the federal government that demanded that the district be disbanded, due to the deaths of a number of army trainees who visited the area. Clearly, it was regarded as a high crime area. Presumably, jazz establishments concentrated there because they too were only marginally accepted by the power elite, and because patrons of the brothels were also probably more likely patrons of the jazz emporiums..........Dorothy Patrick plays one of the major characters: Miralee Smith, a singer of classical music, who arrives by steamboat from Baltimore, to visit her mother and sing some classical music in an auditorium. However, she clearly is attracted to Nick(Anturo de Cordova): the owner of the best jazz and blues emporium in the city. He hosts Louis Armstrong's band, and singer Billie Holiday. Also, he is white. Billie, who serves as the maid at the Smith's home, offers to chaperone Miralee to Nick's establishment, where she becomes more familiar with Nick, which eventually leads to them discussing possible marriage. However, Nick declines to take Miralee with him when he moves his business to Chicago. The disappointed Miralee then moves to Europe, where she performs classical music. But, before she leaves, she gives a concert, in which she tacks on a song she learned at Nick's: "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans", which serves as the de facto theme song of the film. The patrons are horrified, and boo her off the stage. The only trouble, to my mind, is that this song was not played as jazz or blues, but rather as a perfectly normal ballad!..........Well, eventually, Armstrong takes his band on a tour of Europe, and eventually meets up with Miralee. He tells her that Nick is doing well in Chicago, and that he pines for her. She decides to go to Chicago and meet Nick(surprise!). There, she gives a classical music concert, and again sneaks the film theme song in at the end. This time, she is relieved that the audience generally expresses their acceptance, rather than booing. Symbolically, this denotes the growing acceptance of jazz and blues by whites. However, as I previously noted, this song again wasn't played in a jazzy or bluesy manner, thus I fail to see the intended symbolic significance! It's certainly not classic dixieland or swing jazz..........Woody Herman and his white band play a couple of jazz numbers ,thus symbolically demonstrating that some white bands were doing at least some jazzy or bluesy numbers, helping to further acceptance of these music forms among whites. All in all, it's not a bad film, and, at least, we get to see and hear some of the big names in the early jazz scene.