Flamingo

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Flamingo (1942) is a fine example of how very much can be fitted into a single three-minute soundie. Not all soundies honestly rise to the level of quality cinema but this one's a great short-subject.

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra perform with Herb Jeffreys ("The Bronze Buckeroo") on the crooner's vocal solo: "Flamingo, like a flame in the sky/ Flying over the island/ To my lover nearby."

Like so many fine Ellington numbers, it has the feel of far off exotic places of beauty & romance.

Jump-cut to a little set evoking a tropical island, we see dancers Janet Collins & Talley Beatty of the Katherine Dunham dance troup, playing island miss & sailor in such a hot erotic piece of choreography.

The dancers pretty much make this soundie their own, & stealing the spotlight from a couple guys like Ellington & Jeffreys takes a lot of gumption.

Flamingo

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