#Roy smeck ukelele movie#

Smeck appeared in several other early sound films, including a feature with crooner Russ Colombo and a 1933 Paramount short that showed Smeck playing four instruments simultaneously. Bone Walker or Chuck Berry invented duckwalking and playing behind the back. The film allows us to witness Smeck in his prime, and it still blows away people who thought that T. Titled His Pastimes, the film and several other shorts, along with Don Juan, a feature starring John Barrymore, debuted on 6 August 1926 at the Warners Theatre in New York City. A 33RPM record provided the soundtrack for the silent film. The Vitaphone synchronized a film projector with a record player.

#Roy smeck ukelele movie#

In 1926, as movie studios were experimenting with a variety of sound technologies, Warner Brothers shot a short that showed Smeck performing his act at the Manhattan Opera House, using the Vitaphone system. His amazing dexterity made him one of the more popular acts on the vaudeville circuit, and landed him a small spot in film history. After studying fellow performer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, he came up with a way to imitate the sound of Robinson's tap dancing on the ukulele. Then he began do such gymnastics as playing behind his back, spinning the instrument around, blowing across the sound hole, plucking the strings with his teeth and tongue, and bowing the strings like a violin. As the popularity of Hawaiian music on the mainland grew, he added the ukulele, switching instruments in mid-tune. He added a jew's harp to the banjo and harmonica, and learned to flip the harmonica over with his tongue, even pretending to swallow it only to pop it back to his lips. Over the next ten years, Smeck polished his act, incorporating a variety of dance steps and adding more amazing tricks. He would play one or more current popular tunes on the banjo while also playing a small harmonica. He eventually narrowed his focus down to the guitar, banjo, and harmonica, and somewhere around the time of America's entry into World War One, he began performing on the vaudeville circuit. As a boy, Smeck was obsessed with learning to play musical instruments, and he almost suffered a nervous breakdown from his relentless practicing. Roy Smeck was one of the truly great American popular musicians of the 20th century, one whose name would be as recognizable as Louis Armstrong's or Les Paul's if he hadn't specialized in a 'minor' instrument, the ukulele.

Died 4 April 1994, New York City, New York.

Born Ray Smeck, 6 February 1900, Reading, Pennsylvania.