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CLAP HANDS

with

CHARLIE KUNZ
TEDDY BROWN
and the
CASANI CLUB ORCHESTRA


"CLAP HANDS" GB March 1935

Produced by: Fidelity Films ...... Directed by: Frank Dormand
Photography: D.P. Cooper ....... Sound: L.B. Buckley

Charlie Kunz, wizard of the piano, together with Teddy Brown, maestro of the xylophone,
in a round of popular melodies. Backing is by the Casani Club Orchestra.

Issued by Pathéscope in the UK on 9.5mm sound as T.9301 in April/May 1938. "2 reels" - 547ft on 9.5mm = 15 minutes
Also issued by Pathescope in the UK on 17.5mm sound as 2 reels T.7301 in February 1937

Clap Hands Here Comes Charley (Rose, McDonald and Meyer) vocal: George Barclay
Getting Around and About (Carr and Ilda) vocal: George Barclay 
Dancing With My Shadow (Woods) with Teddy Brown (xylophone) 
Medley: I Don't Know Why (Turk and Ahlert)
             Everything I Have Is Yours (Adamson and Lane) 
             Miss Annabelle Lee (Clare and Pollack)
             Pink Elephants (Woods and Dixon)
Winter Wonderland (Smith and Bernard) with Teddy Brown (xylophone)
Medley: Caravan (Williams)
             Side By Side (Woods)
             I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Fields and McHugh)
             You're In Kentucky (Sure As You're Born) (Little, Gillespie and Shay)

Notes:
1. "Clap Hands" was included in the first list of sixteen 9.5mm optical sound film titles ever issued in the UK
    (announced in the April/May 1938 edition of the Pathéscope Monthly 'house' magazine) 
2. Immaculately tail-suited and described as "terribly English-looking", Charlie Kunz was an American pianist who
   came to the UK in 1922. In the 1930s Kunz was a leading broadcaster and recording artist with a distinctive style.
   His signature tune "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie" is the first number in this musical short.  The Casani Club
   Orchestra was led by Kunz for Santos Casani - a famous ballroom dancer and night club owner.
   Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA on 18 August 1896, he developed TB after the second world war and lost
   a lung.  After a year or so he continued to perform in public, together with record and radio commitments well into
   the 1950s.  He appeared in the 1951 Royal Variety Performance.  By 1953, his work was curtailed because of a
   severe form of arthritis that affected his hands.  He died on 17 March 1958.   
3. Missing from the 9.5mm optical sound print is Charlie playing "You Were There" while a girl dancer performs
    (Denis Gifford lists the original running time of the cinema print as 18 minutes)
4. "Clap Hands" footage appears in the 10 min. cinema short "Twinkling Fingers" GB 1940 New Realm Pictures
    and in the later 65 minute pop feature "Climb Up The Wall" GB 1960 Negus Fancey/New Realm

Charlie Kunz, although prolific with gramophone recordings and stage shows, only appeared in few other films:
PATHETONE 171 GB 1933 (short) includes "Goodnight But Not Goodbye"
PATHETONE 184 GB 1933 (short) includes "Japanese Sandman"
PATHE PICTORIAL 834 GB 1934 (short) includes "Poor Butterfly"; "After You've Gone" & "Whispering"
PATHETONE 248 GB 1934 (short) includes "I Saw Stars" & "All I Do Is Dream of You"
PATHETONE 279 GB 1935 (short) includes "Clap Hands" & "Pink Elephants"
PATHE PICTORIAL NUMBER 913 GB 1935 (10 mins) concludes with "Dancing With My Shadow" played by
 Charlie Kunz (this film was issued on 17.5mm optical sound by Pathescope in the UK in March 1938)
Another source lists this film as containing "The Very Thought of You" & "Miss Annabelle Lee"
PATHETONE PARADE OF 1936 GB Feb 1936 Pathe - 36 min. variety film including re-issue of Pathetone 279
PATHETONE PARADE OF 1938 GB Feb 1937 Pathe - Variety film including re-issue of Pathe Pictorial 913
CHARLIE KUNZ SING-SONGS GB Dec 1942 National Screen Services - Six untitled five-minute shorts.
(Information with thanks to gln, the late Denis Gifford and Maurice Trace) 

Watch my 9.5mm sound print of "Clap Hands" on You Tube: http://youtu.be/-zshvFy-dcU 09Sept2013

Check out the Charlie Kunz web-site (use 'back' to return here!):- bulterman.eu/kunzmenu.htm


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Created June2013 ...... Updated 09 February 2015 ...... 95flmdanceclap ...... © G.L. Newnham MM
28Oct2013 - Tidied, extra info. & You Tube link added / 29Nov2014 - 17.5mm ref. added