Snader Telescriptions, produced for television from 1950 to 1952, were film versions of popular and classical music performances. Singers, dancers, orchestras, and novelty acts appeared in the Snader musicals. They were produced by Louis D. Snader, a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

theater owner who branched out into television and then real estate.

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...

was announced as the first "music world personality to face video film cameras." Unlike Hollywood musicals (and the Soundies mini-musicals), in which the performers recorded the music in advance and pantomimed to the recording during filming, the Snader telescriptions filmed the performers live. Each artist or group typically filmed five songs in one day; some filmed even more. The most prolific telescriptions performers were exotic organist

Korla Pandit Korla Pandit (born John Roland Redd; September 16, 1921 – October 2, 1998), was an American exotica musician, composer, pianist, and organist. After moving to California in the late 1940s and getting involved in show business, Redd became know ...

(18 titles and 2 unreleased color test films), cowboy singer

Tex Williams Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held th ...

(16 titles) and bandleader

Alvino Rey Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. Career Alvin McBurney was born in Oakland, California, United States, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early i ...

(14 titles). Among the dozens of artists who appeared in telescriptions were Allan Jones,

Gloria Jean Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover; April 14, 1926 – August 31, 2018) was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub app ...

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from ...

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

Tony Pastor Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes refe ...

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Nagasaki", "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "South ...

, Les Brown,

Gale Storm Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009), known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer. After a film career from 1940 to 1952, she starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, '' My Litt ...

Carolina Cotton Carolina Cotton (October 20, 1925 – June 10, 1997) was an American singer and actress known as the "Yodeling Blonde Bombshell", the "Girl of the Golden West", and the "Queen of the Range." Early life Cotton was born Helen Hagstrom October 20, ...

Denise Lor Denise Lor (born Denise Jeanne Briault; May 3, 1929 – September 27, 2015) was an American popular singer and actress. She was a featured artist on ''The Garry Moore Show''. In 1951, she appeared in the short-lived variety show '' Seven at Ele ...

April Stevens Caroline Vincinette LoTempio (April 29, 1929 – April 17, 2023), known professionally as April Stevens, was an American Grammy Award-winning singer of traditional pop, best known for her collaborations with her younger brother, Nino Tempo, as ...

Connie Haines Connie Haines (born Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais; January 20, 1921 – September 22, 2008) was an American singer and actress. Her 200 recordings were frequently up-tempo big band songs with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey orchestras, and Fr ...

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...

Bob Wills James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade C ...

, and the

King Sisters The King Sisters were an American big band-era vocal group, appearing as a trio or quartet. Six sisters were in the group at one time or another: Alyce, Donna, Luise, Marilyn, Maxine, and Yvonne King. History Born and raised in Pleasant Grov ...

. The name "telescriptions" is a combination of "television" and "transcriptions" (recordings intended for broadcast). Snader's three-minute films are similar to

Soundies A soundie is a three-minute American film displaying both the audio and video of a musical performance. Over 1,850 soundies were produced between 1940 and 1946, regarded today as "precursors to music videos". Soundies exhibited a variety of mu ...

filmed in the 1940s, and Scopitones filmed in the 1960s. Snader sold his telescription library to producer Ben Frye, who reprinted them as "Studio Telescriptions." Frye later assembled them into the half-hour television programs ''Showtime'' and ''Showtime at the Apollo'', and into four theatrical feature films, all compiled in 1955.MacGillivray and Okuda, p. 398.

References

''The Soundies Book: A Revised and Expanded Guide'' (2007) by

Scott MacGillivray Scott MacGillivray (born June 29, 1957) is an American non-fiction author specializing in motion picture history. His book '' Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward,'' revised and expanded in 2009, chronicles the later films of Stan Laurel and ...

and

Ted Okuda Ted Okuda (born December 8, 1953) is an American non-fiction author and film historian. He has many books and magazine features to his credit, under his own name and in collaboration with others. Career Okuda's long-held interest in movie comedies ...

an

(Includes a short history of Snader Telescriptions, and lists telescriptions made by Soundies performers)
New York Times review: Dixieland Jazz, Vol. 1: The Snader Telescriptions - The Bobcats & Jack TeagardenRotten Tomatoes: TV's First Music Videos - The Snader Telescriptions
Music videos {{music-video-stub