Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959 (review)

In the introductory remarks of her new book Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959, author Kristin A. McGee refers to the word "Jazz" as a "paradoxical catchphrase [which] embodied a range of contradictions from all things urban and musical . . . to all things contaminated, feminized, commodified, and debased." Not surprisingly, perhaps, it is from this rather guarded vantage point that McGee celebrates the largely unsung female heroines of the jazz age, which she identifies as late nineteenth to mid twentieth century in urban America. Her multidisciplinary work draws on the combined assumptions of ethnography and historiography to create an integrated, well rounded, and complete picture of the relatively unknown female jazz musicians as portrayed on the large and small screens. The book is well organized and penned in a decidedly scholarly (though, thankfully, unpretentious) tone.

In light of the evidence McGee presents detailing the sexist, male-dominated, and arguably racist world of early jazz, one can understand the author's protective stance. She quite compellingly notes the marginalization of contributions by female groups and instrumentalists, which, she writes, made primary sources for her research all the more difficult to uncover. On the opposite end of the spectrum, she describes the comparatively heavily referenced, well stocked, and richly funded archives of such jazz greats as Duke Ellington. What is particularly remarkable here is McGee's clearly obvious success in uncovering so many of these peripheralized female jazz acts, which speaks well of her patience and scholarly fortitude.

Chapter two of this enjoyable book is particularly illuminating, as the unavoidable (and regrettable) aspect of racism as an impediment to gaining access to performance venues is discussed. McGee employs a documentary style in this chapter, reconstructing the voyage of The Ingénues and the Harlem Playgirls, the former a "white" jazz act and the latter a "black" group of musicians, as they vied for success in the competitive world of public performance. The author's writing is good enough to make the reader squirm as her narrative unfolds, revealing the crippling marginalization of the Harlem Playgirls as they struggled to build their careers against the highly racist backdrop of 1930s America. The take-away point here is that being a feminine jazz act was enough of a setback in the jazz era; the addition of black ethnicity made it almost impossible for groups such as the Playgirls to ply their trade in public venues. Happily, McGee grants much needed relief from this grim scenario, detailing the wild success ultimately enjoyed by both groups as Americans fully and wholly embraced the "girl craze" that suddenly broke out in the jazz community. The Harlem Playgirls were swept up into a whirlwind tour of the country, establishing a national reputation as "one of the best and hardest-swinging jazz groups" in America, yet female jazzers still collectively competed head to head with male bands while enduring the effects of segregation in the film and recording industries, which generally prohibited black female musicians from appearing in those mediums funded by major studios, including MGM, Paramount, and Columbia.

By the 1940s, the racist climate had evolved somewhat in the film industry, with cameo appearances by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong gaining acceptance. Further evidence of relaxing racial film restrictions is found in works produced later in the decade, most notably in Stage Door Canteen, (1943) a film in which Count Basie and Benny Goodman provide entertainment to a multiethnic group of GI jitterbuggers, and Air Force, (1943) whose screenplay depicts an ethnically diverse crew flying toward Pearl Harbor in response to Roosevelt's declaration of war.

Chapter nine of Some Liked it Hot ushers the reader into 1950s America, echoing the well known historical transition from public to private modes of entertainment, during which public outings such as movies, all girl jazz concerts, and even mixed-gender acts suffered from the burgeoning sales of radios, record players, and most...