THE MILLS PANORAM

To those of you not familiar with the Panoram:

The Mills Panoram was a visual jukebox that played a closed-loop of 16mm sound film called “Soundies” that were rear projected onto a glass screen. “Soundies” were 3½ minute films that typically showed jazz and other musicians of the day, as well as dance troupes and other acts. 

“Soundies” featured musical stars including Duke Ellington, Ozzie Nelson, Count Basie and Cab Calloway to name a few. They were generally placed in bars, cafes, and upscale dancing establishments and found their way into soda shops, taverns, bus and train stations and other public places across the nation. First produced in 1939 by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, Illinois, a patron would place a dime into the machine and would watch one of eight 2 to 3-minute films.

"Soundies" are considered to be the precursors of music videos and were produced by various companies such as Minoco and RCM Productions which was a company formed by James Roosevelt (the son of Franklin D. Roosevelt) songwriter Sam Coslow, and Herbert Mills, a pioneer in the development of arcade music machines.

In order to achieve the widest possible distribution, "Soundies" covered the gamut of musical styles from country and western to Russian balalaika music, tenors singing Irish folksongs, and big band swing music.

A big "Thank You" to Dick Hack for allowing me to include this link showing a Panoram in action and a Soundie by Spike Jones, "Clink, Clink, Another Drink".