St. Louis Blues is a 1929 short film (16 minutes) directed by Dudley Murphy.
Bessie Smith, a singer, lives in a rooming house with her boyfriend Jimmie. Jimmie is a hoodlum and lowlife who is sponging off of Bessie while carrying on an affair with another woman. When Bessie comes home and catches Jimmie with the other woman, he leaves her, stomping out of the room. Bessie then goes to the club downstairs and sings the iconic song "St. Louis Blues".
W.C. Handy is credited as musical arranger for the recording of this song, his signature piece, which popularized the blues across the nation. This film is the only known footage of Bessie Smith, the "Empress of the Blues" who remains the one of the most famous blues singers to ever live.
Tropes:
- Cat Fight: Bessie and Jimmie's unnamed girlfriend tussle for a while in the room before the girlfriend makes her escape.
- The Chanteuse: Bessie's job, a nightclub singer.
- Conversation Cut: Smith's performance of "St. Louis Blues" starts out in the boarding house room, as she's slumped up against the bed. The performance then cuts seamlessly to the downstairs club, where Smith sings the next line.
- Drowning My Sorrows: What Bessie's doing in the downstairs bar. She has a drink in her hand throughout her performance of "St. Louis Blues".
- Karma Houdini: Not only does Jimmie cheat on Bessie, he steals her bankroll out of her pocket as they're dancing downstairs. He makes sure to show it to her before he leaves.
- No Name Given: Jimmie's girlfriend (Isabel Washington) isn't named.
- Something Blues: The word "blues" for this style of music pre-dated Handy's song, but the song certainly popularized the word.
- Starbucks Skin Scale: Jimmy says of his unnamed girlfriend: "That's a pretty yellow woman. They're liable to do anything that other women won't do." His girlfriend is noticeably lighter-skinned than Bessie Smith.
- Titled After the Song: An extended music video in which Bessie Smith performs "St. Louis Blues".
- 12-Bar Blues: The song "St. Louis Blues" was the Trope Codifier for this chord progression, which became as iconic as the song.
