Here’s a very obscure film clip of the KingsMen performing “The Hut Sut Song” many years before “LOUIE LOUIE” became a big hit song.
I love the opening of this clip – a newspaper with the headline “Song Becomes National Disease!”
Just like all of the other film clips of the Kingsmen, this does not feature Jack Ely, the original LOUIE LOUIE vocalist. Nor does it feature Mike Mitchell, Lynn Easton, Dick Peterson, Don Gallucci, Barry Curtis or any other member of the band from Portland that transformed LOUIE LOUIE into the massive musical icon it is today.
This particular band named the KingsMen (or the Kings Men Quartet) was formed in 1929 to record some music for “soundies,” the precursor to what we now call “music videos.” Led by Ken Darby, this group recorded well into the 1940’s, collaborating with a wide variety of musicians such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Paul Whiteman, and Hopalong Cassidy.
A tip of the hat to Mark Evanier for reminding me of this very cool clip.
UPDATED ADDITION:
I found some more interesting things about the Kings Men Quartet, including an article about singing cowboys, the IMDB entry on the King’s Men, an MP3 collection of Kings Men radio shows, and the Answers.com page on Ken Darby.
Here’s a photo of this particular KingsMen group:
looking for the video “Hi Thar Stranger” from an old Hopalong Cassidy movie from the 40’s. Any help would be appreciated.