Shane Speal recently discovered a rare appearance by a cigar box guitar in a vintage film clip, this one from a 1942 music video recorded for the Spike Jones song “Pass the Biscuits Mirandy”. According to the Youtube video post, this short film (which really is a precursor to modern music videos) was called a “Soundie” and was made for playing on special jukeboxes.
This old hillbilly song was popular at the time, and a number of homemade and impromptu instruments are shown in it. The Cigar Box Guitar gets a brief appearance right around the 1-minute mark, as the screen shot to the left shows. You can watch the full video below.
Spike Jones was popular in the 1940’s and early 1950’s for his satirical and often comical adaptations of popular songs. You can read more about him and his career on Wikipedia.
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