1940s Style: Orquesta de Don Ramon ‘Chicano Boogie’ (video)


It’s not much of a video but it rules as a wild examplar of 1940s pachuco “boogie-woogie jitterbug” (like Lalo Guerrero’s Los Chucos Suaves.) This performance features unstoppable rhumba-flavored proto-rock-n-roll beat-me-eight-to-the-bar-boogie-woogie highlighted by shouted Spanglish insanity. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a nice welcoming round of applause to Orquesta de Don Ramon as they perform Chicano Boogie. [The artwork is from the Arhoolie compilation album. Yes, the track ends abruptly.]

Armida stars in swinging jazz-fest ‘The Girl from Monterrey’ (video)


IMDB:

Girl From Monterrey (1943): Mexican club singer Lita Valdez (Armida) is amazed to find that her younger brother Alberto is a talented boxer and is even more thrilled by his consistent success in the ring. Till [sic] he is forced to fight Jerry O’Leary, the man she loves. Caught between her devotion to both men, Lita tries her best to have the match canceled, but there is much more to the boxing racket than she had ever imagined…

This is a public domain video from the Internet Archive,where one of the commenters thinks he spots actor Jay Silverheels in the bar fight at 6:15…