Scopitones

Further Reading

"The Jukebox That Ate the Cocktail Lounge" by Jack Stevenson (the best article in English on the history of Scopitone)

NEW, 2014! Cinebox vs. Scopitone: Songs to See/Canzoni da Guardare by Michele Bovi. The definitive work on Cinebox, this is the third edition (2014) of Michele Bovi's excellent book, with all text in both English and Italian, and many wonderful photos. It replaces the 2011 second edition, Songs to See/Canzoni da Guardare: Cinebox & Scopitone, and contains much new information compared to the 2007 first edition, Da Carosone a Cosa Nostra: Gli antenati del videoclip (From Carosone to Cosa Nostra: Ancestors of the music video).

L'aventure Scopitone 1957-1983: Histoire des precurseurs du videclip by Jean-Charles Scagnetti. Excellent book-length history of the film jukeboxes of the 1960s, with an emphasis on the history of Scopitone in France (in French).

"Scopitone: '60s Music Videos You've Never Seen" by Ben Marks, Collectors Weekly, September 22, 2011

A History of Music Videos, parts 1-4, part 5, and part 6 (in English). A terrific overview from the 1920s to today. Part 3 focuses on Scopitone.

Official site for Productions Davis Boyer

Musical Mood Makers: The Scopitone and Other Film Jukeboxes by Jürgen Lossau (in English)

History of the Scopitone by Robin Edgerton (in English)

Scopitomania (in French)

Gert Almind's Danish Jukebox Archives, which contains a wealth of information in English about jukeboxes of all types. Gert's pages on Jukebox History 1952-1998 and 16mm Film For Jukeboxes will be of particular interest to film jukebox afficionados.

Scopitone.free.fr (French Scopitone site)

Tresors de Scopitones Arabes, Kabyles et Berberes (in French -- the only article I have seen about Arab Scopitones)

"Love Machines: Unwinding the Technology of the Scopitones" by David Serlin, Cabinet Magazine, Spring 2001

Gli Antenati del Videoclip (excellent article in Italian about the history of Cinebox -- courtesy of Michele Bovi)

"The Spy Story Of Music Videos" (interesting interview with Michele Bovi about the World War II roots of Cinebox and Scopitone)

"The Redemption of Clem Sacco," article by Michele Bovi about Cinebox star Clem Sacco in Italian and in English. One of many wonderful articles on Michele's site.

Scopitones in Archie Comics, 1965

The Kessler Sisters, Scopitone And Desmond by Doug Ramsey, Rifftides, Feb. 24, 2009

"Illustrating Music: The Impossible Embodiments of the Jukebox Film" from Dreams of Difference, Songs of the Same: The Musical Moment in Film by Amy Herzog, 2009. Academic article on Soundies and Scopitones, focusing on "the tenson between the habitual, stereotypical illustrations employed by these films and their affective excesses, those elements that seem to move beyond the representational."

'Pretty Girls Everywhere': The Gendering of Space and Technology in the Demise of Scopitones by Keltie Robertson, August 2012. A masters thesis offering a history of Scopitones and an examination of some of the reasons for their failure.

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