King of Jazz

King of Jazz is a 1930 American pre-Code color musical film starring Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. In the 1920s Whiteman signed and featured jazz musicians including Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang (both are seen and heard in the film), Bix Beiderbecke (who had left before filming began), Frank Trumbauer, and others.

King of Jazz was filmed in the early two-color Technicolor process and was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. for Universal Pictures. The film featured several songs sung on camera by the Rhythm Boys (Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris), as well as off-camera solo vocals by Crosby during the opening credits and, very briefly, during a cartoon sequence. King of Jazz still survives in a near-complete color print and is not a lost film, unlike many contemporary musicals that now exist only either in incomplete form or as black-and-white reduction copies.

In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

As a published work from 1930 with a valid copyright renewal, the film entered the American public domain on January 1, 2026.

King of Jazz is a revue. There is no story continuity, only a series of musical numbers alternating with "blackouts" (brief comedy sketches with abrupt punch line endings) and other short introductory or linking segments.

The musical numbers are diverse in style, adopting a 'something for everyone' approach to appeal to family audiences. They cater to the young, the old, and the middle-aged, each in turn. The slow "Bridal Veil" number, featuring (according to Universal) the largest veil ever made, exhibits Victorian sentimentality that might best appeal to the elderly. The middle-aged were courted with a tune by John Boles in a lush setting crooning. "It Happened in Monterey" in waltz time, or in a barn with a chorus of red-shirted ranch hands belting out the "Song of the Dawn". The "jazzy" "Happy Feet" number was designed to appeal to younger viewers.

One segment early in the film serves to introduce several of the band's virtuoso musicians (who are not credited by name). Another provides the audience with a chance to see the Rhythm Boys, already famous by sound but not sight because of their recordings and radio broadcasts, performing in a home-like setting. There are novelty and comedy numbers ranging from the mildly risqué ("Ragamuffin Romeo", which features contortionistic dancing by Marion Stadler and Don Rose) to the humorously sadomasochistic (the second chorus of "I Like to Do Things for You") to the simply silly ("I'm a Fisherman"). There is a line of chorus girls, practically mandatory in early musicals, but in their featured spot the novelty is that they perform the choreography while seated.

The grand finale is the "Melting Pot of Music" production number, in which various immigrant groups in national costume offer brief renditions of characteristic songs from their native lands, after which they are all consigned to the American melting pot. Performers from some of the earlier musical numbers briefly reprise their acts while reporting for duty as fuel under the pot. Whiteman stirs the steaming stew. When the cooking is complete, everyone emerges transformed into a jazz-happy American.