Cab Calloway narrates "Minnie the Moocher & Many Many More" 1983 documentary

Lots of rare footage and photos as Zoot Suit originator Cab Calloway shares his own life story, including a visit to his old neighborhood, as well as talking about jazz history for the 1983 documentary short "Minnie the Moocher & Many Many More." The black Harlem scene is covered, with clips of Fats Waller singing "The Joint Is Jumping" at a Harlem rent party and Duke Ellington & Ben Webster performing "Cottontail," as well as featuring Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Bill Robinson, and a very young Lena Horne. The BetaGems channel also has "L.A. Daytime TV Shows 1940s-80s documentary 1987," "80 Years of Sci-Fi: Monsters, Madmen & Machines 1980 documentary," "Investigating Tarzan 1997 documentary - Burne Hogarth comics, more," "New Magicians: 1987 visual film FX documentary," "Comedy: A Serious Business 1980 silent film documentary," "Coming Next Week Long Ago 1988 documentary on film trailers," and more film history documentaries uploaded to a playlist entitled "Documentaries"

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from 1983 into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Youtube or online. Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads.

In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.