Soundies: Unidentified, All-Girls Band

★★★★ · Identified · Kid Cairbre · 2016-07-06

It's Thelma White and Her All-Girl Orchestra. The tune is "Shoo Shoo Ya Mama," from 1946. Born into a circus family in Lincoln, Nebraska, Thelma had been an actress (she played Mae in "Reefer Madness") before forming the band. it was during an Alaskan tour that she contracted a polio-like affliction that curtailed her career (though she did partially recover) Later, she became an agent, with such clients as James Coburn and Robert Blake. She died in 2005, age 94; she was the last survivor of the "Reefer" cast.