NOW YOU HAS JAZZ

On October 13, 1957 the Ford Motor Company purchased air time on CBS for a program called "The Edsel Show." This was done to promote their new car, the Edsel. Sort of an infomercial in the form of a variety show. While the very word "Edsel" would soon go on to become synonymous with anything that was a bad idea, the show itself -- and there was only one -- was a rousing success. One of the show's highlights was this rendition of Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong and his band performing the Cole Porter song "Now You Has Jazz," which they'd performed a year earlier for the film "High Society." The performance shown here is essentially a recreation of the song as it appeared in the film with Crosby introducing each of the band members during the song. The band shown here is the same as in High Society, with the exception of Squire Gersh on bass (Arvell Shaw was the band's bassist in High Society)...