The rise of something like a music video happened much earlier than most people think. Even in the first decade of cinema, sound films were produced in which famous musicians presented songs. The sound was at that time recorded on a shellac record, which was then played in synch with the film as it was projected. The big revolution in terms of music-video development took place in the US in the early 1940s with Panoram jukeboxes and in Europe in the first half of the 1960s with the Scopitone system. And it was not cinema or television where this revolution took place. It was in the bar around the corner, where suddenly juke-boxes with screens appeared. In contrast to television, which at that time was still in black and white, and which presented pop culture in a very limited way, the music films in the so-called Scopitones were in colour. The machines had a carousel with 16mm films equipped with a magnetic soundtrack. It was possible to choose from dozens of short music films, after inserting coins into the slot. In total, more than 500 different clips rotated in the machines during this period. The films were shot on a very small budget, which forced filmmakers to adopt new aesthetical approaches such as the intensive use of fast editing and tracking shots, unusual location scouting and  in many cases a permissiveness, that from today’s perspective, can often be considered very sexist. But the Scopitones are also incredibly enjoyable, and allow us to immerse ourselves in a 1960s media phenomenon that has been largely forgotten in recent decades.

Karl Wratschko

This programme features all the musical films of a Scopitone machine that was in use in the 1960s –a brief period that allowed cinema into cafés in Europe. We present a set of 61 films received in 2019 by Cinémathèque16, containing the 36 reels that the machine could hold and 25 that were removed and stored, since the café owner needed to keep buying new films to feed his machine. Of course, the great complexity of this cinematographic jukebox makes it difficult to reconstitute the conditions of the time, but screening these films in chronological order based on publication date, with their powerful magnetic sound, will certainly create an entertaining moment of discovery.

Benoît Carpentier

Adamo, Vivre
Aimable et Zappy Max, Elle s’était fait couper les cheveux
Aphrodite’s Child, Let Me Love, Let Me Live Audrey Arno, La Pachanga
Hugues Aufray, Dès que le printemps revient
Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg, Comic Strip
Alain Barrière, Les Guinguettes
Gilbert Bécaud, Nathalie
Gilbert Bécaud, L’Important c’est la rose
Les Brutos, Summer Time – Besame Mucho
Rita Cadillac, C’est fou
Maya Casabianca, Garde-moi la dernière danse
Les Charlots, Paulette la reine des paupiettes
Les Charlots, Je chante en attendant que ça sèche
Les Chats sauvages, Sherry Christophe, Les Marionnettes
Jean Constantin, Dibilibilim Dalida, Viva la pappa!
Dion, Ruby Baby Claude François,
Chaque jour c’est la même chose France Gall, Baby Pop
John Foster, Amore scusami Franck Gérald, Si ton destin Danyel Gérard, D’accord, d’accord
Juliette Greco, C’était bien (Le p’tit bal perdu)
Johnny Hallyday, Je te veux
Françoise Hardy, Comme tant d’autres
Jacques Hélian et son orchestra, Oh! Honolulu (Chi chi)
Enrico Macias, Mon cœur d’attache
Enrico Macias, Paris tu m’as pris dans tes bras
Mireille Mathieu, À coeur perdu
Mireille Mathieu, Mon copain Pierrot
Mireille Mathieu, J’ai gardé l’accent
Myriam Michelson, Le Letkiss
Mistigri, Rue de Lappe
Claude Nougaro, Le Jazz et la java
Pierre Perret, Les jolies colonies de vacances
Pierre Perret, Tonton Cristobal
Annie Philippe, Ticket de quai
Roger Pierre & Jean-Marc Thibaut, Y’a un truc
Conrad Prindle, Snappez à mes côtés
Line Renaud, Hully Gully
Henri Salvador, Twist SNCF
Henri Salvador, Zorro est arrivé
Henri Salvador, Juanita Banana
Henri Salvador, Attila est là
Henri Salvador, Toucher du bois mon gars
Sheila, L’Heure de la sortie
Les Surfs, Sacré Josh
Les Surfs, Scandale dans la famille
Sylvie Vartan, Si je chante
Sylvie Vartan, Je voudrais être un garçon
Hervé Villard, Mourir ou vivre
Bobby Vee, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes