Cool Cat Wild! goes all "friend of Dorothy" - we've been watching That's Entertainment III. Again.

In 1976, I landed two tickets to the London premier of That's Entertainment! Part II, a second compilation film featuring clips from the heyday of MGM musicals, with linking material provided by toupée-wearing old stars, many of whom looked as if they'd been embalmed. I can't now remember why I was given a ticket - something to do with my job as a publicist for the publisher, New English Library - but, thinking about somebody else for once, I had the cheek to request a second ticket, was promptly given one, and asked my mother to accompany me. Like me, she wasn't a great fan of musicals, but she'd been raised on a diet of Hollywood movies in pre-War Glasgow. Oddly - considering she was a former fashion model - she became flustered as we walked up the red-carpeted stairs towards the entrance and press photographers started snapping us. At the end of the screening...

Some Big Band Boogie Woogie Bounce for everyone depressed by the Chancellor's ghastly Butskellite Bollocks Budget

The human dynamo on the drums - and the matchbox - was, of course,  Gene Krupa with his "Drum Boogie" from the great 1941 comedy Ball of Fire. Right, let's get the politics out of the way. Allister Heath expressed my exact feelings in the Telegraph this morning:

When you make a great record, you give pleasure forever - newlyweds dance to Benny Goodman's "Sing. Sing, Sing"

Karolina and Wojtek practiced for a year for their first dance as a married couple in 2010, and their efforts have since been viewed over 12.5 million times - they're not the world's greatest dancers, but I think that's why it's so touching. Here's the Benny Goodman Orchestra performing the number in Hollywood Hotel (1937) . The slo-mo section at the end - not part of the original Busby Berkley film, in case you wondered - is fascinating, but you'll have to turn the volume up):

Stranded In The Jungle - with only jazz, exotica, R&B and rockabilly for company

Gertcha! A dozen of this Londoner's favourite London songs - from "Play with Fire" to "We're the Sweeney"

Gertcha! A dozen of this Londoner's favourite London songs

The extraordinary online success of a 1932 recording by Ambrose & His Orchestra

While trawling YouTube for some cheerful ditties to enjoy, I discovered that the 1932 hit recording of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" has been listened to over 209,000 times. I wonder why. Certainly, it's fairly well known (though predominantly among the older set), and extremely entertaining, but, as it contains a racial epithet not normally employed in polite society these days, I'm surprised that so many people have sought it out. (To be honest, I've whistled along to the song on many occasions, without realising there was anything remotely untoward regarding its lyrics.)

Louis Armstrong's second wife, Lil, with the delightful "Oriental Swing" (1938)

And here's a modern remix - Parov Stelar's "Booty Swing":

“The Shag is Totally Cool” and other great records banned by the BBC

The Golden Gate Quartet made the first Rap record - in 1937!

Hoagy Carmichael, the white songwriter who made pop black - and cool