International Sweethearts of Rhythm

'Sweethearts'
By JANET MASLIN, September 28, 1986, Sunday
On the same bill at the New York Film Festival, tonight at 7:00, is ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm,'' a delightful 30-minute trip down memory lane. The group of the title is an interracial, all-women swing band that enjoyed enough popularity during the 1940's to be remembered affectionately by the fans who are interviewed here.
The film, by Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss, combines these reminiscences with those of the musicians themselves, and with vintage footage of the group working its magic. ''We put in the time, we put in the hours,'' one of them says. ''We didn't consider ourselves a novelty band.'' read more

‘Sweethearts” is a swinging documentary
By Scott Cain, Atlanta Journal and Constitution
“International Sweethearts of Rhythm” makes you glad that documentaries were invented. The film offers toe-tapping selections by the 1940s band interspersed with lively reminiscences by the participants, who have aged gracefully in the intervening 40 years.
The all-women’s, multiracial band got its start in Mississippi in the late ‘30s, when anything multiracial faced innumerable problems in the South. The musicians often ate and slept on the band’s bus rather than face the hurdles of seeking restaurant and hotel accommodations. Most of their engagements were played in all-black theaters and, sometimes, the white players wore make-up to darken their complexion. read more

They Document Our Living History
Steve Warren, Bay Area Reporter, Sept. 8, 1988
I’ve seen International Sweethearts of Rhythm three times now and its spin-off, Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin’ Women, twice. They get better each time. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’ve got some catching up to do.
Directed by cameraperson/editor Greta Schiller and archivist Andrea Weiss, the Before Stonewall team, International Sweethearts of Rhythm is the story of the same-named “all girl band that toured from the late 1930s through the war years". read more