About Us | Contact | Subscribe

Home: 20's Jazz

St. Louis Blues

Eddie Peabody

Eddie Peabody

Subscribe to 20's Jazz

Navigation:

Home

Back

More videos like this

In this scene from the 1932 film "Hollywood on Parade", 'King of the Plectrum Banjo' Eddie Peabody sings and plays his own rendition of the "St. Louis Blues" aided by his eight female banjo pupils.

Already dubbed the "Happiness Boy" for his animated personality, Eddie Peabody began performing in Vaudeville after his discharge from the Navy in 1921. A self-taught musician he possessed virtuoso ability on a number of instruments including violin and mandolin, but it was as an energetic banjo player that he first gained fame. His recordings released on the Columbia label made him so popular during the mid-'20's that one music critic was prompted to give him a new nickname, "King of the Banjo".