AllMovie

Jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong is the star of A Rhapsody in Black and Blue, one of numerous musical shorts directed by Aubrey Scotto in the 1930s. The film opens with an unidentified man in his home, listening to Armstrong on the gramophone while playing drums on a homemade set of pots and pans. The man's wife marches in, irate because he is "playing" instead of finishing his long-neglected mopping chores. The husband laments that "these mail order wives don't work out," as he wants to listen to the flip side of the record, "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, you Rascal You." He starts mopping, but when alone once more, he goes back to his drumming. His wife hits him on the head with a mop, knocking him out. He then dreams that he is in some sort of strange nightclub, filled with bubbles. This turns out to be Jazzmania, and he is the King of it. Armstrong and his band are there, with Armstrong wearing a caveman-like leopard skin. He sings the "Rascal" song, then the "King" requests that he play "Shine" and Armstrong is happy to comply. Soon after, the man awakens from his dream. Finding his wife angry with him, he breaks a head over his vase so he can go back to Jazzmania.