<P> There are a couple of early examples of the overhead views later elaborated and made famous by Busby Berkeley, but this film bears little resemblance to his films and other musicals of the later 1930s . It is very much a stage presentation, albeit on a very large stage, and visual interest is maintained only by changes of viewpoint . The cameras do not move . This is not because the Technicolor cameras were heavy and bulky . The cameras used for this early Technicolor process contained a single roll of film and were of nearly ordinary size and weight . </P> <P> King of Jazz was the nineteenth all - talking motion picture filmed entirely in two - color Technicolor rather than simply including color sequences . At the time, Technicolor's two - color process employed red and green dyes, each with a dash of other colors mixed in, but no blue dye . King of Jazz was to showcase a spectacular presentation of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, so this presented a problem . Fortunately, the green dye Technicolor used can actually appear peacock blue (cyan) under some conditions, but acceptable results in this case would require very careful handling . Art director Herman Rosse and production director John Murray Anderson came up with solutions . Tests were made of various fabrics and pigments, and by using an all gray - and - silver background the bluish aspect of the dye was set off to best advantage . Filters were also used to inject pale blues into the scene being filmed . The goal was to produce a finished film with pastel shades rather than bright colors . Nevertheless, as it appears in an original two - color Technicolor print, the sequence might best be described as a "Rhapsody in Turquoise". Later prints made from the original two - component negative, which had survived, make the blues look truer and more saturated than they appeared to audiences in 1930 . </P> <P> King of Jazz marked the first film appearance of the popular crooner Bing Crosby, who, at the time, was a member of The Rhythm Boys, the Whiteman Orchestra's vocal trio . Crosby was scheduled to sing "Song of the Dawn" in the movie but a motor accident led to him being jailed for a time and the song was given to John Boles . </P> <P> Composer Ferde Grofé, best known for his Grand Canyon Suite, was in his early years a well known arranger / songwriter for Whiteman . He is documented to have arranged some of the music, and may in fact have composed some of the incidental music . </P>

Who was criticized for calling himself the king of jazz