 The Warner Bros. cartoons, even today billed as "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies", were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Bros. musical films.Live-action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters.Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called "St. Louis Blues" (1929) featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song.