"Ice Cream" - Ronell Johnson

“Ice Cream” (PDF) from the Ronell Johnson album, That Gentilly Swing

In the early twentieth century, New York City’s Tin Pan Alley was a songwriting hub for music publishing, stage & screen musicals, radio broadcasts, and advertising. In 1927, the trio of Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert King co-wrote “Ice Cream,” a novelty song in the style of a college alma mater about the frozen dessert, including the rally cry: “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!” In 2023, an ice cream social for the world of popular music took place as the song entered the public domain.

Prior to the song’s composition, New Orleans trombonist Jim Robinson returned from the first World War and combined the bombastic Sousa-esque melodies with the tailgate style that accompanied the smaller, rhythmic combos of the 1920s. Along with the blues, rags & marches, early jazz groups arranged popular songs in the syncopated style that would be revived throughout the century. In 1944, Robinson recorded a version of “Ice Cream” with clarinetist George Lewis, featuring the trombone as the lead melodic voice and a rhythmic performance that established the song as his signature tune.

Here is a YouTube video of Jim Robinson performing with The December Band for television in 1965; their version of “Ice Cream” begins around the 1:10:00 mark:

Recommended reading: “Jim Robinson” by Holly Hobbs. 46 Parishes, December 6, 2013. Published by Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. https://64parishes.org/entry/jim-robinson