Date of Release: July 7, 1929 
Studio: Universal 
Director: Nat Ross 
Screenplay: John B. Clymer, Pierre Couderc, Leonard Fields, Albert De Mond
Music: Dave Silverstein, Lee Zahler 
Leading Actors: George Lewis (Bob Wilson), Eddie Phillips (“Flash" Thomas), Dorothy Gulliver (Dorothy May), Churchill Ross (Jimmie Reed), Hayden Stevenson (Coach Jones), Sumner Getchell (Fat)

College Love was the first of three “college film musicals” released in 1929 (the other two were Paramount’s Sweetie, and MGM’s So This is College). The film was a feature length, all-talking version of a series of popular silent shorts released by Universal, The Collegians. The film sought to capitalize on the popularity of the series, talkie fever, and what film historian Edwin M. Bradley states was the national obsession with collegiate football in the 1920s.

It was difficult to decide whether or not to include this film in the list. None of the online databases (AFI, IMDb) list it as a musical, but it receives a line of mention in both Barrios’ A Song in the Dark and Bradley’s The First Hollywood Musicals. Unlike other films of the day, it was not heavily promoted in the trade magazines, however the ads that do exist make heavy use of images of music and dance, suggesting that, even if the movie was low on song and dance, marketing it as "all singing and all dancing" had perceived appeal. ​

Universal's focus in the summer of 1929 was on Show Boat, and as a result, College Life was not heavily promoted in print media. It is often only advertised as part of Universal’s catalogue, and very few pictorial adverts can be found in the trade magazines. 

The pictorial adverts that do exist heavily promote the musical aspects of the film, with cartoon images of musicians playing saxophones and drums, and people dancing. An ad in the Exhibitor’s Herald World (Aug 10, 1929), describes College Love as "the 100% singing and talking sensation!” In a herald from the Wellington Talkies (currently available on Ebay), the film is advertised with the words “Youth! Beauty! Jazz!” 

While print adverts were few in number, Universal did attempt some unusual forms of advertising. The Exhibitors Herald World (Aug 10, 1929) reported that Universal had bought several radio stations to broadcast music and dialogue from new films. The first was Station KRLD in Dallas, Texas, which was scheduled to broadcast the score and dialogue of College Love in its entirety. As College Love is a lost film, it would be interesting to see if any of the stations bought by Universal still hold archival copies of the sound discs. 

Another form of advertising were "ballyhoo stunts," events in towns and cities designed to attract attention and promote upcoming features. Exhibitors Herald World (Aug 10, 1929) reported that a car decked out with signage for College Love drove around Milwaukee for two days and "attracted a lot of attention." The stunt seems to have worked, as the Hollywood Filmograph reported that the film broke "house records in Milwaukee theaters." 

A second event occurred in Oregon, with Exhibitors Herald World (Sept 28, 1929) reporting that in Grants Pass the picture house had run a "flivver parade" (slang term for a small car, imagine what we call a "vintage car" today) sponsored by Ford Motors and other local businesses. The parade "was a wow, with resulting good business at the Rivoli." ​

The stunts were not quite enough however, and the film flopped at the box office, often closing within a week or two wherever it opened.

The overwhelming consensus among the reviewers was that College Love was utterly inane. The critics derided the acting as mediocre, the sound as lackluster, and the plot ridiculous. Despite all this, nearly every critic noted that College Love was good fun, and worth it for the football scenes alone (the use of real life footage from a college football game was highly praised, and used in the same way in So This Is College​). Film magazine The Education Screen (October 1929) had an amusing review system which rated College Love as "stupid" for "intelligent adults," and "harmless" for "youth (aged 15-20).”​

College Love appears to be an example of a silent film that couldn’t make the leap to talkies. Just about all of its creative team, with the exception of Leonard Fields (who went on to write, produce, and direct several films throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, including King Kelly of the U.S.A (1934), and Manhattan Love Song (1934)), were active in Hollywood only during the silent era. 

The music occasionally rated a positive review, but no hit songs were generated from the film. It was the first film marking a partnership with Shapiro Bernstein Inc. and Universal, where Shapiro Bernstein Inc. would write and publish music for all upcoming Universal films. Songs for College Love, written by Lee Zahler and Dave Silverstein, included "It's You," "Oh, How We Love Our College," and "Crazy Medley.” 

The music team had more enduring success than the other creatives on College Love. 
Lee Zahler was a tremendously prolific composer, and music director, whose career spanned over thirty years. He wrote the music for Columbia's Batman and Phantom serials in the 1940s, and was the director of music at Columbia for almost ten years. Composer and writer Dave Silverstein eventually became a staff writer for Fox.

College Love is considered a lost film. Based on the reviews, and lackluster creative team, it seems we are better off enjoying the other 1929 college football musicals, Sweetie or So This Is College instead!

A fascinating movie that is at once brilliant and banal, technically spectacular, and completely overdone. ​

Aside from the spectacular visuals, the strength of the film lies in a few stand-out performances. Evelyn Brent is brilliant as the put-out chorus girl, Pearl. Her character is driven by real needs and wants, and her scowl (for which she was famous) is utterly killer. George Davis, as the silent ever-suffering butler Joe, possesses excellent comic timing, and steals all the scenes he is in. 

One of my favorite elements of Broadway are the sassy chorus girls. They are rude, backstabbing and mean, and unafraid to say what they think. Women who drive the comedy and the plot are a refreshing break from the sappy women who need men to be happy. 

Director Fejos only spent a few years in Hollywood, leaving the United States, and eventually commercial film-making altogether, as he felt creatively constricted by the Hollywood system. His brilliant and innovative vision is strongly evident in Broadway, and we are lucky that Criterion has made the film available. ​

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 is a lost film. According to Vitaphone Varieties, the only known surviving copy of the film was lost in a catastrophic fire in 1937. There is a listing for the film at the Library of Congress, however it is only for a record as listed in Jack Raymond’s Show Music on Record (a listing of recordings from American shows). After contacting the Library of Congress, I discovered that they do hold 35mm nitrate of censor cuts from the film, however nitrate elements are not available for viewing.

DIRECTOR TROUBLE 
Fox Movietone Follies was initially directed by Marcel Silver, who also directed Married in Hollywood, another lost film from 1929. In the late 1920s, he directed many of Fox’s “Varieties,” sound shorts featuring vaudeville acts filmed in Hollywood. ​

After Fox executives began to panic at the escalating production costs, lack of plot, and lengthy production period, director David Butler was bought in to finish the film. He did so in a matter of weeks. Raised in a show business family, Butler directed over eighty films and television shows in a career spanning over fifty years, including the delightful Sunny Side Up, (1929), The Little Colonel (1935), Calamity Jane (1953), and Leave it to Beaver (1957).

CATCHY MUSIC
The reviews unanimously declared that the music was catchy and fun, and bound to get the audience dancing. Several songs from the film including “That’s You, Baby,” “Breakaway,” “Walking with Susie,” “Big City Blues” became best-selling hits. Photoplay wrote, in its new record review section, “you can dance to this!”

The music team were all highly successful and prolific composers. Working primarily for Fox in the 1930s and 1940s, Sidney Mitchell had a successful partnership with Lew Pollack. Mitchell wrote the lyrics for "At the Codfish Ball," "Sugar," and the Oscar nominated "A Melody from the Sky."

Starting out as a piano accompanist for silent film, Conrad went on to perform, write, and produce for the Broadway stage. His songs were recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Eddie Cantor, and Eubie Blake, and went on to become huge hits. Conrad eventually moved to Hollywood, and continued to write hit songs for the budding talkie industry. He won the first Oscar for Best Song for "The Continental," featured in The Gay Divorcee (1934), and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Conrad's music continues to be featured in film and television, including "Palesteena,” You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)," and "Ma, She's Making Eyes at Me."​

Another silent film accompanist, Archie Gottler went on to write for the Ziegfeld Follies and Broadway Brevities in the 1920s. After composing innovative scores for silent films, he continued working in Hollywood as a successful composer and director. As a director. Gottler is best known for Woman Haters, the first of the Three Stooges comedies. His famous songs include “America, I Love You,” “Easter Sunday on Parade," and “Wine, Women and Song.”

MULTICOLOR DANCES! 
Despite the song and dance routines being filmed in groundbreaking multicolor, which according to historian Richard Barrios “was based on shades of red-orange and blue, which gave it a softer and cooler look than its rival,” the choreography did not receive much mention in any of the reviews. 

Unusually for this period, the choreographers are credited in Fox Movietone Follies. For this film, the musical numbers were staged by brother and sister team, Fanchon and Marco. Fanchon & Marco Inc, also known as F&M, was a highly successful family-run production company and talent school based in LA. The company created elaborate stage shows and film segments featuring large numbers of talented chorus girls. According to the Fanchon and Marco website, notable students who trained with Miss Fanchon and her brother, Marco Fanchon, include “Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Shirley Temple, Ginger Rogers, Dorothy Lamour, Cyd Charisse, Betty Grable, Joan Crawford, Will Rogers and May West.” The site is well worth checking out for production shots of F&M’s elaborate sets and staging. 

Even with the use of multicolor, the critics failed to be impressed by the elaborate numbers. Barrios states that “Trick photography was used on an energetic group of black singers/dancers performing “Walking with Susie”; and a faux undersea ballet, “Pearl of Old Japan”... yet neither was terribly dazzling.” 

LACK OF STARS
Variety lamented the lack of stars in the cast. With a few notable exceptions (listed below), very few of the credited cast members went on to any sort of performance career beyond a few film appearances.

Along with her sisters, Lola Lane was one of the leading ladies of the 1930s. Born Dorothy Mullican, Lane started out playing piano for silent films. After reportedly being discovered singing in a flower shop, Lane toured the vaudeville circuit and eventually moved to New York where she starred in revues alongside George Jessel. Lane was spotted by a talent scout and moved to Hollywood in 1929. She appeared in over forty films, usually playing tough women. Lane was the inspiration behind the Superman character, Lois Lane.

Stepin Fetchit, or Lincoln Perry, was a highly successful, and controversial, comedian and actor. He was the first African American actor to receive a featured screen credit, and the first to become a millionaire. Although widely criticized for his derogatory portrayals of "lazy" African American characters, Perry was later celebrated for opening the doors in Hollywood to African American actors. An excellent bio and breakdown of his career and legacy can be found here and here.

Sue Carol was a successful actress for over 10 years before starting her own talent agency, the Sue Carol Agency. The critics loved her in Fox Movietone Follies, and she received universally favorable reviews.

Dixie Lee is now known as Bing Crosby's wife, however she was very much a celebrated star in her own right, even if she was adored for her good looks rather than any remarkable acting abilities. Lee appeared on recordings "A Fine Romance" and "The Way You Look Tonight."
Paula Langlen was a stage actress who also went by the nickname of "Skipit," reportedly due to her flighty demeanor during her first Broadway audition. She appeared in Gilbert and Sullivan productions on Broadway, and in several films. One critic described her as "sprite-like" and "charming."

Carolynne Snowden was a highly acclaimed African American dancer who appeared in over twenty films, mostly during the silent era. She was a headliner at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and toured the US with her own troupe. At the height of her success in Hollywood, she had her own dressing room on the MGM lot, and a five-year contract. Snowden often appeared opposite Lincoln Perry, and appeared in The Jazz Singer as a maid. She is credited as being one of the first successful African American film actresses who paved the way for actresses of color on the big screen.

Frank Richardson was a child performer who was known as "The Wonder Boy Tenor". He had success as a black-face performer in vaudeville, and his act, "The Joy Boy of Song," was filmed as a short for Vitaphone. He appeared in Sunny Side Up and "Happy Days" (1929). A detailed biography can be found here.

Starring heart throb and matinee idol Maurice Chevalier, Innocents of Paris is probably best left in the vaults. ​

Clearly, Maurice Chevalier was the saving grace of Innocents of Paris. Described as the “Idol of Paris,” “Pet of Paris” and the “Honey of Hollywood,” Chevalier was a hugely popular singer and performer in France. Innocents of Paris was Chevalier’s highly anticipated American film debut, and it didn’t disappoint. Photoplay wrote, “Dispel your doubts, he can stay as long as he likes. He plays with abandon and his personality gets you.” 

Renee Delage, a devoted Chevalier fan who, regretfully, had not been able to see him perform in Paris, wrote a gushing letter to Photoplay: “Of course I had seen his photograph a thousand times; I knew the history of his life; I had an idea of how he looked—but what a thrill when I heard his voice! Thanks to the movies and to the talkies. I owe them one of the happiest moments of my life.”

Maurice Chevalier was born and raised in Paris. When he was eleven, his father passed away, and Chevalier began work as a kind of jack of all trades. He entered compulsory military service in the French army, and during World War One, he became a prisoner of war. He escaped by masquerading as a Red Cross worker. Prior to performing in the USA, he performed in Paris, London, and even Buenos Aires. 

Paramount’s publicity machine ensured plenty of coverage. Dorothy Spensley wrote an unrestrained three page feature, “Songs Across the Sea” in Photoplay, where she declared, “It’s all very confusing this thing of fame… Until you meet Maurice Chevalier, and then you understand everything. You understand personal magnetism, mob adoration, the supreme ability—the genius—that lifted itself above a worthless first picture and made him an ascending American idol.” 

The Photoplay feature quotes Chevalier complete with his French accent eccentricities, which is charming and funny to read today – “Eet is person-al-ity, eh? I don’t know… Eef you put your heart into anything, your songs or your dancing, your audience feels eet, of course, yes.” The New York Times ran a similar feature in August 1929, prior to Chevalier’s return to France for a vacation.

Chevalier went on to star in many successful films, including The Love Parade (1929), Gigi  (1958), Can-Can (1960), and The AristoCats (1970). 

CAST
While waxing lyrical about Chevalier, the reviewers just about failed to make any mention of the other actors — which is surprising given the caliber of the actors on screen.

Sylvia Beecher appeared in just two films--Innocents of Paris and Beyond the Sierras (1928). Very little information available about her. The reviews that bothered to mention Beecher praise her good looks, but felt she was a weak actress. 

Russell Simpson started out in vaudeville before appearing in silent films. In a career spanning over forty years, Simpson went on to appear in hundreds of films and several television shows as a character actor in small roles. He was a member of the John Ford Stock Company, and is most famous for his villainous roles in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Lone Ranger (1949), The Adventures of Wild Bill Hilcock (1951). 

George Fawcett was a highly acclaimed and prolific stage actor who performed in London and New York. He appeared in over 100 films during the silent era, and continued to act until his death in 1939.

Mrs George Fawcett, or Percy Haswell, was a prominent stage actress, who performed, and directed, on Broadway and in a variety of regional theatres. She ran her own company, the Percy Haswell Company in Baltimore, which later became The George Fawcett Stock Company. Haswell appeared in a few films, though it appears only Innocents of Paris was a talkie. She eventually retired to Nantucket with her husband, George. 

The George Fawcett and Percy Haswell Fawcett Papers are held at the New York Public Library in the Billy Rose Theatre Division. The collection contains photographs, scrapbooks, programs, articles, correspondence, writings about the Fawcett’s professional lives from the period 1857 to 1939.

Serbian-born Miljan reportedly made his talking picture debut in a promotional trailer for The Jazz Singer. He appeared in over 200 films and television shows, usually as a villain.  

Margaret Livingston was predominantly a supporting actress in silent films. A wonderful article about her can be found here. 

David Durand was an immensely popular child actor throughout the 1930s, and appeared in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1926), and the popular shorts Glove Swingers, and East Side Kids. 

Jack Luden was considered by the studios to be a rising star, and graduated from the Paramount Picture School with the likes of Charles “Buddy” Rogers in 1927. He went on to star in Two Flaming Youths (1927) and The Wild Party (1929) with Clara Bow.  Unfortunately for Luden, he had a pronounced stutter, which diminished his chances of continued stardom in talkies. Despite a privileged upbringing, Luden had a rather tragic life, and died in prison after being arrested for drug charges at the age of 49. 

Johnnie Morris, also known as Johnny Morris, is most famous for playing Pappy Yokum in L’il Abner (1940). His stage and film career spanned three decades.

The Writers 
The AFI claims Innocents of Paris was based on the 1928 novel of the same name by Clarence Edward Andrews. Turner Classic Movies meanwhile, states it was based on a play, Flea Market, by Charles E. Andrews. Neither search turns up any information, nor does the author.

Innocents of Paris is one of the few films of 1929 to have a female screenwriter, Ethel Doherty. Despite having over twenty films to her name, most of which were made during the silent era, there is little to no information about Doherty currently available. 

Hungarian born writer Ernest Vajda was a prominent contract writer for Paramount and MGM. He is most well known for The Love Parade (1929), Marie Antoinette (1938), and Stars and Stripes Forever (1952). ​

A prolific writer, whose career spanned almost thirty years, George Marion Jr. was also a composer on Sweetie.

MUSIC
While the film received little praise, several critics did enjoy the film’s music. Film Daily described the tunes as catchy, while Variety praised the song “Louise,” claiming it was “the best melody any picture has uncorked in recent months.” The song became one of Chevalier’s signature songs (along with “Thank Heavens for Little Girls,” from Gigi).

Maurice Fenton’s Photoplay review for the record of Innocents of Paris was less praiseworthy, stating pithily, that it “Felt like we were handling stolen goods when we played with these. Where have we heard something like it before?”
​
Leo Robin was a Broadway and Hollywood lyricist who had successful partnerships with Ralph Rainger, Jerome Kern, and Jule Styne. He worked on another 1929 movie musical, Syncopation, and he eventually won an Oscar for Best Original Song (1938) for “Thanks for the Memory,” sung by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross.​

Innocents of Paris marks the third musical in 1929 for composer Richard A. Whiting (“Hooray for Hollywood” and “On the Good Ship Lollipop), who had also worked on Sweetie and Broadway Scandals. 

Thanks to Chevalier's popularity, Innocents of Paris was screened in France, with most of the English dialogue cut out. I wonder if the critics would have preferred the French version?! 

Date of Release: 12 May 1929
Studio: Pathé
Director: Bradley Barker
Screenplay: Gene Markey 
Music: Will Collins, Bud Green, James F. Hanley, Sam H. Stept     
Leading Actors: Morton Downey, Beryl Mercer, John T. Doyle, Brian Donlevy, Helen Chandler, Osgood Perkins, Lorin Raker, Barbara Bennett, Jennie Moskowitz, Jacob Frank, Louis Sorin, Robert Gleckler, Tyrell Davis, Allen Vincent, Leslie Stowe    

Mother’s Boy appears to be a lost film, as it is not held at the Library of Congress or the UCLA Film and TV Archive. 

If the reviews are anything to go by, Mother's Boy, described by Photoplay as “Just another Jolson plot, only this time the singer is an Irishman,” is not a film that history is sad to have lost.

Motion Picture News wrote, 

Mordaunt Hall, in his NY Times Review, found Mother’s Boy overly sentimental, “lachrymose,” with poor sound quality. He stated that “there are some good touches of comedy,” but that the dialogue was “really beneath consideration.”

The Post described the film as “a dull, uneventful and sentimental debauch,” and film historian Edwin M. Bradley called it “wretched.” 

Given the wealth of talent behind the scenes, and on screen, it is surprising that Mother's Boy was so universally panned. 
​
DIRECTOR
Perhaps the blame lies with director Bradley Barker, who was more well-known as a silent film actor, appearing in over 70 films over the course of his fifteen year career. He directed a total of seven films, most of which were silent.

WRITER
Writer Gene Markey also wrote Syncopation and Close Harmony. He was well-liked in Hollywood (and was considered quite a ladies’ man). Markey was a prolific and popular novelist who wrote about the jazz age. He later worked as a producer, and, after leaving Hollywood, was heavily involved in horse racing.​

MUSIC
Austrian born Bud Green was a prolific and immensely successful writer who started out in vaudeville, and made his way west in the 1920s to become a staff writer in Hollywood. He wrote hundreds of songs, including “Sentimental Journey,” Oh, Boy, What a Girl,” and “Alabamy Bound.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.
James F. Hanley was another prolific Broadway composer who wrote a string of hits including “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” and “I’m a Lonesome Little Raindrop.” He contributed to dozens of films, including Glorifying the American Girl (1929), Me and My Gal (1932), and Rose of Washington Square (1939). He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. 
Russian born Sammy Stept, later known as Sam Stept, was a highly prolific composer and jazz pianist. He wrote hundreds of songs, including “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me),” “Johnny Get Your Gun,” and “I’ll Always Be in Love With You”. His music appeared on stage and in film, and his songs have been covered by artists such as The Andrews Sisters, the Beatles, Eartha Kitt, Frank Sinatra, and many more. 

CAST
The cast featured a roll call of prominent (or soon-to-be-prominent) stage and screen stars, but it seems their talents were not enough to save the film. 

Nicknamed “The Irish Nightingale,” tenor Morton Downey was a popular singer and actor. Listed as “a face to watch” in the November 1929 edition of Photoplay, Downey appeared in several films throughout his career. He went on to host radio programs, and later, television shows. He was married to fellow actor Barbara Bennett, and was the father of television personality Morton Downey Jr. 

At 4’11”, Beryl Mercer was often typecast in motherly roles. Born in Spain to English parents, Mercer worked as a child actor in London before eventually moving to New York. After performing on Broadway, Mercer moved to Hollywood and appeared in over fifty films including All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Jane Eyre (1934), and The Little Princess (1939). 

John T. Doyle appeared in three films, and died in 1935. 

Brian Donlevy appeared in over one hundred films over the course of his forty year career in Hollywood. He became famous for playing rough characters with a soft side, and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste (1939). 

By her early twenties, Helen Chandler was already an established stage actress who had performed with stars such as John and Lionel Barrymore. She appeared in nearly thirty films, but was plagued by drug and alcohol addiction, and was not as successful on screen as she had been on the legitimate stage. 

Osgood Perkins was an established stage actor who appeared as a character actor in several films, and was the grandfather of actor and writer Oz Perkins.
Lorin Raker worked on Broadway for over fifteen years before transitioning to film. He worked in Hollywood in film and television until the 1950s, however most of his roles appear to be uncredited. 

Barbara Bennett was the middle child of a highly theatrical family, and despite early success as a dancer, she was not as successful or well-known as her two sisters, Constance and Joan Bennett. Barbara appeared in several Broadway shows, and a few unsuccessful Hollywood musicals including Mother’s Boy, and Love Among the Millionaires.

Mother’s Boy is one of just two screen appearances for Jennie Moskowitz, however she was a very well regarded and prominent stage actress. Romanian born, Moskowitz made her stage debut at age thirteen, and was taken under the wing of Sarah Bernhardt. After being bought to New York with a theatre troupe at just eighteen years old, Moskowitz became a well-known feature of the New York stage, appearing in Yiddish and English-speaking theaters. A review of Potash and Perlmutter in 1917 described Moskowitz’s performance as “lovable and most convincing.”  

There is scant information about Jacob Frank available online. He also appeared in two films, Mother’s Boy and Zein Weib's Lubovnick.

Louis Sorin was a prominent character actor on stage, screen, and radio, whose career spanned over forty years. He is best remembered for his role in both the stage and screen versions of The Marx Brothers classic, Animal Crackers. 
Robert Gleckler was a successful stage and screen actor who appeared in over fifty films including Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938) and Gangs of New York (1938). Just before his death, he began filming for the classic Gone With the Wind, playing the role of the Yankee overseer. 

Tyrell Davis was a British actor who appeared in over 30 films. 

Allen Vincent was an actor and writer. He was nominated for the Best Writing (Screenplay) Oscar in 1949, and he appeared in over twenty films. 

​Leslie Stowe was a stage actor who appeared in several silent films. He retired from Hollywood shortly after the advent of talking pictures. 

The 1929 film version of Show Boat is the first of three movie musicals based on Edna Ferber’s best-selling novel. It is the least popular of the film versions, and separate to the ground-breaking Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical.  

Date of Release: April 17, 1929 
Studio: Universal
Director: Harry Pollard 
Screenplay: Charles Kenyon, Edward J. Montagne, Harry Pollard, Tom Reed
Music: Gene Austin, Joseph Cherniavsky, Leo Friedman, Oscar Hammerstein II, Gene Jefferson, Jerome Kern, William H. Myddleton, Maceo Pinkard, Billy Rose, Nathaniel Shilkret, P. G. Wodehouse
Lead Players:
Prologue: Otis Harlan, Helen Morgan, Jules Bledsoe, Tess "Aunt Jemima" Gardella, The Jubilee Singers, Carl Laemmle, Florenz Ziegfeld
Main Feature: Laura La Plante, Joseph Schildkraut, Otis Harlan, Emily Fitzroy, Alma Rubens, Elsie Bartlett, Jack McDonald, Jane La Verne, Neely Edwards, Theodore Lorch, Stepin Fetchit, Gertrude Howard, Ralph Yearsley, George Chesebro, Harry Holden, Max Asher, Jim Coleman, Carl Herlinger, The Billbrew Chorus

The novel Show Boat, written by Edna Ferber, was published in 1926. Following on the heels of Ferber’s Pulitzer winner novel So Big, Show Boat became a best-seller, and held the number one spot on the Best Seller’s List for twelve weeks. 

Ferber was a highly prolific and influential writer who, in her lifetime, published twelve novels, twelve short story collections, nine plays, and two autobiographies. She was praised for her ability to capture the stories and lives of American people, and the American spirit. Ferber is a fascinating writer, and deserves far more space than I can give her here, (the Jewish Women’s Archive has an excellent account of her life and work). 

The novel tells the inter-generational story of life aboard a show boat on the Mississippi River between 1850 and 1920. In response to the novel, the New York Times described Ferber as “one of those who are reviving first-rate story-telling.” 

Within a year, the film rights had been granted to Universal, and the stage rights to Florenz Ziegfeld. Universal began production on the film as a silent picture. Whilst the movie was in production, Ziegfeld’s stage show opened on Broadway and became a smash hit. 

Ziegfeld’s Broadway musical, Show Boat, opened in 1927 and revolutionized Broadway. With book and music by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, Show Boat was the first “integrated musical” — whereby plot, character, song and dance were developments of each other and came together to tell a whole story. 

A break from the fluff and light humor of traditional Broadway shows, Show Boat was revolutionary for its heavy themes, realistically depicting the lives of everyday people, and for featuring actors of color in prominent roles. Show Boat is now considered the first American musical, where musical theater departs from operetta and vaudeville revues. Two movie versions of the Broadway show were made in 1936, and in 1951. 

Universal’s film had virtually nothing to do with Ziegfeld’s popular production, however Universal exploited Ziegfeld’s name to sell tickets, and reportedly paid $200,000 for the rights to use the popular score in their film. Variety claimed that “the publicity of the Ziegfeld name” in conjunction with the film was worth more than the film itself. Variety predicted several times that the film was “not expected to affect the pace [box office] of Zieggy’s (sic) production…” To further capitalize on the Broadway show's notoriety, Universal filmed a short sound prologue featuring stars from the original Broadway cast singing songs from the show. 

After a lengthy production period, much negotiation between Ziegfeld and Universal, and several re-shoots, the first movie version of Show Boat finally opened in April 1929. The staggered openings around the country were beset with problems. In Washington, Universal faced union troubles when a theatre refused to screen the film without Universal covering the cost of an orchestra in the pit. Union troubles also affected the signage outside the Globe Theater in New York when, just prior to opening, the sheet metal workers and sign painters held a strike over agreements for hanging electrical signs over Broadway theaters. 

According to Edwin M. Bradley, unlike the other movie studios, Universal did not have its own chain of theaters, and relied on independent theaters to screen its films. As a result, Universal did all it could to promote Show Boat. In the lead up to the New York opening, Variety reported the presence of a truck equipped with a large phonograph and horn creating a “ballyhoo” down Broadway and blaring the film’s score for all to hear.

Universal's Show Boat received mixed reviews.Variety (April 24, 1929) said the film “by itself is an excellent picture when 25 minutes shall have been cut” and lamented the “dragginess… through prolonged scenes.” Photoplay (June 1929) wrote that “The weakness…lies in the obvious direction of Harry Pollard,” and overall described the adaptation as lackluster compared to the book.

Mordaunt Hall in his review for the New York Times (April 21, 1929) stated that Show Boat “benefits particularly by the melodies from Florenz Ziegfeld’s stage production,” and that “Fortunately for the picture, it ends with a series of the captivating melodies, which result in one leaving the theatre pardoning some of the boring periods.” He was also critical of the film’s length, and described the story as “frequently maudlin”. 

Overall, the critics were unimpressed with the performances by the lead actors. Interestingly, lead actor Laura La Plante was dubbed by Eva Olivotti — who according to Photoplay “did it very well, indeed”. In 1929, Photoplay ran an article by Mark Larkin about Hollywood’s open secret of “voice doubling.” The article provided detailed information about which films had dubbed the singing (and instrument playing), and explained that although dubbing was a common practise, it was predicted that dubbing would soon be unnecessary as more film actors learnt to sing and play instruments.  

Some of the contemporary reviews are hard to read today, thanks to the racist overtones in the way critics described actors of color — “Bledsoe’s voice registers beautifully and has an appealing quality that is bound to get over with any type of audience.” This racism is also evident in the filmmakers’ decision to remove the presence of interracial marriage, prominent in the novel, from the movie plot.

The prologue also received mixed reviews. Variety described the prologue as “not so nifty in sounding or photography.” Film Daily meanwhile praised the prologue, calling it “One of the best things in its class that has yet been presented in sound shorts.” Mordaunt Hall was similarly praiseworthy, stating that the prologue “starts things in an inspiring fashion.” Film historian Richard Barrios holds a less than favorable opinion of the prologue, stating that “What survives of the prologue is... problematic, historically significant but ultimately, inevitably, beside the point.”

With a drawcard title, Show Boat did relatively well at the box office, though not well enough to cover costs. 

According to Bradley, the first movie version of Show Boat was considered lost until Miles Kreuger, historian and musical theater aficionado, tracked down copies for a tribute at MoMA to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show's opening on Broadway. The restoration involved film reels found in the MGM Archive and, of all places, the Danish Film Archive. 

An incomplete VHS copy, transferred from deteriorating reels, is held at the Film and Television Archive at UCLA. The film was aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2009, and, to date, I have not been able to source a legal DVD copy available to purchase. 

The clip below contains footage reportedly from 1929. I think the footage is more likely to be from rehearsals in 1927, which according to the Film Study Center at MoMA, was filmed as part of an early sound on film experiment. 

I would love to see a copy of the 1929 film, especially the prologue, and compare the footage. It is a treat to have access to early Broadway in this way!

Despite featuring some of the biggest names in movie musical history, The Desert Song received lukewarm reviews, and has not received a commercial release since 1929.

Date of Release: 8 April, 1929
Studio: Warner Bros
Director: Roy del Ruth 
Screenplay: Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, Trabert and Hoeffer, Inc, Harvey Gates
Music: Sigmund Romberg, Louis Silvers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach
Leading Actors:  John Boles, Carlotta King, Louise Fazenda, Johnny Arthur, Edward Martindel, Jack Pratt, Roberto E. Guzmán, Otto Hoffman, Marie Wells, John Miljan, Del Elliott, Myrna Loy

Based on the stage operetta of the same name, The Desert Song was Warner Bros’ first color film (filmed in two-strip technicolor), and the first of three film versions (subsequent re-makes were released in 1943 and 1953, and a filmed-for-television version aired in 1955) of that operetta. Unlike other talkies in this period, a silent version of The Desert Song was not released. According to Donald Crafton in The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931, The Desert Song was the first Broadway musical “to be vitaphoned in its entirety.” 

Once presumed lost, The Desert Song only survives in black and white after reels were reportedly discovered in Jack Warner’s personal vault in 1970, and can be viewed at the Film and Television Archive at UCLA. It has not been made available on VHS or DVD, and since its initial release, has only been made available to the public through limited screenings at Cinefest (2009) and on TCM.  

Film historian Richard Barrios states that The Desert Song was ground-breaking, and Warner Bros would have been the first to release a stage-to-screen operetta, but corporate bureaucracy and legalities relating to distribution rights delayed the film’s release by five months. By the time it was released, every studio had released a musical film and The Desert Song was not considered special. 

The film received mixed reviews. Variety stated that the film “starts off rather slowly,” but found that the music and singing were “sincere.” The NY Times film critic Mordaunt Hall praised Roy del Ruth’s direction, calling the film “an interesting experiment,” but found the characters breaking out into song laughable. Film historian Richard Barrios stated that “The photography is drab, the editing as four-square obvious as can be, and the divisions of acts and scenes rigidly observed.” 

The difficulty with solely relying on critical reviews is that you only get the perspective of those specific critics. The reviews for another film in this project, Syncopation, were similarly unkind, yet I really enjoyed the film. After watching a brief clip on YouTube, I wonder if my opinion of The Desert Song might also be different. Audiences queued around the block to see The Desert Song, and the film was one of Warner Bros’ most financially successful film to date. 

Although the image quality is poor, the YouTube clip of “The Riff Song” provides a tantalizing glimpse of The Desert Song’s potential. A wide shot of horses galloping in formation across the desert, overlaid with the sound of a men’s chorus, is exciting and quite different from anything else I’ve seen so far. The music is beautifully orchestrated, and sounds sumptuous (a souvenir program for the film claims it was recorded with a 100 piece orchestra) and unlike other films of this period, doesn’t attempt to make excuses for the presence of a full orchestra or chorus. My guess is that The Desert Song was ahead of its time and the critics simply weren’t ready for it.  

The Director 
Director Roy del Ruth was a successful silent film director who made the transition to sound with several well-received talkies. The Desert Song was his first musical. He went on to direct over 100 films spanning a variety of genres, most notably crime dramas and musicals, and during the 1930s was the second-highest paid director in Hollywood. He initially worked for Warner Bros, and later for MGM, and is noted for his ability “to ride the fine line of what was permitted on screen.” 

In the May 12, 1929 edition of The Film Daily, del Ruth correctly predicted that all movies would be filmed in “in their natural colors… not the unearthly vivid pigments which marked the early days of color photography experimentation. The perfection of color marks a new era in motion picture advancement, just as talkers revolutionized and gave impetus to the silent films.” 

The Writers 
Otto Harbuch was a prolific lyricist on Broadway, writing for a wide range of productions including No, No, Nanette, Rose-Marie, and The Desert Song. Unlike many of his colleagues, Harbuch never moved to Hollywood despite several of his works being made into movie musicals. He was a founding member of the American Society for Authors, Composers and Publishers (ASCAP), and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. 

Oscar Hammerstein II almost needs no introduction. His name is synonymous with musicals, and his creations such as The Sound of Music, Carousel, Oklahoma, and State Fair, are perhaps the best known films in the movie musical catalogue. The Desert Song is an example of Hammerstein’s early career in classic operetta. Collaborating with esteemed artists such as Harbuch, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin, Hammerstein became an important fixture of the Broadway stage with hits such as Wilfdlower (1923), Song of the Flame (1925), The Desert Song (1926), and Rose-Marie (1927). Already considered to be past his prime when he paired with Richard Rogers in the early 1940s, Rogers and Hammerstein went on to redefine the musical by integrating operetta and musical comedy, creating productions that seamlessly integrated song, dance, and music. The pair won Tony Awards, Pulitzers, and Academy Awards. 

Frank Mandel was a prolific and successful writer and lyricist who worked on Broadway for over three decades. Despite his success, there is currently very little information available about him. 

It is curious that Trabert and Hoeffer Inc. was included in the writing credits. Famous as a fine jeweler, the company provided high end, expensive and lavish diamonds to Hollywood stars until the 1950s. Several films in the late 1930s feature the jewelry, including Stage Door, made in 1937, starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Adolphe Menjou. 

Harvey Gates was a writer and scenarist who had his most prolific years during the silent film era. 

Music
Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian born composer and musician who wrote prolifically for the stage for over forty years. He is most famous for composing successful operettas including The Desert Song and The Student Prince, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. A biography of Romberg’s life, Deep in My Heart, was published in 1949 and adapted into a movie musical starring José Ferrer in 1954. 

Louis Silvers initially worked in vaudeville before moving to Hollywood. He scored The Jazz Singer, and went on to work on over 200 films as a composer and musical director. He won an Oscar for Best Music in 1935 for One Night of Love, and he was nominated three more times for Best Music and Original Score.

Leading Actors:  
Once described as the “Frank Sinatra of the 1930s,” John Boles appeared in over fifty films including Frankenstein (1931) and several Shirley Temple vehicles. Boles worked as a spy during World War One, and, following a brief stint in medical school, moved to New York to pursue music and acting. After a well-received appearance with Gloria Swanson in The Love of Sunya (1927), Boles made a successful transition to talkies, first appearing in Rio Rita (1929). He continued to work on stage, performing songs made famous by his films, until his death in 1969. 

Carlotta King was a well-known soprano with an established career in vaudeville when Jack Warner heard her on the radio and decided to cast her in his next feature, The Desert Song. After signing with MGM and promised film roles failed to materialize, King returned to the stage. 

Louise Fazenda was a highly successful actress who worked in both silent and talking pictures. She worked for MGM, Warner Bros, and Paramount, and was known for her funny character acting and “country bumpkin” characters. 

Johnny Arthur appeared in over 100 films and on stage in England and America. He is credited with portraying the first gay characters on film, and he became famous for playing “effeminate” roles. These roles were watered down following the implementation of the Hays Code (officially called the Motion Picture Production Code, the code was introduced in 1930 and controlled the content of films in the United States by enforcing a strict moral rules of what was permissible to be shown on screen). Arthur’s grave was only marked with a proper headstone in 2012, sixty years after his death. 

Edward Martindel was an actor in vaudeville in the early 20th century, and went on to appear in over 90 films, mostly during the silent era. 

Jack Pratt was a writer, director, and actor of the silent era who appeared in over 20 films.

Mexican born Roberto E. Guzmán was a director and actor. 

With over 200 credits to his name, Otto Hoffman was a prolific actor who worked in Hollywood for over twenty years. He was often cast as a mean, menacing character.

Marie Wells was a film actress who appeared in over thirty films throughout the 1930s. 

John Miljan appeared in Untamed with Joan Crawford, and was a highly prolific actor with a successful career playing villains. 

The Desert Song marks one of the many small roles Myrna Loy played in the lead up to her “breakthrough” in The Thin Man (1934). She became immensely popular and went on to appear in over 100 films. Loy was voted Queen of Film in 1936 (along with Clark Gable as King). In 1991, Loy received an Honorary Academy Award “In recognition of her extraordinary qualities both on screen and off, with appreciation for a lifetime's worth of indelible performances.” 

Musical Virtues
Richard Barrios states that The Desert Song 

The tantalizing YouTube clip of the opening sequence leaves me wanting more. Given that UCLA is not within easy access, I have been hunting for an archival copy to watch. I have potentially found a copy, but I'm not convinced I'll ever actually receive it. Keep your fingers crossed that I can update this post with my own review in the coming weeks! 

Much to my surprise, I did manage to obtain a copy of The Desert Song. Serial Squadron is an online forum and archive that aims to preserve old cliffhanger and serial movies, and they provide copies of old non-commercially released movies for “educational and research purposes.” I'm curious how Warner Bros, or any of the other big studios, feels about such sites selling DVDs of their old wares. 

With a run time of two hours, The Desert Song is a bit of a slog, and unfortunately, I have to agree with the critics that this film is not a winner. A tale of love and deception set in the exotic deserts of Morocco, the film is full of painful ethnic stereotypes, terrible accents, and unbelievable disguises. 

John Boles is charming as Pierre (whose name I wonder could have been the inspiration for Pierre in Singin' in the Rain), and his alter-ego the Red Shadow, and it is easy to see why Boles went on to become a much loved movie star. The same cannot be said of his love interest, Margot, played by Carlotta King. Margot comes across as sappy and silly. She has no agency, and no role except to be pretty and fall in love. King’s shrill soprano does not add to her likability. 

The comedy duo, Susan and Benjamin, played by Louise Fazenda and Johnny Arthur, reinforce the structure of the romantic duo sidekicks so prevalent in later musical theatre. Johnny Arthur is particularly hilarious, and threatens to steal the whole film with his snappy lines and excellent comic timing.

In the world of The Desert Song women are either white and pretty, or “ethnic” and sassy. Azuri, the “wilful” “half-caste native” (played with convincing energy by Myrna Loy), is one of the few women in the film who has the chance to exercise her agency. She knows how to play the system, and isn’t afraid of using her feminine charms to get what she wants, money. It’s a pity she doesn’t get a song — it could have been a fabulous early rendition of “Whatever Lola Wants”.

The soporific writing of women, along with the awful stereotypes of “Moroccan natives” and “Spanish” concubines, represented by their ridiculous rolled r’s, contributes to a mediocre script that spends too long telling and not showing. This is not helped by the long passages of tedious dialogue and the few superficial attempts at social commentary on colonial interactions. 

The filming of The Desert Song is strangely hit and miss. While some scenes are beautifully set up, with sumptuous sets and clever edits, the majority of the film is awkwardly captured, with the camera placed as though looking onto a stage. Several duets between Boles and King have them facing an invisible audience for the entire number, even though they are singing a love song to each other. The edits jump awkwardly between mid-shots and close-ups, and the continuity is laughable. 

Although the score contains several upbeat numbers and a large chorus, dance is almost never utilized. The two scenes in which dance is used, it is so paltry and sad, one wonders why they bothered.

The real saving grace of The Desert Song is the music, which is far more intricate than any thing else from 1929. Hammerstein, Harbuch, Romberg, and Silvers were masters of their craft, and The Desert Song captures their skill. The score is sumptuous and rich, full of beautifully orchestrated love songs and rousing chorus numbers. The whole film is underscored with finesse, and the music serves to drive the action. 

The operatic style of the singing somewhat detracts, but only because the lyrics are difficult to understand. In one scene, mid-way through the film, the Red Shadow commands his troops in song. It is rousing and beautifully performed, but as dialogue is only sung once in this way, the singing seems out of place. 

As Barrios wrote, The Desert Song is not a masterpiece, but it does provide a glimmer of the potential of movie musicals to be so much more than trite backstage comedies. 

Syncopation was a hit at the box office, but the critics, and film historians, hated it. With this in mind, it was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch RKO’s first film. I was pleasantly surprised by how funny and watchable this film remains after 86 years.

Date of Release: 24 March 1929
Studio: RKO
Director: Bert Glennon
Screenplay: Frances Agnew, Gene Markey, Paul S. Haschke
Music: Sammy Stept, Bud Green, Clifford Grey, Richard Myers, Leo Robin, Herman Ruby
Leading Actors: Barbara Bennett, Bobby Watson, Ian Hunter, Morton Downey, Osgood Perkins, Mackenzie Ward, Vera Teasdale, Dorothy Lee, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians

New Studio, New Sound 
The Radio-Keith-Orpheum Corporation, RKO, was formed in 1928 following a merger of three existing companies that specialized in radio, theatre and film. RKO’s head, David Sarnoff, saw the potential of radio and cinema working in tandem, and as a result Syncopation was heavily advertised on radio, along with the traditional print media blitz. 

RKO also developed an innovative “touring system,” where sound equipment was brought to previously unwired theaters. For many people outside of New York, Syncopation was the first film they had seen with sound. Film Daily (October 8, 1929) reported the film as the first talkie to be screened in South Africa. The massive publicity and “touring system” ensured Syncopation broke box office records.

Despite what the critics said, the sound in Syncopation is surprisingly good. This may be due to the fact that RKO used its own Photophone sound system, which recorded sound on film, making it a flexible means of recording. Vitaphone, which was used more widely, recorded sound on discs, and required movie houses to sync up the discs with the film. An excellent explanation of the history and differences between the various sound systems can be found at Film Sound. Professor Bethany Jacobson also provides a useful account here.

Unkind Opinions
Following a disastrous performance, a character in Syncopation laments, "Read tomorrow's papers, public opinion can be very unkind." Despite its commercial success, the critics were not kind to Syncopation. The NY Times Review was critical of the plot and sound, while Film Daily also lamented the story and poor acting. Film historian Richard Barrios described Syncopation as “dowdy,” with “undistinguished” songs and an “ordinary and derivative” plot, while Richard Koszarski lamented the film’s clunkiness. 

It’s hard to understand why the critics were so harsh. Syncopation is funny, well paced, and features a strong cast, and great music. Director Bert Glennon is better remembered as a cinematographer, and worked on over 100 films, primarily for 20th Century-Fox. His most well-known film, The House of Wax (1953), was the first major color 3D film. His skill for the visual is not lost in Syncopation, and the shots and frame compositions are clever and highly watchable. 

Stepping High
Based on Gene Markey’s novel Stepping High, the film centers around a married dancing duo, Benny and Flo. Flo desires more than their working class life, and leaves her devoted husband to find it. After being wooed by a wealthy patron, Flo realizes Benny is the best partner for her both on and off the stage, and returns. 

The screenplay written by Frances Agnew, is surprisingly tight and full of great comedy (though unfortunately, there are several homophobic references). There is often scant information about screenwriters, and this is even more true of screenwriters who happened to be women. As Kevin Brownlow writes in his introduction to Frederica Maas’ The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood, women working in Hollywood throughout the 1920s and 1930s were often treated “disgracefully” and not publicly recognized for their talents.

Frances Agnew was a screenwriter for at least 11 films in the 1920s and 1930s. Author and fellow screenwriter Frederica Maas met Agnew around this time, and described her a “a spinster nearing fifty” who “lived in a small hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.” According to Agnew’s own book published in 1913, she was an “author, actress, and photoplayer”. The book, written whilst working for famed Hollywood movie columnist Louella Parsons, entitled Motion Picture Acting: How to Prepare for Photoplaying, What Qualifications are Necessary, How to Secure an Engagement, Salaries Paid to Photoplayers, is a fascinating insight into early film acting. 

Leading Players
The entire cast is strong and well cast. Barbara Bennett puts in a solid performance as the social climbing Flo, and her character is an interesting one. The social conventions of the day suggest a woman leaving her husband to pursue her dreams is highly unacceptable, but we never truly dislike Flo. We see her frustrations in trying to achieve more than her social class allows, and how limited her options are without a partner. Despite the attention and lavish gifts presented by the wealthy Winston (played by Ian Hunter), Flo remains loyal to Benny. Perhaps this was all too modern for the critics of the day who dismissed the story as fluff. 

Barbara Bennett was the middle child of a highly theatrical family, and despite early success as a dancer, she was not as successful or well-known as her two sisters, Constance and Joan Bennett. Barbara appeared in several Broadway shows, and a few unsuccessful Hollywood musicals including Mother’s Boy, and Love Among the Millionaires. 

Bobby Watson is charming and funny as her doting husband, Benny. Bobby Watson was a vaudeville comedian famous for playing drag roles. He went on to much success in Hollywood, and became most well-known for playing Hitler after being cast as the dictator in 9 different films. He played the (uncredited) diction coach in the “Moses Supposes” number in Singin’ in the Rain!

Benny and Flo never sing, but their comedic sidekick friends, Lew and Peggy, fill the void. Played with great charisma by Morton Downey and Peggy Lee, Lew and Peggy appear at opportune moments to play and sing at Benny and Flo’s piano. Morton Downer was a well-regarded tenor, known as the “Irish Nightingale,” and was Barbara Bennet’s real life husband. Syncopation marked the film debut for actress Dorothy Lee who went on to appear in the highly enjoyable Rio Rita and several Wheeley & Woolsey comedies. 

The other supporting characters, wealthy New York socialites, are played with panache by Osgood Perkins, Mackenzie Ward, and Veree Teasdale. Syncopation is one of the few movie musicals film I’ve seen in 1929 to feature an African American actor, the role of Mammy — a help maid to Flo, is unfortunately uncredited. 

Song and Dance
With music by a group of highly prolific and successful writers, including Sam Stept who wrote hundreds of songs such as “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)," the score contains several contrasting numbers that make for a fun and very listenable soundtrack. Although some of the songs are contrived, particularly the scenes where Lew and Peggy miraculously appear to vocalize the emotions of the scene, the music has heart. 

As mentioned in previous posts, most music in films from this period is performed on camera by musicians in a performance setting. “I’ll Always Be in Love” is a rare example of music being used to underscore a character’s emotions — in this case, Benny’s pain when Flo announces she is leaving him. The touching final scene of the film is also underscored to great effect. 

“My Inspiration is You” and “Bell Song” are sweet romantic songs with voice and piano. They are contrasted by the big band jazz numbers performed by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians. A real life jazz group, Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians performed widely, appearing on stage, radio, film and television. Throughout the 1920s, the Pennsylvanians’ records were top-sellers, and the group remained popular into the 1950s. Their popularity is easy to understand from the performances captured in Syncopation. “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life,” “Tin Pan Parade,” and “Jericho” are terrific jazz numbers, complete with entertaining choreography from the band.

Aside from the band choreography, the only dancing to appear in the film are two club scenes featuring Benny and Flo's routine. Although the dancing is not slick by modern standards, the duets are earnest and contain some impressive lifts. The dancing is filmed from a wide angle, with few close ups, allowing us to see the band and Flo and Benny’s bodies in full. 

Backstage Musical Comedies 
By June 1929, audiences on the coasts were growing tired of backstage musical comedies and profits started to dip. Variety reported that theater “Managers are considering a joint protest to the producers” as the “public had had so much similar film fare during recent months.” 

Despite the lack of critical enthusiasm, with its fun score, humorous screenplay, and strong performances, Syncopation is a solid contribution to the early movie musical.

Date of Release: Dec 15, 1928
Studio: Warner Bros 
Director: Archie Mayo 
Screenplay: Robert Lord, Mark Canfield, Joe Jackson, James A. Starr
Music: James Hanley, Harry Carroll, Grant Clarke, Mort Dixon, Leo Edwards, Fred Fisher, Oscar Levant, Ballard MacDonald, Blanche Merrill, Channing Pollock, Billy Rose
Leading Actors: Fanny Brice, Guinn Williams, Edna Murphy, Andrés de Segurola, Richard Tucker, Billy Seay, Arthur Hoyt, Ann Brody, Clarissa Selwynn

The Internet Is Really Great 
As I near the end of films released in 1929, I’m catching up on a few films I’ve missed from the list. When I first started this project (way back when in 2010), I skipped over films that were lost, or weren’t publicly available. It’s remarkable how much information has been digitized and made available through the internet in the intervening five years. 

The Internet Archive is a particularly fascinating place. With a little searching, old issues of film trade mags such as Variety, Film Daily, and PhotoPlay are all available freely online. Even more astonishingly, entire soundtracks of lost films such as My Man have been made available. 

A Lost Film
My Man is famously considered a lost film. Wikipedia and IMDB claim, without references, that three of eleven reels still exist at the Associated Artists Productions (AAP) library, however no such library seems to exist. AAP and Warner Bros are now owned by Time Warner (not to be confused with Time Warner Cable), and I have been unable to find information on where or how to access their archives.

The UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Library of Congress, the two largest moving image archives in the USA, do not hold copies of the existing reels.

As My Man was released by Warner Bros, I attempted to track down the reels through them. The Warner Bros. Archives are held at the University of Southern California, but are primarily paper archives, and no film reels are kept in the collection. 

Warner Bros now offers Warner Archive Instant, an online subscription-based streaming service for “classic TV and hard-to-find movies” that works similarly to Netflix or HBOGo. My best guess is that Time Warner (who also own Turner Classics and HBO) are holding the entire collection privately in order to be able to release films on their streaming services at a profit. While streaming makes content available to the wider public, not all films are available, and some are only available for a limited time. 

Fragments and Sound Reels
Although the films reels are lost, stills and Vitaphone disks have survived. The English version of Photoplay released a photographic special feature to coincide with the film's release in England. It contains stills from the film, and copies of the book are available from the Fanny Brice Collection, Ebay and Abe Books. 

One amazing soul has made the soundtrack available on the Internet Archive. It is not easy to ascertain where this person uploaded the soundtrack from (or with what permissions), but I'm so glad they have. With its awful dialogue and pleasant underscore, the soundtrack is quite amusing to listen to. For the most part, the stilted dialogue segues unnaturally into songs with lines like, “Hey Fanny! Sing us that song you did yesterday!” repeated before every song. 

Leading Lady - Fanny Brice
My Man was a star vehicle for Broadway star Fanny Brice. She was already well known for her performances in the Ziegfeld Follies, and her signature songs, including “My Man,” “I’d Rather Be Blue Over You,” and “Second-Hand Rosie” all appeared in the film. Although clearly enamored with Fanny Brice’s comedic and singing talent, both Variety and The New York Times were critical of her “Jewishness.” This didn’t stop Brice from being one of the biggest stage stars of her day, and her life was later portrayed in the Barbara Streisand star vehicles, Funny Girl and Funny Lady. A hauntingly beautiful recording of the title song, recorded in 1921 is available at the Library of Congress, and on YouTube. Unfortunately, the film version is not quite as touching as this rendition.

Cast and Crew
Apart from Guinn Williams, who went on to a healthy career in westerns, the rest of the cast faded from Hollywood as talkies gained momentum. Director Archie Mayo and screenwriter Robert Lord, continued to work extensively in Hollywood in genres other than musicals. 

Most note-worthy from the cast and crew, apart from Fanny Brice, was screenwriter Mark Canfield, better known as Darryl F. Zanuck. Zanuck left Warner Bros in 1933, co-founded 20th Century Pictures and went on to become one of the greatest producers in Hollywood with over 200 movies to his name.  

Music
The musical numbers received universal praise from the critics. Despite the song “I’m an Indian,” a painful reminder of America’s overtly racist past, the music throughout is light-hearted and fun. It’s easy to see why the songs were already audience favorites, and the film’s advertising plays on the their popularity. The score was composed by a large team of established musicians who all went on to become highly successful songwriters for stage and screen. Most of the My Man composers were eventually inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Critical Reception
Although My Man claimed to be a “tense drama, full of tragedy and comedy,” Brice was clearly its only drawcard. Even then, some advertisements encouraged audiences to see the film even if their cinema was not yet equipped for sound. In January 1929, Variety reported that the censors had cut whole sections of dialogue from the film, but “titles bridged the gaps with a certain measure of success, few any the wiser.” 

Produced during the awkward transition between silent films and talkies, My Man was not a strong example of the early movie musical. The film was criticized for being too long, and the predictable plot, centered around the trials and tribulations of an aspiring actress working in a costume house, was derided as inane. 

The NY Times was critical of the clunky use of sound, and the film’s long length (though at 99 minutes, I wonder what those poor critics would have thought of later musicals which run for over three hours). 

Variety called My Man technically “good and smart,” but also lamented its length, and the poor execution of technical elements including sound, scenic composition, and the fact that Brice was likely to only be a “one picture star.” 

Finale
Despite the lukewarm critical praise, My Man turned a profit for Warner Bros, and ensured the studio would continue to invest in talking pictures. 

Date of Release: Nov 10, 1929 
Studio: Columbia Pictures 
Director: George Archainbaud, James Seymour, Rufus Le Maire
Screenplay: Gladys Lehman
Music: James Hanley, Sidney Clare, Sam Coslow, Charles Daniels, Dave Dreyer, David Franklin, Jack Stern, Jack Stone, Fred Thompson, Joe Trent
Lead Actors: Sally O’Neil, Jack Egan, Carmel Myers, Tom O’Brien, J. Barney Sherry, John Hyams, Charles Wilson, Doris Dawson, Gordon Elliott

Broadway Scalndals is considered a lost film, though the 9th of 9 sound reels still exists somewhere in Australia. Critics of the day agreed the film was well made, but it was too similar to all the other singing and dancing backstage comedies from 1929 to stand out. 

Columbia was not yet a major player in the film industry. Over the next few years it would establish itself through a succession of well received screwball comedies. 

Although Broadway Scandals was not a hit, most of the creative team went on to successes within in the film industry. French-born George Archainbaud directed over 100 feature films over the course of his career. He was most well-known for westerns, particularly the Hopalong Cassidy series. Credited as a “stage director”, James Seymour went on to find success as a screenwriter with hits such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933. 

The music was composed by a group of writers who were part of the small army of artists who worked in vaudeville and Hollywood churning out great volumes of songs, many of which became well-known hits. 

Although their names have largely been forgotten by the general public, we are still humming many of these songwriters' tunes. Composer James Hanley wrote mostly for the stage, and is most famously remembered for composing “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart”. Sidney Clare was a prolific movie musical songwriter. His hits include “Ma, He’s Making Eyes at Me,” “I’d Climb the Highest Mountain,” “Polly Wolly Doodle,”  and “On the Good Ship Lollypop” (the last a collaboration with Sweetie’s composer Richard A. Whiting). Dave Franklin composed “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down,” which later became famous as The Looney Tunes theme song. Fred Thompson was a British-American librettist who penned over fifty musical librettos, and found success in the both the West End and on Broadway. His hits include Rio Rita, Funny Face, and Follow the Girls. His later hit, Maygar Melody was the first musical to be broadcast live on television.

The actors of Broadway Scandals were not as fortunate as their creative counterparts. Even though they had been well-known silent film stars, most of the cast did not survive in Hollywood following the advent of talking pictures. 

Charles Wilson continued to work prolifically, most notably appearing as a supporting character in several Frank Capra films. He was also a one time director with the earlier George Jessel movie musical, Lucky Boy. Gordon Elliott went on to become famous for westerns, and became known as “Wild Bill Elliott”

All three female leads, Sally O'Neill, Doris Dawson, and Carmel Meyers, had been picked as “WAMPAS Baby Stars”, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers campaign that selected up-and-coming Hollywood contract players. Dawson and Meyers continued to work in Hollywood after 1930, though mostly in small supporting, or uncredited, roles. 

The New York screening of Broadway Scandals was preceded by three shorts, one of which was a Disney “silly symphony,” Springtime. NY Times film critic Morduant Hall described it as “humorously conceived”. 

Given the lack of information about the film, and its cast and crew, it seems that Broadway Scandals was a largely forgettable movie. It may have had more impact with audiences had it been released earlier, but by the end of 1929, audiences had seen plenty of well executed backstage singing and dancing comedies. Not every lost film is treasure waiting to be unearthed.