The Show of Shows (film)

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The Show of Shows (1929)
Directed by John G. Adolfi
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Written by J. Keirn Brennan and Frank Fay
Starring All Star Revue
Music by Edward Ward
Cinematography Barney McGill
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) November 21, 1929
Running time 128 min (107 minutes in Technicolor)
Country Flag of United States United States
Language English
IMDb profile
Chinese Fantasy number.
Chinese Fantasy number.

The Show of Shows was a 1929 lavish revue film which cost $850,000 and featured most of the contemporary Warner Bros film stars. It was styled in the same format as the earlier MGM film 'Hollywood Revue'. Photographed almost entirely in Technicolor, the cost of the film meant that although it performed well at the box office, it did not return as much profit as the MGM film.

Seen today in incomplete black and white dupe prints, it remains of historical interest, showing the talent working at Warner Bros. in the early talkie period. The film features all the stars then working at Warner Bros. except for Dorothy Mackaill and Al Jolson. Virtually all the performers shown would vanish from the studio by 1931, after tastes had shifted due to the affects of the Great Depression which began to be felt late in 1930. At that time, the sophisticated and musical talent that had characterized the 1920's was replaced by a new set of stars, more in tune with the common man and with more sober times, headed by the likes of Warren William, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Glenda Farrell, William Powell, Kay Francis, Lee Tracy, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and James Cagney. In 1929 however, these were as yet unknown names in the movie world. In 'Show of Shows' we see many of the performers who were popular in silent movies mixed in with hand picked stage stars and novelty acts.

The emcee of the film was Frank Fay, who had an unusual style of barbed sarcasm. In an era of almost naive optimism, he stands out as a witty devil's advocate. Fay's unique style appears to have been often misunderstood by reviewers and audiences and interpreted as bad technique, but Fay is clearly sending up the film, albeit slyly. He uses this technique to good effect in introducing each act and has a running joke about doing his own song, which he eventually performs near the end of the film.

What follows here is a detailed description of the existing prints

NOTE - This film has a long and complex structure. This entry is currently being enlarged and worked on and is incomplete. It will require delicate and objective enhancements to add further detail.

  • Prologue - In a scene set in the French Revolution, Hobart Bosworth as an executioner and H.B. Warner as an aristocrat who is executed on a guillotine. This strange and morbid opening serves to show that traditional stage shows are finished. Up until 1929, most big cities had added stage acts before silent movies. These were costly and sound films would make them nostly obsolete. As the aristocrat tries to speak he is interrupted by the executioner who rants that they have heard his remarks too often and it is time for him to be gone. After the blade falls the executional joyously shouts: "Prologue is Dead! On with the Show of Shows!"
  • Military March - lead by Monte Blue and Pasadena American Legion Fife and Drum Corps. A very static pageant set entirely on a huge set of steps with the cadets changing formation to provide a series of color effects in a manner which would be popularised much later by Busby Berkeley.
  • What's Become of the Florodora boys? - Myrna Loy, Marian Nixon, Ben Turpin, Lupino Lane, and many others in a partial parody of the now largely forgotten 'Floradora' Edwardian stage show. This was the first of its kind --- a lavish show featuring girls in a chorus, and it would attract a generation of male admirers before passing into history. Thus, the production was still a living memory among many in 1929, prompting this gentle parody.
  • Motion Picture Pirates - featuring Ted Lewis with a fantasy number set of a pirate ship headed by cut-throat Noah Beery and Tully Marshall with Wheeler Oakman, Kala Pasha and other well known movie villains of the era. A group of beautiful girls are captured and saved from al awful fate (almost) by light comedian Johnny Arthur sending up Douglas Fairbanks. The pirates literally blow him overboard. Finally the day is saved by Ted Lewis - a well known bandleader at that time, who had recently appeared in his own starring vehicle for Warner Bros., "Is Everybody Happy?" (1929), a film now deemed lost. His trademark was a battered top hat and his signature tune was 'Me and my shadow'.
  • Dear Little Pup - sung by Frank Fay
  • The Only Song I know - Nick Lucas
  • If I Could Learn to Love - In a brief introductory sequence, missing from circulating prints, Georges Carpentier is introduced by Frank Fay, who provokes Carpentier into lightly tapping him with his formidable hands, to which Fay comically overreacts and then beats a hasty retreat. Georges Carpentier was a French lightweight boxer who was briefly adopted as a star in the Maurice Chevalier mould. He sings here against an Eiffel Tower backdrop, accompanied by Patsy Ruth Miller and Alice White and later, a singing and dancing chorus of girls. Ultimately, everyone removes their street clothes to reveal athletic togs underneath, and a precision dance routine follows, with the participants positioned on an upright series of geometric struts.
  • Recitations - Beatrice Lillie, Louise Fazenda, Lloyd Hamilton and Frank Fay. A series of stark limerick recitations which are first performed by each performer whole and then line by line, until when mixed up they form a bizarre and suggestive product. The sequence also includes a parody of the MGM song "Your Mother and Mine" and a series of purposely lame and pointless practical jokes.
  • Meet My Sister - Introduced by a deliberately nervous Richard Barthelmess, followed by 'Hollywood' sisters including Dolores and Helene Costello singing "Meet My Sister," along with Loretta Young and Sally Blane, Sally O'Neil and Molly O'Day, Alice and Marceline Day, Marion Byron and Harriett Lake (later better known as Ann Sothern) and others. Seen today, a good song is partly compromised by having each set of 'twins' representing a different country against a backdrop serving to illustrate each in a display of international stereotypes (this number exist in color in a faded private print which has the start and end partly removed).
  • Intermission - Ten Minutes - Title Card (missing from some prints)
  • Chinese Fantasy - Introduced, via sharp barks, by canine performer Rin Tin Tin; with Nick Lucas singing "Li-Po-Li" and Myrna Loy dancing. This lavish production number is a good illustration of the film as a whole and still entertains today. It survives in Technicolor).
  • Frank Fay with Sid Silvers - Amusing skit with Sid Silvers stepping in as an annoying spectator who is auditioning for a solo spot, by showing Frank Fay his own imitation of Al Jolson singing "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody." Jolson, although a Warner Bros top star, does not appear.
  • If Your Best Friend Won't Tell you (Why Should I?) - Sid Silvers back with Frank Fay wickedly singing about the horrors of halitosis.
  • Larry Ceballos' Black and White Girls - Introduced by Sid Silvers, danced by chorus girls dressed up in black and white dresses. One half of the girls wear outfits with black fronts and white backs (with corresponding wigs) the others wear outfits exactly the reverse. As the girls turn about in formation the lines of dancers switch from white to black, or form geometric patterns. Music instrumental Jumping Jack. A reworking of an almost identical dance routine, set to "The Doll Dance," that appeared in the 1928 Technicolor two-reeler, "Larry Ceballos' Roof Garden Revue."

As an afterpiece the dance appears to begin again but is halted by Louise Fazenda as the "Dancing Delegate" complaining about the costumes ("These skirts are TOO SHORT!")demanding that Fay be brought on stage- which happens so rapidly he appears without his pants.

  • Your Love Is All I Crave - An emotional and surprisingly moving torch song of lost love sung by Frank Fay. Fay introduces the number with a topical and (for 1929) surprisingly sharp series of jokes- he describes being in a play where the entire cast entered dressed in rags; "It was a futuristic piece". He also tweaks his own image: "The leading lady called to me: "My Stalwart Youth"..........(I was heavily made up).....".
  • King Richard III (in excerpt from Henry VI (Part III)) - Introduced and recited by John Barrymore. This Shakespeare extract was thought to add a bit of class at the time. Deliberately picked as a particularly grim sequence, the delivery or meaning could easily be accepted by any contemporary audience.
  • Mexican Moonshine - Comedy sketch with Monte Blue as a condemned man, and Frank Fay as his executioner, accompanied by Lloyd Hamilton, Albert Gran and others as rather effeminate soldiers. ("Oh Penelope" calls Fay, and Lloyd Hamilton walks over swaying his hips.) It is a parody of 'Chesterfield' Tobacco advertising. Much the same idea, parodying a cigarette advertising slogan, also appears in the opening seconds of 'Gold Diggers of Broadway' (1929)
  • Lady Luck Finale - A genuinely spectacular finale lasting over quarter of an hour. It starts with Alexander Gray singing a full blooded version of the song 'Lady Luck' inside an enormous ballroom set with huge windows revealing a midnight green sky. The set is backed by stairs in varied warm colors, down which a procession of novelty acts, pastel colored dancers with pink and green costumes, flood the stage, each with a different number to perform against a fast moving musical backing. The red lined ceiling reveals chandeliers to which girls have been fixed all in the name of spectacle. Tap dancers (both White and Black groups) dance themselves into a frenzy on a highly polished wooden floor. This all ends as Betty Compson walks down the full length of the stage in procession to meet Alexander Gray and with the whole cast assembled, hundreds of colored streamers drop from the roof as 'Lady Luck' reaches a finale.
  • Curtain of Stars - With the cast appearing with their heads poked through holes in canvas singing "Lady Luck", especially John Barrymore making facial gestures while he pretends to be singing along with the others.

[edit] Songs

"You Were Meant For Me" by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed - Sung by Bull Montana and Winnie Lightner

"Singing in the Bathtub" Music by Michael Cleary, Lyrics by Herb Magidson and Ned Washington - Sung by Winnie Lightner with a chorus of men dressed as women wearing comic bathing suits, who in turn are joined by fat cigar smoking men in reclining in glass bathtubs.

"Lady Luck" - Music and Lyrics by Ray Perkins, Sung by Nick Lucas, Alexander Gray and Ted Lewis

"Motion Picture Pirates" - Music and Lyrics by M.K. Jerome

"If I Could Learn to Love" - Music by M.K. Jerome, Lyrics by Herman Ruby - Sung by Georges Carpentier

"Isle of Pingo-Pongo" - Music by Joseph Burke, Lyrics by Al Dubin, Sung by Winnie Lightner

"The Only Song I Know" - Music by Ray Perkins, Lyrics by J. Keirn Brennan

"Meet My Sister", Music by Ray Perkins, Lyrics by J. Keirn Brennan

"Your Mother and Mine", Music by Gus Edwards, Lyrics by Joe Goodwin

"Just an Hour of Love", Music by Edward Ward, Lyrics by Alfred Bryan

"Li-Po-Li", Music by Edward Ward, Lyrics by Alfred Bryan, Sung by Mr Nick Lucas

"Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", Music by Jean Schwartz, Lyrics by Sam Lewis and Joe Young

"If Your Best Friends Won't Tell You (why should I)", Music by Joseph Burke, Lyrics by Al Dubin, Sung by Frank Fay

"Your Love is All I Crave", Music by Jimmy Johnson, Lyrics by Perry Bradford and Al Dubin, Sung by Frank Fay

"What's Become of the Floradora Boys?", Music and Lyrics by Ray Perkins

"Dear Little Pup", Music by Ray Perkins, Lyrics by J. Keirn Brennan, Sung by Frank Fay

[edit] Trivia

  • John Barrymore made his first appearance in a sound film and was paid $25,000 for the few minutes he appears.
  • The film cost $850,000 and was the most expensive talkie released in 1929
  • Heard during the finale is the melody "Believe Me," which formed the basis for a sequence likely featuring Irene Bordoni, Ann Pennington, Myrna Loy, Grant Withers and possibly others, which was cut before release. A portion of this sequence may have been used in the 1930 Technicolor Two-Reeler, "Hello, Baby!" with Pennington.
  • The decidedly odd staging in the dance portion of "If I Could Learn to Love" would be replicated, almost exactly, in the Ken Russel film "The Boyfriend," some 40 years later.

[edit] Cast

Complete Credited Cast

  • Harry Akst - On-Screen Pianist
  • Armida - 'Meet My Sister' and 'Lady Luck' Finale
  • Johnny Arthur - 'Motion Picture Pirates'
  • Mary Astor - 'Motion Picture Pirates'
  • John Barrymore - 'Henry VI Part III'
  • Richard Barthelmess - Introduces 'Meet My Sister'
  • Noah Beery - The 'Motion Picture Pirates' and 'Mexican Moonshine' sketches
  • Sally Blaine - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • Monte Blue - Condemned man in 'Mexican Moonshine' sketch
  • Irène Bordoni - singing 'One Hour of Love'
  • Hobart Bosworth - Prologue (executioner)
  • Jack Buchanan - Himself (Not in American Release Prints)
  • Marion Byron - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • Georges Carpentier - 'If I Could Learn To Love' Number
  • Chester Conklin - 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Heinie Conklin - Himself
  • Dolores Costello - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • Helene Costello - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • William Courtenay - 'Bicycle Built for Two' Sequence
  • Viola Dana - 'Motion Picture Pirates' and 'Meet My Sister number
  • Alice Day - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' and 'Meet My Sister numbers
  • Marceline Day - 'Meet My Sister number
  • Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Frank Fay - Master of Ceremonies
  • Louise Fazenda - 'Recitations' sketch
  • Lloyd Hamilton - 'Florodora', 'Recitations' and 'Mexican Moonshine' sketch
  • Lupino Lane - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' number
  • Lila Lee - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' number
  • Ted Lewis - Himself (as Ted Lewis & His Orchestra)
  • Winnie Lightner - 'Pingo Pongo' and 'Singing in the Bathtub' numbers
  • Beatrice Lillie - 'Recitations' sketch
  • Lola - 'Lady Luck' Finale
  • Myrna Loy - 'Florodora Boys', 'Believe Me' and 'Chinese Fantasy' numbers
  • Nick Lucas - 'Lady Luck' solo, 'The Only Song I Know' and 'Chinese Fantasy numbers
  • Tully Marshall - 'Motion Picture Pirates' and 'Mexican Moonshine' sequences
  • Shirley Mason - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • Patsy Ruth Miller - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' and 'If I Could Learn to Love' numbers
  • Bull Montana - 'Singing in the Bathtub' number
  • Lee Moran - 'Singing in the Bathtub' sequence
  • Chester Morris - '$20 Bet' sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Jack Mulhall - '$20 Bet' Sketch
  • Marian Nixon - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' number
  • Molly O'Day - 'Meet My Sister'
  • Sally O'Neil - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' and 'Meet My Sister numbers
  • Kalla Pasha - 'Motion Picture Pirates'
  • Anders Randolf - 'Motion Picture Pirates'
  • Rin Tin Tin - Himself, introducing "An Oriental Fantasy"
  • Sojin - '$20 Bet' Sketch
  • Ann Sothern - 'Meet My Sister' and 'Bicycle Built for Two' numbers - Unverified (as Harriet Byron)
  • Ben Turpin - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' number
  • Ada Mae Vaughn - 'Meet My Sister'
  • Alberta Vaughn - 'Meet My Sister'
  • Edward Ward - (as Eddie Ward)
  • H.B. Warner - Aristocrat in Prologue
  • Alice White - 'If I Could Learn to Love'
  • Lois Wilson - 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Grant Withers - 'Believe Me'(cut) and 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Loretta Young - 'Meet My Sister' number
  • William Bakewell - 'Bicycle Built for Two' number
  • Anthony Bushell - (uncredited)
  • Ethlyne Clair - 'Motion Picture Pirates' number
  • Michael Cleary - (uncredited)
  • Ruth Clifford - (uncredited)
  • William Collier Jr. - (uncredited)
  • Betty Compson - 'Lady Luck' Finale, as Lady Luck (herself)
  • Jack Curtis - (uncredited)
  • Sally Eilers - Herself (uncredited)
  • Pauline Garon - Girl (uncredited)
  • Albert Gran - 'Singing in the Bathtub' sequence
  • Alexander Gray - Vocalist, 'Lady Luck' Finale
  • Julanne Johnston - (uncredited)
  • Frances Lee - (uncredited)
  • Jacqueline Logan - 'Motion Picture Pirates' sequence
  • Marcelle - 'Lady Luck' Finale
  • Otto Matieson - (uncredited)
  • Philo McCullough - (uncredited)
  • Edna Murphy - 'Motion Picture Pirates' sequence
  • Carmel Myers - 'Motion Picture Pirates' sequence
  • Wheeler Oakman - (uncredited)
  • Gertrude Olmstead - 'Motion Picture Pirates' sequence
  • E.J. Ratcliffe - (uncredited)
  • Bert Roach - 'What's Become of the Florodora Boys' sequence
  • Reginald Sharland - (uncredited)
  • Dave Silverman - (uncredited)
  • Louis Silvers - (uncredited)
  • Sid Silvers - Al Jolson imitation, introduces 'Black and White Girls' number
  • Norman Spencer - (uncredited)
  • Lester Stevens - (uncredited)
  • Ted Williams - (uncredited)
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