| Sagacious Betty Compson speaks to you - 85 sec
Short clip of megastar Betty Compson (1897-1974) a few years after her peak. She describes what Hollywood means to her. Source unknown. Compson was married three times, the first husband (1925-1930) being pioneer film director James Cruze. She was the glamorous movie star that was always seen on the arm of infamous former New York Mayor James J. Walker.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Faded movie queen describes Hollywood
 | | Inferno Dance Scene - 155 sec
This is just my silly re-editing of a famous musical number from 1929 combined with the scary Inferno scenes from Dante's Inferno (both from the same studio). "Turn On The Heat" was written by B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Hell Hades Flames Sexpots Thighs Male Female torso bodies half naked River Styx
| | Johnny Crawford on Vicki Lawrence Show - 233 sec
Here is former child actor (played "Mark" on highly successful series "The Rifleman" opposite Chuck Connors) doing what he loves best: singing a happy song. Peter Mintun is at the piano. Broadcast 1/21/1994 on the Vicki (Lawrence) Show. Song: "You Were Meant For Me" by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Vintage television juvenile star 1930s music pianist
| | Celebrity Lookalike Agent Ron Smith - 431 sec
Whatever became of these celebrity impersonators from Los Angeles? The agency was Ron Smith's. This was broadcast in 1988. There are people doing Burt Reynolds, Marie Osmond, Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Durante, W.C. Fields, Robert Redford, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis (she's good!), Richard Nixon, Cher, Sammy Davis, Jr., Donna Summer, Clark Gable, Gerald Ford, Woody Allen (Phil Boroff), and HRM Queen Elizabeth II. The introducer of the segment is Richard Hart (as himself).
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Stars agency talent commercials
| | Joan's Bad Dream - 128 sec
Why the Motion Picture Code was enforced: Joan Blondell's nightmarish "My Forgotten Man" number, written by Al Dubin and Harry Warren for "Gold Diggers of 1933." The post-production effects are mine.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: 1930s cinema Hollywood popular song Busby Berkeley
| | Darling Blanche Friderici - 210 sec
Here is a remarkable scene from a 1930 feature, "Office Wives," in which the usually formal Lewis Stone (remember Mickey Rooney's dad, "Judge James K. Hardy"?) speaks freely and comfortably with an authoress who is obviously of the "third sex," as they were sometimes called. Released several years before the Production Code was enforced, it is doubtful this scene would have passed the censors after 1934. To closeted gay moviegoers of the early 1930s, the depiction of a successful, socially acceptable "butch lesbian" would have provoked a big nod of approval; in small American towns, however, this type of person could not survive without the fear of ridicule, intolerance and taunting. Although hers was a very familiar face to all filmgoers of the 1930s, the name of the actress Blanche Friderici (1878-1933) is not "household." She died Sunday, December 24, 1933, driving with her husband, Donald Campbell, to Grant National Park (near Visalia, CA) for the holidays. Three days earlier she had completed her scenes (she played Zeke's wife) for the Columbia release "It Happened One Night." It would be the last time she was written about in the New York Times. A Brooklyn native, the versatile Miss Friderici (often spelled Frederici) was a veteran of the legitimate stage, and for four years played Mrs. Davidson (opposite Jeanne Eagels) in Somerset Maugham's "Rain." She repeated the role in the 1928 film version, "Sadie Thompson," opposite Gloria Swanson. Her film roles were numerous and varied, although she was best known as a character actress portraying dour, older, unmarried women, sometimes royal, sometimes subservient, of different nationalities. Regardless of her stern façade, the soul of an experienced, kind lady was always detectable in her characters. She is fondly remembered as one of the dizzy aunts in "Love Me Tonight," and as the mother of Dolores Del Rio in "Flying Down To Rio."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: character actress movies theatre versatile interest tailored dyke
| | Pianist Max Rabinowitsch in "Do You Love Me" - 129 sec
Several viewers guessed correctly that this pianist was Max Rabinowitsch, but only one was able to produce a photograph. Thanks to popular Manhattan singer and tune detective Gregory Moore, the positive identity of Max Rabinowitsch has been confirmed with a photograph from the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, New York City. Among his many credits, Rabinowitsch was accompanist to both Feodor Chaliapin and Isadora Duncan. He had been part of a "duo" piano team with composer Dimitri Tiomkin, with whom he performed years later at the Hollywood Bowl. While working at Warner Bros. he dubbed the piano playing for Mary Astor in her Oscar-winning performance in 'The Great Lie.' For this appearance in the 1946 release "Do You Love Me" (directed by Russian-born Gregory Ratoff) Rabinowitsch received no credit whatsoever in the files of 20th Century-Fox. Also in scene: Reginald Gardiner and 26-year-old Maureen O'Hara. For his successful research, Mr. Moore has been given a lifetime supply of Ned Sparks' own brand of window putty.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: concert classical virtuoso piano soloist cinema
| | Strictly Pre-Jitterbug Ballroom - 163 sec
Yes, there was a time when American social dancing could be as informal as an after-work or after-dinner pastime. The concept was not about competition, but about socializing and enjoying the music played by the orchestra. Some dance halls would advertise dance contests on a regular basis, as a means of attracting more customers. A five-dollar prize would be a grand enticement during the economic Depression of the 1930s. A sequined costume, slit all the way up the side (like the hooker outfits on 'Dancing With the Stars') was not a prerequisite, but a young lady might look smart in a little hat cocked to the side. In polite society, hats were not worn indoors by men, unless you were Ted Healy. Of course, this film scene is not the real thing. It is a movie that depicts the lives of New York taxi drivers. James Cagney and Loretta Young are the losing couple, and George Raft and his partner are the winners. It was shot in the later months of 1931 and released in January 1932 as "Taxi." The first tune heard is "China Boy" (Dick Winfree/Phil Boutelje) a warhorse from 1922. The last number is "Darktown Strutters' Ball" (1917) by Shelton Brooks.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Fox-trot Peabody dance sweet music band
| | That Dear Mister Gable - 80 sec
A snappy tune for a snappy dude. No wonder Clark Gable was so adored by the public. (The tune is "A Mile A Minute" by Bernice Petkere, played by Johnny Green, His Piano & Orchestra, 1935.)
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: vintage male movie star muscle hunk box athlete gay interest
| | Leo F. Forbstein conducts Dick Powell - 145 sec
"T h e B r o a d w a y G o n d o l i e r" was released 27 July 1935. In it, we catch a rare glimpse of Leo Forbstein (1892-1948), executive in charge of music at Warner Bros. during the studio's golden age of musical pictures (i.e. all the Busby Berkeley films made at Warner Bros.). Here he is, in a cameo part, conducting a rehearsal and then an audition for Dick Powell, who is seen with Joan Blondell, whom Powell would marry in 1936. Like most conductors in early talkies, Forbstein had experience as a theatre conductor in his home state of Missouri. Before he was hired by Warner Bros (1926) he has conductor at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. His brother, known as Lou Forbes (1902-1981) was also an important conductor of films between 1937-1959. Forbstein was succeeded by Ray Heindorf, who is responsible for hundreds of orchestrations heard in these classic films.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: 1930s movie musical Busby Berkeley
| | Al Dubin and Harry Warren on film - 251 sec
Beginning with the feature "42nd St.," Al Dubin and Harry Warren were worth millions of dollars to Warner Bros. studios. From that point on, their song hits became synonymous with the studio: You're Getting To Be a Habit With Me, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, The Gold Diggers' Song (We're In the Money), I Only Have Eyes For You, Shadow Waltz, and Lullaby of Broadway are only a few of their phenomenal successes. In 1933 the studio released a nice film short of Harry Warren while his lyric writing partner, Al Dubin, watched from the side lines. Here are three examples of Warren & Dubin cameo appearances founded in released features from 1933-1935. The final example is Helen Morgan singing their new song "The Little Things You Used To Do."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: composer lyricist movie musical Busby Berkeley
| | "Pennies From Heaven: The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy" - 259 sec
COMING SOON! On April 18 and 19, 2008, The St. Albans Organ Theatre, in St. Albans, Herts, U.K., is pleased to present "Pennies From Heaven, The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer.'" The biographical and musical show will be performed by international cabaret star, Steve Ross, and popular New York baritone, Gregory Moore, who is also the author and director. The show was premiered at New York's Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts in 2005, to commemorate the generous donation of Tracy materials made to the Library by his family. Tracy, who emigrated to America from Russia, died in 1997 at age 98. Noted New York television host (and friend of Arthur Tracy's), Joe Franklin, acclaimed "Pennies From Heaven" as "...the best show I saw all year...I can't recall the last time I saw such a heartfelt standing ovation!" In February of 2007, Messrs. Ross and Moore (along with London accordion virtuoso, Romano Viazzani) brought their show to London's Jermyn Street Theatre for one memorable, sold-out performance, precipitating their return engagement in October of 2007. One of the most popular American performers in the UK in the years just before World War II, Arthur "The Street Singer" Tracy (1899-1997) is unjustly "under-remembered" today. But in his day, his full-voiced renditions of the great songs of that era were wildly popular with British and American audiences alike. In the words of Michael Darvell, of the classicalsource.com, "[Steve] Ross' narration punctuates the music with memories and tales of the life of Arthur Tracy, a Ukrainian born, naturalised American who was given his western name when he passed through Ellis Island with his family aged seven, into the American dream. Ross brings his natural wit to the fore as he leads his audience through the evening, keeping the performance alive with Tracy's music, heavy on thirties romance and now steeped in nostalgia. Throughout the evening Viazzani's entrancing accordion adds a continental flavour to the music, setting the tone by opening with the emotive gypsy melody "Marta, Rambling Rose of the Wildwood." Moore takes the role of Arthur Tracy's stage persona "The Street Singer" and shares the vocals with Ross, looking every inch as though he's stepped through sixty years into this charming setting, where he beguiles and enchants."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: England American popular music singer baritone 1930s phonograph radio films
| | COMING SOON! The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy - 187 sec
"Pennies From Heaven: The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy." On April 18 and 19, 2008, The St. Albans Organ Theatre, in St. Albans, Herts, U.K., is pleased to present "Pennies From Heaven, The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer.'" The biographical and musical show will be performed by international cabaret star, Steve Ross, and popular New York baritone, Gregory Moore, who is also the author and director. The show was premiered at New York's Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts in 2005, to commemorate the generous donation of Tracy materials made to the Library by his family. Tracy, who emigrated to America from Russia, died in 1997 at age 98. Noted New York television host (and friend of Arthur Tracy's), Joe Franklin, acclaimed "Pennies From Heaven" as "...the best show I saw all year...I can't recall the last time I saw such a heartfelt standing ovation!" In February of 2007, Messrs. Ross and Moore (along with London accordion virtuoso, Romano Viazzani) brought their show to London's Jermyn Street Theatre for one memorable, sold-out performance, precipitating their return engagement in October of 2007. One of the most popular American performers in the UK in the years just before World War II, Arthur "The Street Singer" Tracy (1899-1997) is unjustly "under-remembered" today. But in his day, his full-voiced renditions of the great songs of that era were wildly popular with British and American audiences alike. In the words of Michael Darvell, of the classicalsource.com, "[Steve] Ross' narration punctuates the music with memories and tales of the life of Arthur Tracy, a Ukrainian born, naturalised American who was given his western name when he passed through Ellis Island with his family aged seven, into the American dream. Ross brings his natural wit to the fore as he leads his audience through the evening, keeping the performance alive with Tracy's music, heavy on thirties romance and now steeped in nostalgia. Throughout the evening Viazzani's entrancing accordion adds a continental flavour to the music, setting the tone by opening with the emotive gypsy melody "Marta, Rambling Rose of the Wildwood." Moore takes the role of Arthur Tracy's stage persona "The Street Singer" and shares the vocals with Ross, looking every inch as though he's stepped through sixty years into this charming setting, where he beguiles and enchants."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Music vocal 1930s baritone radio movies records vaudeville music hall
| | The Rejected Demo - 593 sec
This is what happens when your video gets into the wrong hands. Pennies From Heaven: The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy, "The Street Singer," featuring Steve Ross, Gregory Moore and Romano Viazzani.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: theatre vocal music
| | The Charioteers: You Turned The Tables On Me - 88 sec
Here they are- formed in 1930 by Billy Williams in Ohio. This clip is from 1936-'37. Music by Louis Alter; Lyrics by Sidney D. Mitchell, from the 20th Century-Fox film Sing, "Baby, Sing," starring Alice Faye.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Black vocal ensemble group African American
| | Isabell Jewell - Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt, 1935 - 190 sec
I was able to remedy the interrupted song from the previous upload because I found a reprise near the end of the film. As I said in the previous version's description: On these channels you can find composer Burton Lane and lyricist Harold Adamson songs (such as "Tony's Wife" and "Oh Me! Oh My! Oh You!"). Now here's another hidden gem, "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt," a lovely song that enjoyed a short period of popularity in 1935. I recommend the sophisticated fox trot recording made by Johnny Green & His Orchestra, with vocal by Marjorie Logan. Isabel Jewell sings it before she joins the table of Ricardo Cortez. And yes, Miss Jewell is the same actress who played Emmy Slattery in "Gone With the Wind." In her first feature, "Blessed Event," she sang "Waitin' For a Call From You."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Movie singer chorus 1930s soundtrack film vocal
| | Constance Collier at The Organ - 51 sec
Yes, this is a real woman. Seated at the residence pipe organ in a movie mansion is actress Constance Collier, playing a part in a film from 1935. The song is "I Saw Stars," a forgettable ditty written by the ubiquitous team of Al Goodhart, Al Hoffman and Maurice Sigler. Born in England in 1878, Miss Collier played many regal roles in her career on stage and in films. She also wrote and adapted stage plays. She died in New York in 1955. She is joined on the bench by Ricardo Cortez, who plays her dashing son.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Home entertainment center 1935 console
| | Isabel Jewell Warbles Burton Lane/Harold Adamson Song, 1935 - 170 sec
YouTube has helped proliferate the work of many unjustly neglected song writers of the 20th Century. On these channels you can find composer Burton Lane and lyricist Harold Adamson songs (such as "Tony's Wife" and "Oh Me! Oh My! Oh You!"). Now here's another hidden gem, "Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt," a lovely song that enjoyed a short period of popularity in 1935. I recommend the sophisticated fox trot recording made by Johnny Green & His Orchestra, with vocal by Marjorie Logan. Isabel Jewell sings it before she joins the table of Ricardo Cortez. And yes, Miss Jewell is the same actress who played Emmy Slattery in "Gone With the Wind." In her first feature, "Blessed Event," she sang "Waitin' For a Call From You."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Cabaret 1930s vintage chanteuse songbook movie romantic
| | Lost Three Stooges Short - 44 sec
Because of a dispute with comic actor Larry Fine, Moe Howard and his brother Jerry ("Curley") Howard were unable to honor their contract with Tarantula Films Corp. Their well-known brother, Shemp Howard, was under contract to Vitaphone and was unable to appear. At the last minute, their least funny brother, Leslie, stepped in to save the day. After Leslie's
first day of shooting, Larry Fine saw the results of Leslie's first hopeless scenes. Fine quickly resolved his differences with the Howards and returned to the studio. The only footage that survived was the opening credits, found in the rubble of a studio fire during World War II. And if you don't believe me, then my name isn't nedsparks.
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: Three Stooges
| | Cesar Romero (1907-1994) "Butch" - 135 sec
If "People" magazine had been around in 1936, I'm sure Cesar Romero would have been voted "Sexiest Man Alive." Here is 1936 footage of the handsome Cesar Julio Romero, Jr., born in New York of Cuban ancestry. Although some remember him only as "The Joker" on the 1966-1968 TV series "Batman," his career as a handsome leading man in movies began in 1933. His nickname was "Butch."
Auteur : nedsparks
Tags: actor singer movie star hunk beefcake gay interest sexy Latino
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