At the Seashore

Unlike previous Vitaphone shorts from the late 20s made by Warner Brothers that is now included on The Jazz Singer DVD, this one doesn't have any music except as background scoring. Two women on the beach, Ethyl Sinclair and Marge La Marr, talk about the wild parties one of them went to. Later a man who's obviously light in the loafers asks for a date with them. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a quaint short that got some chuckles from me and one big laugh when the man said he was a life saver and one of the women asked "What flavor?" Okay, since I'm supposed to put in ten lines before submitting, I'll just say I've enjoyed most of the shorts I've seen so far. Expect another review of another soon...

At the Seashore (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats (1929)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Child Wonder, The (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lambchops (1929)

*** (out of 4)

Happy Hottentots, The (1930) ** 1/2 (out of 4)

The final selection of shorts from The Jazz Singer Collection features some pretty good stuff. At the Seashore is a stand up act, which has a few laughs, although the two stars can be a bit annoying. The standout here is a male who shows up at the end and it's clearly a spoof on gay people as is the final joke, which is certainly politically incorrect. The Paul Tremaine short is probably the best I've seen as it features a loud, rocking jazz version of "I've Been Working on the Railroad". Lambchops features Burns and Allen doing a very funny comic routine followed by a song.

An early Vitaphone film, this Warner Brothers short apparently was one created using a very complicated system through which an accompanying record was synchronized with a movie camera. There were several serious setbacks for such a system (such as if a film skipped--it became out of sync for the rest of the film plus the records quickly wore out--and 20 showings was the normal life-span of the records) and even though it produced excellent sound, it was eventually replaced. The last of the Vitaphone films were made in 1930, then the studio switched to the standard sound-on-film system.

The very beginning of this print is a bit of a mess, but fortunately it didn't last very long. Unlike the vast majority of Vitaphone shorts, this one was NOT purely a musical but featured two lady comedians who sat on a pretend beach and exchanged banter. Some of it was very crass (such as their fat jokes) and the banter was as rapid-fire as you can find. But, it came so fast that if one of the jokes fell flat (and many did), another was coming almost immediately after--with no pause whatsoever! The overall effect is very odd but also entertaining...and obviously was based on the ladies' vaudeville routine. Later, when the music did begin, the two seemed to talk their lines instead of actually singing.

While this film did not lead to any followup films by Ethel Sinclair, Margaret La Marr did appear in 9 additional films--mostly, however, in uncredited roles. Considering that the jokes generally fell pretty flat, their not making it big in films isn't all that surprising. However, considering that at least this film is different and stands out among the surviving Vitaphone prints, I still recommend you see it.

The third disc of the Jazz Singer set contains historically important(film wise)Vitaphone shorts.The entire set is a must have.We get a smattering of the available shorts from Warners,which leaves one wanting more.These are variety acts from Vaudeville and also "straight" performers such as musical groups.This includes a short called"At The Seashore"featuring the pairing of Ethel Sinclair and Marge LaMarr.Sinclair is pretty much the straight man,while LaMarr cracks joke after joke.This a terribly droll but super funny sketch with us seemingly eavesdropping on a couple of wise cracking shrews at the beach,who cut up everything walking on two legs,male or female.If I am not mistaken you can hear some of the crew off camera laughing,and LaMarr cracks up at their reactions. The main stream of popular opinion over the years says that these shorts helped kill Vaudeville and that the performers were only cutting their own throats by appearing in them.I disagree completely.If I had lived then and seen these shorts,I would have bought tickets to go see them perform live,not say "well,I've seen all they can do,there's no more to see".That's nuts.There were quite a few shorts performers that did succeed in stretching their careers such as the Gus Arnheim band,Shaw and Lee,Trixie Friganza,Baby Rosemarie and above all Burns and Allen;the latter seen to great effect on the second to last short on the disc. You can say what you want about the performers on this disc but,while not maybe appealing to everyone's taste,there is no denying each and every one was a consummate pro with talent just oozing out of their pores.And this especially goes for "At The Seashore",a must watch short.I loved it.

Another vaudeville act captured by the Vitaphone cameras. Their material will seem well-worn today, but I can imagine this was amusing in it's time. Wise-cracking women were probably a bit of a novelty and the borderline titillating nature of their comments may have helped draw the audience in.

I notice they talk easily about drinking alcohol. They have disdain for it but not on the scale that would remind us alcohol was a banned substance at the time.

There's very little visual element to their routine, it's really more like a radio sketch with a few props added to set the scene. But it's a great little time capsule of the origins of sketch comedy.