Bubbles

When I found a bio of Mae Questal on Wikipedia, I discovered that one of her films was something called Bubbles. That title fascinated me so I clicked that name and found out that Judy Garland-who was still known at the time as Baby or Frances Gumm and was performing with her much older sisters at age 7-was also in this short. In fact, it might have been her film debut. Anyway, the future Betty Boop sang at the beginning and sounded pretty good. Ms. Garland herself has a brief solo but I really couldn't understand what she sang. Still, she also sounded pretty good. I should mention that she, and many other kids, are in costume. Also, those other kids do some dancing that weren't very exciting, to tell the truth. All of them seem to be watched by a middle-aged man who, yeah, does seem creepy! In summary, Bubbles is a fascinating curio for any Questal and Garland completists out there but I don't really recommend this.

Long thought lost (some earlier bios of Judy Garland mention this film as being gone..) we are lucky to be able to see a very early view of Baby Gumm and The Gumm Sisters. Of course, later, we would know Baby Frances Gumm as Judy Garland. This short has a surreal look, the faded black and white tend to make the faces of made up kids look bizarre and Cirque du Soileil-like. All is strange and wonderful, then the Gumm sisters take the stage and we get a glimpse into the early Gumm sisters act. The camera obviously loves Frances and we see the scene-stealing she would be known for the rest of her life. This short is made available sometimes when Turner Classic Movies does a Judy special in June of each year, watch for it between movies as a time-killer.

This "Vitaphone Verities" is dreadful, and so crude (as entertainment) that I was surprised it was made in 1930. It looked more like one of the Warner Brothers first attempts with sound experimentation. The opening credits indicated that it was filmed in Technicolor, however the surviving print was in black and white; likely the color print is lost forever.

As a poster commented, the cigar smoking fat guy who introduced various singing and dancing acts by young girls was one creepy character, or should I say -- one very "silly man"? No, I wouldn't want him baby sitting my kids or anyone else's.

Bubbles (1930)

** (out of 4)

Judy Garland makes her film debut in this short working under the title of the Gumm Sisters. This early short runs under ten minutes but that's still too long as most of the song and dance numbers are pretty bland and easily forgettable. Watching this short today is also rather disturbing considering some of the short clothing they've got these kids dressed in. I think most people will be drawn to this short because of the young appearance of Garland who is still working with her two sisters. I believe this is the third short I've seen of the group and it's clear Judy was the main talent out of the group. Also worth noting is that Mae Questel has a small part here and she's go on to do the voices of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Not to mention she'd later appear in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

This is the sort of film that single-handedly gives young whippersnappers plenty of ammo when they say that old movies are no good! While there are lots of wonderful old shorts such as Laurel and Hardy, classic cartoons, etc., the very early years of sound pictures also brought some very strange and stupid stuff as well. This 8 minutes short from Vitaphone is a great example of strange and stupid, that's for sure! There's really no plot to the film. It starts with Mae Questel blowing bubbles under a tree. I immediately recognized her as the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, though she looked much more like Mary Pickford. What I did not recognize shortly after this opening scene was a very very young Judy Garland as one of the Gumm Sisters who did some really pathetic song and dance numbers. It honestly looked like one of those grade school pageants parents are forced to endure, except in this case the sound quality was pretty poor! Only see this if you are curious about seeing Ms. Questel or Ms. Garland for purely historical reasons. Otherwise, it's like witnessing a train wreck--a ghastly and blood-curdling train wreck!

PS--I STRONGLY agree with the other two posters that found the old guy with the cigar to be really creepy! He was sort of like the officiator over this awful pageant and I don't think most parents would feel very comfortable about leaving their tykes with him!

Also, the film says 'Technicolor' at the beginning, but the surviving print today is in black & white.