On with the Show!

OK, so it's the old story about what goes on backstage in the production of a Broadway musical----even to the cliché of the star getting sick and the understudy taking her place and becoming a big star. Many critics see this as the inspiration for 42nd STREET, but this film has the period charm that only the transitional talkie musicals could have. Part of it is quite stagebound-----including musical numbers as you probably would have seen them on the Broadway stage in the 1920's, so if you don't care for very early musicals, you'd better pass on this one.

This was the film that introduced the song "Am I Blue" sung by a very young Ethel Waters, and followed by the even better "Birmingham Bertha" with black dancer John Bubbles. You should be warned that there are black dancers in the cast who wear some outrageous politically incorrect costumes---including one number where their costumes have watermelon stripes on them! And seeing Joe E. Brown as a mean comedian who constantly argues with Arthur Lake (better known as Dagwood Bumstead in the BLONDIE Series) will be something of a revelation to his fans. The film was made in the early two-strip Technicolor process, which unfortunately has yet to be found, but is still quite enjoyable in B & W. Remember, although this is a very charming transitional talkie musical, modern audiences will only see it as a horribly dated antique.

When I saw "On With the Show" on Turner Classic Movies, I was very disappointed in the poor quality of the picture and the sound, but was very pleased by some clever dialog, although realizing some of it was not so clever, and I was absolutely in awe of the performance of Betty Compson.

She was not only lovely just to look at, in her big scene near the end, she stole the show.

She was more than charming -- she was adorable.

Joe E. Brown's presence in a movie is usually enough to make me skip it but here he is toned down considerably, is not so silly, and he performs an eccentric dance with a surprising athleticism. I actually liked him in "On With the Show."

Sally O'Neil was surprising. She sounded at first like some precocious child, with little-girlish voice, but when this caterpillar bursts out of her cocoon, she is a star.

One other aspect of this film is almost unique for its time: The cast is integrated. Right there on stage are black dancers with white dancers, although to be accurate there is not interaction between white and black. Still, it was a start.

Ethel Waters made what was apparently her film debut, and surely was an immediate hit since she was already a star in other media.

A 21st century viewer of "On With the Show" must consider context, remember the times in which it was made, during the changeover from silents to talkies, to be able to appreciate it fully.

There were lots of great individual talents involved, and a viewer should try to ignore the poor framing of the scenes and the poor quality of the sound, at least some of which might be because of the age or even generation of the print.

But appreciate the historicity as well as the talent, and you will enjoy "On With the Show" as much as I did.

Released in 1929, On With the Show was filmed during the transitional period when silent films became talkies. Some films seemed little more than a collection of vaudeville acts strung together (a tradition that lasted, to some extent, even through the forties). Much of the acting is over the top and overly broad, because silent film stars were directed that way and vaudeville/stage performers have to play to the last seat in the theater. It is precisely the fact that OWTS captures that transitional period that makes it so interesting and so entertaining.

The film is basically a presentation of a stage musical, similar to Showboat, with some backstage scenes involving characters in the stage show. In its attempt at authenticity, the camera often films too broadly, sometimes including the entire proscenium arch.

The sets for the play with the film are beautiful, even when viewed in B&W. The play is a lavish production, sometimes reminiscent of a Busby Berkley production. The action includes a motorcycle, mounted horsemen and dogs running across the stage.

In the dance numbers, we see plenty of minstrel-like troupers dancing in rows. The actual dances they perform are rather amateurish by today's standards. Only the black tap dancers display superior talents and demonstrate that tap dancing has not changed so much, fundamentally, over the years. It was already a mature art form.

A few performances had little to do with the stage play, if anything. But that seems true to the times. Most notable is Ethel Waters. who performs two enjoyable numbers that highlight her vocal talents.

Joe E. Brown is a lot of fun to watch. His comedic timing is precise in this film. He also performs a specialty dance that shows him to be a real athlete.

Three actresses play significant parts in the story. It is interesting to note their backgrounds.

Betty Compson plays Nita, the actress who portrays the Phantom Girl in the musical. Betty had a strong background in Vaudeville, where she started out as a teen violinist. She appeared in 9 films release in 1929.

Sally O'Neill plays the part of Kitty, the coat check girl who saves the play by going on stage. Sally also had a solid vaudeville background and appeared in 8 films released in 1929.

Louise Fazenda plays an actress whose sole contribution to the play is a wild, offstage laugh. Louise had a background in silent films, but made the transition to talkies. She appeared in 10 films released in 1929.

I found much of the music enjoyable. Some had silly lyrics, which was common. Consider the lyrics "Drink your julep with your two lips"--fun to hear.

In the end, OWTS is very dated and that is why it is such a hoot to watch. It captures many bits of the era's humor and preserves actual pieces of vaudeville.

Early Warner Bros. musical, stagy, slow, and mostly of historical interest. The poor quality film available for viewing doesn't help. It's interesting to see how much the movie musical improved between this movie and, for instance, "42nd Street" (also a Warner Bros production) just a few years later. The dialog portions are very static, presumably due to the requirements of early sound pick up systems. However, the result is to bring the action to a halt. The overacting is almost unintentionally laughable. Betty Compson finally has a decent scene near the end of the movie. Arthur Lake is just plain irritating, and I couldn't even warm up to Joe E. Brown. Some of the singers seems to be recorded live, and others poorly dubbed. By far, the most interesting scenes are Ethel Waters singing "Am I Blue", and the quartet of black tap dancers who are unidentified.

ON WITH THE SHOW (Warner Brothers, 1929), directed by Alan Crosland, is the studio's contribution to MGM's box office hit, THE Broadway MELODY. Unlike other backstage musicals from that era, this one consists of no dress rehearsals nor pre-show preparations. It skips all that in favor of what's presented on opening night at the Wallace Theater somewhere in New Jersey. The opening title card sums it up best, "For weeks, 'The Phantom Sweetheart' troupe has staggered through the rough tank towns toward distant Broadway - It's pathway strewn with unpaid bills. Tonight would tell the tale, Broadway or Bust." And Broadway or Bust it is. In fact, an odd mixture of two stories for the price of one. The first being the behind the scenes plot development revolving around the theatrical troupe and staff. Instead of the usual unrelated musical numbers most commonly found in Hollywood back-stagers, the second story titled "The Phantom Sweetheart," is set to song and dance on a Southern plantation where a young man (Arthur Lake) falls in love with a veiled goddess (Betty Compson) prior to his wedding day. Not seen in its entirety, the stage production is interrupted with inter-cuts of the backstage story.

In spite of Lake and Compson heading the cast, their scenes, along with others, are secondary. There are no characters who actually dominate the story from start to finish, but an assortment of those coming in and out whenever their scenes allow. The center of attention really belongs to the least likely pair of Jimmy (William Bakewell), the head usher, and his girlfriend, Kitty (Sally O'Neil), a coat room girl, whom Jimmy feels has the "stuff" to make it on Broadway After the rise of the curtain where the actors perform to a full house, situations occur, all involving money. Jerry (Sam Hardy), the producer, owes Sam Bloom (Purnell B. Pratt) unpaid bills and keeps him from taking back his scenery or taking what's owed him from the box office cash receipts; Willie Durant (Wheelar Oakman), the show's backer, refuses to guarantee capital income and later forces himself on Kitty; Harold Astor (Lake), the juvenile leading man in need of cash to give to his mother, constantly bickering about scene stealing with fellow comedian Joe Beaton (Joe E. Brown); and leading lady Nita French (Compson), refusing to continue her performance unless she receives the $400 due her. The very moment of her strike, the box office gets held up by a mysterious figure holding a gun. All this, and opening night, too, but the show must go on, Broadway or bust.

With score composed by Harry Akst and Grant Clarke, the musical program is as follows: "Welcome Home" (sung by Henry Fink); "Let Me Have My Dreams" (sung by Betty Compson); "Am I Blue?" (sung by Ethel Waters); "Lift the Tulips in Your Two Lips" (sung by Fink and Josephine Houston, danced by the Four Covans); "Let Me Have My Dreams" (reprise by Compson); specialty dance solo number (Joe E. Brown); "In The Land of Let's Pretend" (sung by chorus); "Don't It Mean a Thing to You" (sung by Josephine Houston and Arthur Lake); "Let Me Have My Dreams" (sung by Sally O'Neil); "Birmingham Bertha" (sung by Ethel Waters); "Wedding Day" (sung by Fink, Lake and Houston); and Finale (entire cast).

Other members of the cast consist of Louise Fazenda as Sarah Fogerty, an eccentric comedienne who supplies offstage laughter; Thomas Jefferson (not the third U.S.President) as "Dad", the stage doorman; Lee Moran and Harry Gribbon as stage hands, Pete and Ike, along with specialty acts by the Fairbanks Twins and an assortment of black entertainers highlighted by a Ethel Waters, in her movie debut, taking center stage with her fine rendition of the film's most notable song, "Am I Blue?" Her solo effort, along with "Birmingham Bertha" opposite Charlie Bubbles, both unrelated to the theatrical story, are highlights, along with a lively but unmemorable score to make up for its dull stretches at the midway point. The staging by Larry Ceballos is adequate, not spectacular, yet steps towards the right direction compared to 1929 stage musicals consisting of cart wheel dancing and acrobatics.

Alan Crosland, who made history directing THE JAZZ SINGER (1927), the "first talkie," improves with techniques revolving around camera movement with angles taken from different parts of the stage, above and beyond spiral staircases as chorus girls rush down to meet their curtain call, and silhouette image of musical conductor in orchestra pit waving his stick in front of the rising curtain or stage performance. What's lacking is further use of close-ups of principal players and dancers, something that would be common place in future musicals to come. It's also fun going back in time watching antiques like this and listening to catch phrases of the day like "Go sit on a tack," or corny dialog recited by Sam Hardy, "There are only a few of you sweet kids left," or "Go out and give them everything you got."

Upon release, ON WITH THE SHOW made cinema history for being the first musical filmed entirely in color. Current prints that have circulated either in revival theaters back in the 1970s and 80s, a rare 1973 television broadcast on WPHL, Channel 17, Philadelphia, along with cable (TNT in February 1991 as part of a tribute to Black History Month) and Turner Classic Movies showings, have been shown in black and white format only. Fortunately the movie survives intact, considering how many early talkies have been lost due to neglect or decay.

Its length of 103 minutes might be a bit long, but one cannot help but feel its initial theatrical showing might have been a bit longer considering its slight jump cut during its underscoring following the opening cast credits. And now, on with the show. (***)