Studio Visit

A visit to Southern California prompts producer Pete Smith to take viewers behind the scenes on movie studio lots. First, we see the "busiest stage on the lot" where an episode of MGM's one-reel series "A Pete Smith Specialty" is in production. It's not very busy, however, as director Dave O'Brien and the crew are waiting for a stunt to be properly set-up. Stage 8 has an interesting bit; the camera is placed under Louis Zingone's slight-of-hand "shell game" so we can see how the pea always manages to sit under the shell you didn't pick. Next, we see a scene cut from "Cabin in the Sky" (1943). It shows sexy Lena Horne singing "Ain't It the Truth" taking a bubble bath. You see no naughty parts and Ms. Horne is more arousing in the uncut footage. Also featured is 3½ year old Helen Sue Goldy and her father Sid. The little girl balances while eating an apple. Finally, Mr. O'Brien ends another "Pete Smith Specialty" in style.

******** Studio Visit (5/11/46) Dave O'Brien ~ Pete Smith, Dave O'Brien, Lena Horne, Helen Sue Goldy

An MGM PETE SMITH SPECIALITY Short Subject

Narrator Pete Smith takes the viewer on a tour of a few of the more unusual things to see during a behind-the-scenes STUDIO VISIT.

What gets to be seen is slight-of-hand master Louis Zingone at work; beautiful Lena Horne singing in a bathtub; and remarkable Helen Sue Goldy, aged three, who exhibits her amazing sense of balance.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

Studio Visit (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent Pete Smith short has us going on a tour of various studios where we get to see all sorts of things including Lena Horne taking a bubble bath and singing, Louis Zingone doing a sleight of hand trick and Helen Sue Goldy doing a nice act with her father. This 9-minute short is decent but there's nothing overly entertaining here with the exception of the Horne clip, which is actually an outtake from the film CABIN IN THE SKY. The "Ain't It the Truth" song is a very good one and Horne does a terrific job with it. I'm not sure why it was cut from the film considering how good it was but perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she's in a tub? The rest of the film is mildly entertaining but there's nothing too funny or special going on.

STUDIO VISIT has Dave O'Brien as a director while we take a quick look at the MGM lot where Lena Horne is doing her "Ain't It The Truth?" number while sitting in a bubble bath. The number was eventually cut from CABIN IN THE SKY--not much of a loss judging from the scene shown.

The only "joke" in this Pete Smith Specialty is the end result of hanging a lamp on a small hook, which the prop man is unable to do. So, of course, the impatient director gets his chance to hook the overhead lantern while standing on a ladder--with disastrous results.

In between, there's a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who balances on a thin blade while munching on an apple, with both girl and father showing amazing control over her balancing act.

That's it, for this not-too-memorable Pete Smith short.

This Pete Smith Specialties short, Studio Visit, is an extra on the DVD of Cabin in the Sky. In between Louis Zingone displaying his sleight-of-hand peanut shell game and a little girl named Helen Sue Goldy displaying her balancing act with her father while eating an apple, we get a deleted scene from aforementioned movie of Lena Horne, while washing herself in a bathtub filled with bubbles covering her naked body, singing "Ain't It the Truth". While I can guess why it was edited out, I'm now wondering why it managed to get a showing in this short three years later and also why they didn't also show Louis Armstrong performing his own version, that is now lost, in the same film. So on that note, Studio Visit is an interesting curio for Horne fans. P.S. There's also a running gag of a crew member trying to put a kerosene lamp on a hanging wire that provides the short's finish.