Opening Night

Dorothy Sands tries to pick up the tickets for the first night performance of a drama. She is told there are no tickets in her name. She proceeds to make a fuss, discovers the tickets for the following week at another theater, and blames everyone but herself.

Nowadays we'd call her a Karen and post her insufferable behavior online. Back then it was worth writing a script and making a one-reel short about this sort of insufferable woman. It's the same sort of woman who's a Karen these days: upper middle class, wants everything her way, and thinks it's a matter of natural right.

In between the two eras the type did not vanish. In between, they were called "high maintenance." My mother was one, but she knew you had to pay for the privilege and was always a big tipper.

This is pretty simple. It's opening night a a play, Hot Sands, and everyone is dressed to the teeth. The first part involves people trying to buy tickets with varying degrees of success. Eventually, people are entering the theater. This awful whiny woman, Mrs. Pendleton, awaits her husband who is late. She tries to buy tickets but to no avail. There is nothing charming or interesting about this little film and the woman is incredibly grating.

This slight Vitaphone short takes place at the opening for the "tense" drama Hot Sands. The show is sold out and a obnoxious society woman insists to the ticket seller that her husband has left tickets for her at the box office. When the ticket seller tells her that there are no tickets for her, the snotty society woman says she going to complain to the manager, a man in line tells her "Come on, write him a letter lady." The ticket seller gets all the best lines. When one man complains that "You told me these seats were good; they're behind a post and I can't see a thing." Says she: "Nobody can see a thing, the show hasn't started yet." The society woman's husband arrives and they immediately start arguing. They then find their tickets and upon taking their seats, the woman exclaims "Oh I saw this show last week in Poughkeepsie when they called it Cold Feet." So okay, mildly amusing but the woman was insufferable.

Opening Night (1931)

*** (out of 4)

This 7-minute short from Vitaphone-Warner certainly isn't anything that you're going to compare to CITIZEN KANE but it's pleasant enough for what it is. A big show is opening on Broadway and everyone wants to get a ticket no matter what. After the show sells out the ticket window girl hears all sorts of excuses from those trying to get in. At such a short running time, one really shouldn't expect anything overly complicated and that's certainly a good thing as the film is certainly entertaining enough to where you could show it to someone who's not familiar with the studio and they'd get a good idea of what type of humor they did best. The girl playing the ticket taker does a very good job and I really enjoyed her fast-talking comebacks and best of all is the fact that the majority of them are funny. The group of people trying to get in are also mostly hits and this includes an annoying older lady who "must" see the show since her rich friends are also doing so. Her husband forgets the tickets and this is where the fun starts. Again, this is certainly far from a classic film but film buffs should enjoy its brand of humor.

A hot show is about to open and there are no tickets left. However, several folks try to get tickets at the box office despite being told the tickets are sold out. The worst is a rather obnoxious older society lady who expected her husband to leave her a ticket at the box office. When he shows, they aren't admitted--as he has tickets for a DIFFERENT show on a DIFFERENT night. The couple bicker and bicker--like The Bickersons. They really are pretty obnoxious and unlikable folks and the film is only mildly funny. Mostly, I just wanted to throttle them (particularly the woman). Perhaps you'll find it funny--I didn't. However, it is an interesting change of pace for the series.