Broadway Ballyhoo

Three bus tour operators try to lure patrons for their work by a trio, then introducing an assortment of stage acts in this Vitaphone short subject.

For those unfamiliar with them, this is one of the "selected short subjects" that used to be part of a full show at a movie theater: not just a feature film, but a newsreel, a cartoon, an educational short, a fiction short (if you're a fan of the Three Stooges, you know what those were!). At a big-city movie palace, or at a smaller house on a special occasion, there might be live acts. On other occasions, a short subject like this might substitute.

There are no big-name performers here, but there are some well performed acts that will reward the viewer inclined to give them a chance.

For Avis Andrews alone, seven stars. She delivers a powerful gospel infused jazz number with "Roll Jordan". The music shop routine has some humorous moments..

Broadway Ballyhoo (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent two-reeler from Warner has the comic trio Owen, Hunt and Parco playing bus drivers for a tour bus company working in New York. They are having problems getting people on their bus so they talk about various locations that they should want to see while in NYC and then we "flash" to these places and hear music and see dancing. I couldn't find any information on this title anywhere and thankfully the short had some opening credits because if not I wouldn't have known anyone here. Even when you look up the artist's names you don't find anything and it's not too hard to see why. Owen, Hunt and Parco really didn't come across too funny and their entire routine seemed rather dated. Herman Hyde and Sally Burrill play a skit where he's dressed as an old man and "flirts" with the younger woman, which leads to some mild comedy and a dance sequence. One of the locations is called The Devil's Den and takes place in an all-black club in Harlem and this here was certainly the highlight of the show. Overall, at 22-minutes the routines really aren't strong enough to make the film a complete winner but it's interesting to see some of the acts that really didn't take off.

I caught this little TCM time filler this morning and was struck by the fact that I hadn't heard of any of the people starring in it. I have become fairly familiar with the talent from the 1920's forward, but I was clueless here.

Most of what was presented was old vaudeville stuff and some songs that I did not know. Some of the dancing was interesting, but most of the "jokes" you could see coming from miles away. The physical comedy shown wore out its welcome long ago.

It was hard to dig up much information on the performers presented here, and there was only one, Avis Andrews, that brought me to attention. She was shown as the torch singer in an all black nightclub. A truly wonderful voice, and really the only reason to look for this short next time it shows up.