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During the "Dawn of Sound," musical short subjects were the hors d'oeuvre before the main feature, and an effective means for the studio to test their freshly signed talent in front of the camera. Aggressively pursuing the top singers, songwriters and musicians of Tin Pan Alley, Paramount's roster of contract players was composed of some of the top names in the world of entertainment.
This first volume of Kino's four-part tribute to the Paramount musical shorts includes emerging radio stars whose cinematic talents were tested (Bing Crosby in I Surrender Dear; Rudy Vallee in Radio Rhythm), songwriters who could sell their own material (Hoagy Carmichael in a self-titled film and Mack Gordon and Harry Revel plugging an upcoming production in Hollywood Rhythm) and two singers whose stormy off-screen lives became the basis for hit movies: Ruth (Love Me or Leave Me) Etting in Favorite Melodies and Lillian (I'll Cry Tomorrow) Roth in Meet The Boyfriend.
There's also a two-edge homage to that icon of thirties naughtiness, Betty Boop, with appearances by Betty's prototype, "Boop-a-Doop Girl" Helen Kane (A Lesson In Love), and Betty's actual voice, Mae Questel (Musical Justice, with an appearance by Ms. Boop herself).
(by Richard Barrios, author of A Song In The Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film)
Contents:
- A Lesson In Love (1931, with Helen Kane)
- Hollywood Rhythm (1934, with Mack Gordon, Harry Revel, Jack Oakie, Lyda Roberti)
- Hoagy Carmichael (1939, with Jack Teagarden)
- Favorite Melodies (1929, with Ruth Etting)
- Radio Rhythm (1929, with Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees)
- Musical Justice (1931, with Rudy Vallee, Mae Questel)
- Meet The Boyfriend (1930, with Lillian Roth)
- I Surrender Dear* (1931, with Bing Crosby, directed by Mack Sennett)
* Not produced by Paramount Studios
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