The Hollywood Gad-About 1934
A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.
A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.
A short featuring many stars
A group of African-American waiters on a railway believe they have made a deal to secure a railroad dining car that they set up on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles as a diner. To bring in customers, they sing, their voices providing most of the musical accompaniment as well. At the diner, in front of a crowd of swells, the police deliver the bad news.
A group of stable hands is given a race horse when its owner retires from the business. They raise money to run the horse in the Hollywood Derby at Santa Anita race track. Many Hollywood personalities attend the event.
In this short film, two starstruck movie fans hire a tour guide and see a plethora of Hollywood stars.
Eddie Kane wanders round the studio back-lot, opening various doors to see which stars pop out.
In the Hollywood Hall of Fame - a wax museum - the figure of Eddie Borden comes to life and introduces us to various stars in effigy. Pining over the effigy of Clara Bow, her husband Rex Bell suggests that Eddie get on with Betty Boop. Betty asks Eddie to accompany her in a rendition of "My Silent Love."
Elissa Landi and Charley Chase host an East Asian themed garden tea party in Hollywood. After introducing a few Hollywood luminaries who are attending the party, they present a number of musical and/or dance performances to entertain the crowd. This set of performances also includes ethnic Chinese actress Anna May Wong modeling some fashions she brought back from her first ever trip to China. Through it all, one of the guests, already inebriated, is having a few problems mixing and serving the cocktails he wants.
In the first entry of this series, the show open with a troupe of dancing chorus girls getting a salute from crossed-eyed Ben Turpin. Then the master of ceremonies, Fredric March, brings on the various acts, starting with a pre-teen Mitzi Green), dressed as an adult and singing "Was That the Human Thing to Do?" , followed by Ginger Rogers and Jack Oakie singing-and-dancing to "The Girl Who Used to be You." Then the Three Brox Sisters do a triple imitation of Marlene Dietrich singing 'Falling in Love Again." 'Jack Duffy' does a drunken hillbilly bit involving a lamp post, the the finale has Eddie Peabody, playing a banjo for some chorus girls on a pedestal.
Two starstruck visitors to Hollywood sneak into the famous nightclub and end up in a Conga contest and get more than they expected.
Radio announcer Lloyd Hamilton tries on straw boaters while various performers do things on the mythical station STAR. They include Dorothy Burgess, Donald Kerr, Carlotta King, and Ruth Hiatt.
After a trip to Hollywood, two young ladies attempt to hitchhike home but end up at a star-filled rodeo.
If you enjoy playing "Spot the Stars", this is the sort of short you'd enjoy. It's full of then-well-known Hollywood players, identified by name, who run through routines. This one, produced by Tiffany, is not particularly good as people run through canned bits, sometimes without much enthusiasm. Robert Woolsey plays a game a solitaire and it's hard to tell whether his bit was written that way or he improvised it to reflect his feelings.
Comedian Lloyd Hamilton escorts a group of beauty contest winners to various Hollywood night spots.
"Stuart Erwin acts as master of ceremonies in this variety skit, the second in the series produced by Lewis Llewyn for Paramount release. Erwin introduces Bing Crosby, who engages in some comedy byplay with George Burns and Gracie Allen, after which the crooner sings a number. The rest of the short is devoted to Olsen and Johnson, the comedy headliners, who do some nutty stuff on the beach with the support of a bunch of bathing beauties".
In this musical short, a man tries to woo the manager of a dance troupe.
A Hollywood on Parade short....
This time it's Ben Turpin as the nominal announcer, and several well known performers appear, including Myrna Loy. Madge Bellamy sings "The Last Rose of Summer" in a very sweet voice, and there are a couple of canned gag sequences.
This short was included on the recently released Harry Langdon: Lost and Found collection. This entertainment show features various Hollywood stars and this episode includes Langdon, Lola Lane, Harry Jolson, Lew Cody and Armida. There's really nothing too special here with the exception of it being of minor historic interest.