A movie producer lost his money on silents now that talkies are in. He decides to make one, This is a comedy with some musical numbers. Some of the jokes will offend the PC police but so what.
J.Pierpont Ginsburg (Nat Carr) has just manged to raise the money for his new picture. He lives with his daughter Ruth and their butler James. He wants Ruth to think of him as a success. At the studio he does some auditioning. This is the scene that’s loaded with jokes some will consider offensive. The writer wants to make some changes but Ginsburg just wants to cut costs.
His big star is Adore Renee (Fay Marbe). (The opening credits says this is Madame Fay Marbe’s talkie debut). Ginsburg is paying her a hundred dollars an hour. She likes to sleep until two in the afternoon. She finally shows up. She does a song and then is joined by a partner for a dance number. Now the chorus line does their thing. Then a scantily clad girl starts a dance number when a male singer comes out and starts his vocal part. Ginsburg says it’s too dramatic and does a number himself after which he fires the singer. One more song from Renee and another appearance from the chorus line.
The director says they got a lot of work done and it looks like a wrap. Then they find out the mics were defective and it all has to be done over. Ginsburg doesn’t know how he’s going to get the money for all those retakes. The cast is ready to quit. When he goes to talk to them his lawyer, who happens to be Ruth’s fiancee, calls his broker. He tells him to sell everything. He tells Ginsburg he found the money but doesn’t tell him how he got it.
It’s all done and time now to show the buyers. They’re gathered in the preview room. The regular projectionist didn’t want to wok on Saturday so a substitute is there. He doesn’t want to be. He’s drunk. The expected results occur.
Overall the movie is pretty bad but from here on out it’s a lot better than the first fifty minutes. No problem seeing where it’s going but Carr is very good in his performance so that makes it worth watching. Renee can be annoying in her musical routines but they fit the time period. This was her first and last talkie appearance. She appeared in two silents as a dancer.
Fay Marbe
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