This is one of Jimmy Stewart's earliest roles. Like many contract players, the studio didn't seem sure what to do with the soon-to-be star and dumped him into this pretty thankless role. You see, Stewart isn't the star but merely a supporting player that easily could have been played by anyone else--though it is pretty neat to see him with curly-ish hair and glasses.
The star of the short is Chic Sale, an actor mostly forgotten today (and with pretty good reason, I think after seeing him in several less than distinguished films). He plays the publisher of a small local paper who meets up with a big city publisher and they get to talking. Shortly after this meeting, a famous hoodlum is gunned down on the streets of this small town and Sale is one of the first people there. However, having incredible ethical standards (an impossible notion for someone in the media, I know), he doesn't exploit the killing but issues another headline that is REAL news. That's nice, but not especially interesting and the overall effect just isn't the least bit compelling. So the film's value is more as a curio for its brief and rather unremarkable appearance by Stewart.
The star of the short is Chic Sale, an actor mostly forgotten today (and with pretty good reason, I think after seeing him in several less than distinguished films). He plays the publisher of a small local paper who meets up with a big city publisher and they get to talking. Shortly after this meeting, a famous hoodlum is gunned down on the streets of this small town and Sale is one of the first people there. However, having incredible ethical standards (an impossible notion for someone in the media, I know), he doesn't exploit the killing but issues another headline that is REAL news. That's nice, but not especially interesting and the overall effect just isn't the least bit compelling. So the film's value is more as a curio for its brief and rather unremarkable appearance by Stewart.