On with the Show! (1929)

Director:

Alan Crosland

Writers:

Humphrey Pearson (based on the play "Shoestring" by)
Robert Lord (scenario)

Release Date:

13 July 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Plot Keywords:

Stage Production | Reconciliation | Armed Robbery | Dance Number | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Arthur Lake	...	Harold
Betty Compson	...	Nita
Joe E. Brown	...	Joe Beaton
Sally O'Neil	...	Kitty (as Sally O'Neill)
William Bakewell	...	Jimmy
Louise Fazenda	...	Sarah
Sam Hardy	...	Jerry
Harry Gribbon	...	Joe
Lee Moran	...	Pete
Wheeler Oakman	...	Durant
Fairbanks Twins	...	Twins
Purnell Pratt	...	Sam Bloom (as Purnell B. Pratt)
Thomas Jefferson	...	Dad
Ethel Waters	...	Ethel
Otto Hoffman	...	Bart
Harry Fink	...	Father (as Henry Fink)
Josephine Huston	...	Harold's Fiancee
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Madeline Fairbanks	...	One of the Twins
Marion Fairbanks	...	One of the Twins
Angelus Babe	...	Herself (uncredited)
Mildred Carroll	...	Singer (uncredited)
Anita Garvin	...	Chorine (uncredited)
John William Sublett	...	Dancer in 'Birmingham Bertha' Number (uncredited)
Marguerite Warner	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Alan Crosland

Writing credits
Humphrey Pearson		(based on the play "Shoestring" by)
Robert Lord		(scenario)

Produced by
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio		(photography)

Film Editing by
Jack Killifer		(film editor)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gordon Hollingshead	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Harvey Cunningham	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Music Department
Harry Akst	....	words and music
Grant Clarke	....	words and music
Louis Silvers	....	conductor: Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra

Other crew
Larry Ceballos	....	dance & stage presentations
Lewis Geib	....	technician
F.N. Murphy	....	technician
Max Parker	....	technician
Victor Vance	....	technician

Production Companies

• Vitaphone Corporation, The
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1929) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

104 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (2-strip Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Vitaphone) (Western Electric Apparatus)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

Approximately one minute of the original Technicolor footage was recently discovered and preserved. The scene involves Jerry (Sam Hardy) going onstage in costume.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Broadway: The American Musical: I Got Plenty o' Nuttin': 1929-1942 (#1.3)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Bridal Chorus

Betty Compson more than makes up for sound, photography

When I saw "On With the Show" on Turner Classic Movies, I was very disappointed in the poor quality of the picture and the sound, but was very pleased by some clever dialog, although realizing some of it was not so clever, and I was absolutely in awe of the performance of Betty Compson.

She was not only lovely just to look at, in her big scene near the end, she stole the show.

She was more than charming -- she was adorable.

Joe E. Brown's presence in a movie is usually enough to make me skip it but here he is toned down considerably, is not so silly, and he performs an eccentric dance with a surprising athleticism. I actually liked him in "On With the Show."

Sally O'Neil was surprising. She sounded at first like some precocious child, with little-girlish voice, but when this caterpillar bursts out of her cocoon, she is a star.

One other aspect of this film is almost unique for its time: The cast is integrated. Right there on stage are black dancers with white dancers, although to be accurate there is not interaction between white and black. Still, it was a start.

Ethel Waters made what was apparently her film debut, and surely was an immediate hit since she was already a star in other media.

A 21st century viewer of "On With the Show" must consider context, remember the times in which it was made, during the changeover from silents to talkies, to be able to appreciate it fully.

There were lots of great individual talents involved, and a viewer should try to ignore the poor framing of the scenes and the poor quality of the sound, at least some of which might be because of the age or even generation of the print.

But appreciate the historicity as well as the talent, and you will enjoy "On With the Show" as much as I did.