Phil Spitalny and His Musical Queens (1934) User Reviews

Every One A Virtuoso

[boblipton · 6/10 · 29 December 2018]

Phil Spitalny and his all-girl orchestra appear in another of Joe Henaberry's musical shorts filmed at the Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn performing a variety of songs.

there's a hot swing number to begin, then a chorale version of "Let's Fall in Love"; back to swing, with "Dinah" and harpist Micket Braaatz doing a lively tap dance and some back flips; some Latin-themed Liszt to end the show. Spitalny's future wife, Evelyn Kay Klein, is featured on her "magical violin".

Spitalny had a prosperous radio career in this period, and there's little doubt that the novelty act of an all-girl orchestra was a big draw. However, how else was a female musician to earn a living at the time? It's obvious he could draw on a sizable pool of talent and the sound and look -- on an Art Moderne set -- is very enjoyable.

Aside from the second tune, quite enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 22 February 2016]

"Phil Spitalny and His Musical Queens" is a Vitaphone musical short-- one of hundreds this branch of Warner Brothers made through the 1920s and 30s. The only big thing that sets this one apart is that the orchestra is made up exclusively of women. Each is wearing the same white dress and sport the same bleached hairstyle. It's sort of like the 1930s equivalent to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video! The band plays several numbers in front on an audience (unusual for a Vitaphone film). Generally the songs are really good, though the second one with the singing is awful. But the band more than makes up for it with the tap dancer and trio in the third number and I was astonished seeing the dancer do about 15 flips in a row! The final number is also a nice zippy classical sort of rendition. All in all, there are better Vitaphone shorts but this one still is worth seeing.

Nice Vitaphone Short

[Michael_Elliott · 15 July 2011]

Phil Spitalny and His Musical Queens (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Another nice short from Warner/Vitaphone, this one here featuring Phil Spitalny and his all-female band. One of the greatest joys of Turner Classic Movies (and now the Warner Archive) is that you can find these older gems that have been sitting in a vault for over fifty-years. The range in quality is always different but for the most part fans of older music will find a lot of joy in them and this here is the perfect example. It's doubtful too many people remember Phil Spitalny but this short gives you a chance to see what type of music people were listening to back in the day. For the most part this is an entertaining little short as Spitalny certainly knows how to perform in front of the camera and yes the added attraction of an all-female band does make you take notice since this here isn't something you see all the time. The highlight of the short is "Let's Fall in Love" and "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2".

Wow, what virtuosic women musicians!

[iluvshirley · 10/10 · 27 June 2018]

I was just watching a Shirley Temple movie I recorded, "Stowaway" and let the recording play. This short came up and it caught my attention because the band/orchestra had a Tuba with it. Usually the big bands did not have that instrumentation and it caused me to start watching. These musicians were incredible and I thought the part where they sang was great. I know they were all wearing blonde wigs and I wondered what they would have looked like with their natural looks. The odd instruments besides the Tuba were, banjo, accordion, two grand pianos, two harps, 2 guitars. The marvelous, trained alto soloist was the accordionist and I loved how the orchestra all stood without instruments to make up the choir behind her. Only the pianists and 1 harpist accompanied them. I thought it was a cool arrangement and some Sweet Adeline group could do a good job with it. The dancer had real blonde hair and was amazing and then went right back to her harp. The pianists were able concert pianists, the lead saxophone was an great jazz player and the all the brass were great. The lead trumpet player was a little chubby and I was happy to see that there was a larger woman in the group since all the rest looked like models. That one player might have been a man in drag but I'm pulling for a bigger woman!

I loved this and was thrilled to see such fine women players from 1934. Pity they had to add so much novelty and couldn't just be the excellent musicians that they were. BRAVA!