The Night Court (1927)

A police raid on a night club results in the entire cast of the club's floor show being hauled into court, where they must perform their routines for the judge.

Director:

Bryan Foy

Writer:

Murray Roth

Stars:

William Demarest, Joyzelle Joyner, Dottie Lewis

Cast

Uncredited cast:
William Demarest	...	Defense Counsel (uncredited)
Joyzelle Joyner	...	Irene Tabasco, Exotic Dancer (uncredited)
Dottie Lewis	...	Flapper Singer (uncredited)
Ronald R. Rondell	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Storyline

New York's Finest raid the Paradise Night Club on West 45th Street, "where everything goes, including your bank roll." In court the next day, the defense attorney asks that each person charged be allowed to perform. Dolly Lewis, arrested for singing risqué songs, does "I ain't that kind of a baby." The orchestra plays from the jury box. The chorus line, held for murdering the black bottom, performs in frills and bathing costumes. The judge and the defense hold a colloquy about a dead waiter. Then, Irene Tobasco, charged with an improper dance in scanty attire, performs in a diaphanous gown. Is she "raw" or "well done." What will the judge decide?

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Plot Keywords:

judge | court | orchestra | police raid | lawyer | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1927 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Studios - 5800 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Vitaphone)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This short film was made at the Warner Brothers Studio during the summer of 1927, while Alan Crosland was shooting The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson on the adjacent stages. The ballerina costumes worn by the chorus girls ("charged with murdering the Black Bottom") appear to be the same costumes worn by Myrna Loy, Audrey Ferris and other chorus girls in review scenes of Jazz Singer.

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Soundtracks

"When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo"
(uncredited)
Written by Sammy Fain, Sam Coslow and Larry Spier
Played at the beginning, during the trial and at the end
Danced by the dance troupe

User Reviews

Hey, that's Uncle Charlie!!

This musical short was included as an extra on Disk 3 of "The Jazz Singer". In addition to the film, disk 3 has many early sound films--mostly from Vitaphone (Warner Brothers). This Warner Brothers short apparently was one created using a very complicated system through which an accompanying record was synchronized with a movie camera. There were several serious setbacks for such a system (such as if a film skipped--it became out of sync for the rest of the film plus the records quickly wore out--and 20 showings was the normal life-span of the records) and even though it produced excellent sound, it was eventually replaced. The last of the Vitaphone films were made in 1930, then the studio switched to the standard sound-on-film system.

My comment about Uncle Charlie is because as the film began, I noticed that a very young William Demarest stars as a lawyer. It seems that a group of performers were brought into court for their antics and they dance and sing for the court. Why? I have no idea! However, unlike many of the Vitaphone shorts, this one tried to have some plot (no matter how thin) in addition to all the usual musical numbers. As for the numbers, the first lady had an 'interesting' (i.e., bad) voice, the dancing girls not particularly impressive (and a bit chunky), Demarest then does a comedy routine that made no sense but made me smile and a hoochie-koochie dancer followed (looking a bit like Clara Bow). At the end, get a load of the judge as well as the guy playing two clarinets at the same time! Despite the singing and dancing not being especially good, there was a certain kitschy goofiness about this that I found most endearing--and fun.