Show Kids (1935)

It's the Depression, and the vaudeville house, the Palace Theater, is not able to stay afloat. The proprietor, Mr. Jenkins, grudgingly let's his 12-year-old son stage a kiddie show that draws in the crowds.

Director:

Ralph Staub

Writer:

Joe Traub (screenplay)

Stars:

Tad Alexander, Arthur Aylesworth, Florence Fair

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tad Alexander	...	William Jenkins Jr.
Arthur Aylesworth	...	William Jenkins Sr.
Florence Fair	...	Miss Marlow - Dance School Owner
The Meglin Kiddies	...	The Marlow Kiddies (as The Famous Meglin Kiddies)

Storyline

William Jenkins' Palace Theater has fallen upon hard times since the public no longer seems interested in attending what are now considered his old fashioned musical and comedy revue shows. He's contemplating closing down the theater. His son, William Jenkins Jr., believes he knows how to revive the theater, and convinces his father to at least let him try his idea without elaborating on what that idea is. It is to put on a kiddie revue. He has the support of Ms. Marlow, the owner of the dance school where the kids are students. Junior believes the show will have a built in audience of the kids' large families. The kids being the performers and advertisers and Junior being emcee may mark a new generation and life for the Palace.

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Plot Keywords:

stage | dancing | clown | little girl | chorine | 

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Genres:

Short | Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1935 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vitaphone Corporation, The, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film short is included as an extra in the Warner DVD of The Gay Divorce.

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Quotes

William Jenkins Sr.: I'm tired of running an empty theatre. Why only last week we shot a deer up in the balcony.

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Soundtracks

"Collegiate Wedding"
(uncredited)
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Irving Kahal
Performed by all during the finale as "Syncopated Wedding"

User Reviews

Breathtaking, unmissable charming 1934 Technicolor treat.

Made in 1934 as another Technicolor screen test for this sublime technology, this vaudeville kids show short, 21 mins, is invaluable, an antique treasure of the highest value for any family and every student of early talkies... in color! A simple and effective story of the kid saving dad's rundown vaudeville theater by staging a kids review, SHOWKIDS is as effervescent and candy-box as you or your family could imagine. Students of 30s art deco set design should have a copy and just marvel and learn from the backdrops and stage scenery alone. Cramming a toy-box of acts and laughs into so short a time + heartwarming and charming drama with hilarious and astonishing dance acts, satire, an adagio dance (!), tap dancing, gymnastics and some of the tiniest kids I have ever seen and heard perform ever... SHOWKIDS is a full rainbow of golden light from a more innocent age that celebrated hilarious tiny tots and their bigger friends and family in a cornucopia of long lost stage visuals and great klunky Vitaphone sound. You will find this treat on the WB DVD for The Gay Divorcée which also includes A Night At the Cocoanut Grove also in color from 1934 making it a DVD of the highest importance for fans of art deco color treasures.