Let's face it gang. Most of the early talkies were for the most part, pretty lame. The sound era may have been a novelty that would be around for a very,very long time, but the acting was pretty corny,the music (with exceptions,of course)was downright unlistenable,and from a technical standpoint,pretty primitive. The little seven minute short was for the longest time thought of as a lost film. It features song & dance numbers by the Vitaphone kids (including the Gumm Sisters,one of which was Francis Gumm,who would eventually become Judy Garland in later years). Apparantely, this film was originally shot in the two strip Technicolor process,where everything is either green or rose red (a lot of early animated shorts were also filmed in this process,until Technicolor perfected the three strip I.B. process that all films after 1935/1936 were photographed in). The print I saw was a 35mm black & white reversal print,which made it look somewhat like a fever dream--we're talking 110 degrees,folks). Interesting as a historical find, but don't go out of your way to try & find it (Turner Classic Movies airs this weird little short in the wee hours of the morning from time to time---especially when they air a Judy Garland marathon). No MPAA rating here (it wouldn't be developed for another 38 years),but absolutely nothing controversial to offend anyone's sensibilities.
