The Riverside Rest Revue of 2011, Part 1

Hello everyone, and welcome to our first YouTube revue, featuring clips from some of the most hilarious, spectacular, campy, adorable, or just plain strange musicals of the early talkie era, 1929 to 1934!

We'll kick things off with Charles King, a favorite of the stage and MGM's newest singing sensation, with this hot tune from a real Oscar winner, the title song of The Broadway Melody.

The Broadway Melody

Next, we switch to the prettiest Two-Strip Technicolor you ever saw for the original Nick Lucas version of a classic late 20s number, Tip Toe Through the Tulips. The mammoth 1929 hit Gold Diggers of Broadway is almost entirely lost...except for this delightful song-and-dance confection and most of the finale. Let's thank goodness for small favors and major film discoveries!

Tip Toe Through the Tulips

That color was so nice, why don't we stay with the pinks and greens and head out to the golf course? From Paramount's Follow Thru, one of the few full Two-Strip Technicolor movies still in existence, boyish bandleader Buddy Rodgers and tough-but-sweet Nancy Carrol declare that they make "A Peach of a Pair". This is followed by some fun with flapper Zelma O'Neal and future Tin Woodsman Jack Haley, both from direct from Broadway.

We'd Make a Peach of a Pair

Nan and Buddy aren't the only ones making a cute couple around here. Let's return to monochrome and an equally adorable duo, Hollywood sweetie Lawrence Gray and operetta beauty Bernice Claire. They'll perform one of Rogers and Hart's loveliest ballads, "With a Song In My Heart," from Warner's Spring Is Here.

With a Song In My Heart

Buddy Rogers takes us to more Rodgers and Hart, this time from Paramount's lesser-known Heads Up. Rogers and the chorus introduces us to the haunting nautical number "A Ship Without A Sail."

A Ship Without A Sail

After that, let's pick up the pace...and who better to add energy to this show than Warner's peppiest and noisiest comedienne, Winnie Lightner, with the novelty "Pingo Pongo" from "Show of Shows?"

Pingo Pongo

How would you like to see how one of these big 1929 production numbers are filmed? First National's blond bombshell Alice White and the chorus of "Show Girl In Hollywood" run through "I've Got My Eye On You," while the viewer gets a behind-the-scenes look at how it's all done (and was in real-life, apparently). DW Griffth star Blanche Sweet keeps an eye on flighty White and the proceedings.

I've Got My Eye On You

Marilyn Miller is one of the 20s' great Broadway stars, and here she makes her film debut in the charming Sally, Warner's version of her stage hit. And what else could she appear in but a song that could be her theme - "All I Want to Do, Do, Do Is Dance"?

All I Want To Do, Do, Do Is Dance

Isn't she something? No wonder she captivated stage audiences for over ten years. In fact, why don't we bring Miller back out with the chorus for a really lively party number, "Wild Rose" from Sally? (And watch out for that Two-Strip Technicolor - Sally was originally all-color, but alas, only black and white prints survive except for this number).

Wild Rose

Since we're already at a party, how about we "Turn On the Heat?" Sharon Lynn performs this wild chorus number from Fox's Sunny Side Up, with a little off-stage help from Frank Richardson and Marjorie White. The hottest girls in the world are Eskimos...and you'd better believe it!

Turn On the Heat

We need to cool down after that, so why don't we let Fox sweetheart Janet Gaynor tell us something about dreaming in this gentle DeSylvia, Brown, and Henderson ballad "I'm A Fool, Aren't We All?"

I'm A Fool, Aren't We All?

Let's return to Technicolor for another really cute duo. Star comic Bert Wheeler and his favorite foil Dorothy Lee decide that "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other," from one of 1929's biggest smashes, RKO's Rio Rita.

Sweetheart, We Need Each Other

And now, our cultural moment of the evening. The Albertina Rasch Dancers perform a Technicolor ballet routine from the otherwise-lost MGM operetta The Rogue Song.

The Swan Ballet

We'll conclude tonight's program with...well, pretty much everyone on the MGM lot in 1929 performing one of the most popular songs from this era. Maybe you know it? If you, do, sing along with the finale of The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

Singin' In the Rain Finale

There's a plethora of wonderful segments from early talkies on YouTube, so look for more Riverside Rest Revues in the coming weeks!