The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 19, 2012

A Vitaphone short with Georgie Price (1901-64) that includes an appearance at the beginning by Bryan Foy, a longtime producer with Warner Bros. and a member of the performing Foy family. Here is a brief biography of Price.   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 17, 2012

Saint Louis woman with her diamond rings Pulls that man around by her apron strings. 'Twant for powder and for store-bought hair, The man I love would not gone nowhere, nowhere. The 1933 film "Baby Face" opens to the strains of "St. Louis Blues," and the song keeps popping up...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 17, 2012

Saint Louis woman with her diamond rings Pulls that man around by her apron strings. 'Twant for powder and for store-bought hair, The man I love would not gone nowhere, nowhere. The 1933 film "Baby Face" opens to the strains of "St. Louis Blues," and the song keeps popping up...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 15, 2012

The 1932 film "The Mask of Fu Manchu" begins in London, where Smith of the Secret Service (Lewis Stone) calls in explorer Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant). Smith: The British government is asking you to risk your life again. Barton: Oh, very well. Barton's mission: To lead an expedition to...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 15, 2012

The 1932 film "The Mask of Fu Manchu" begins in London, where Smith of the Secret Service (Lewis Stone) calls in explorer Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant). Smith: The British government is asking you to risk your life again. Barton: Oh, very well. Barton's mission: To lead an expedition to...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 14, 2012

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The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 14, 2012

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The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 13, 2012

A 1929 Vitaphone short with Trixie Friganza, a Vaudeville and Broadway headliner who died in 1955 while living in a California convent. Her story is here.   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 8, 2012

In his 1929 film "Flight," Frank Capra demonstrates a skill that would take other directors a few more years to accomplish -- he makes an early talkie movie filled with action. Outside. While keeping the sound quality high and the performances natural. To understand how different "Flight" is from   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 8, 2012

In his 1929 film "Flight," Frank Capra demonstrates a skill that would take other directors a few more years to accomplish -- he makes an early talkie movie filled with action. Outside. While keeping the sound quality high and the performances natural. To understand how different "Flight" is from   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 6, 2012

Vaudeville team Al Shaw and Sam Lee in a Vitaphone short from 1928. They also appeared in the films "Young and Beautiful," "Ready, Willing and Able" and 1951's Hopalong Cassidy parody, "Skipalong Rosenbloom."   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 4, 2012

In the 1932 film "If I Had a Million," a cantankerous millionaire (Richard Bennett, the real-life father of actresses Constance and Joan Bennett) decides to stiff his greedy relatives and leave a million dollars to eight people picked at random from the city directory. It was a big year for...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 4, 2012

In the 1932 film "If I Had a Million," a cantankerous millionaire (Richard Bennett, the real-life father of actresses Constance and Joan Bennett) decides to stiff his greedy relatives and leave a million dollars to eight people picked at random from the city directory. It was a big year for...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 3, 2012

"Don't tell anyone, but my real name is Mary Klotz." Of all the actresses who appeared in 1930s movies, Mae Clarke (1910-1992) was certainly one of them. She played a variety of roles, including rather wooden reporter, rather wooden gangster's moll, rather wooden movie star, rather wo   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 3, 2012

"Don't tell anyone, but my real name is Mary Klotz." Of all the actresses who appeared in 1930s movies, Mae Clarke (1910-1992) was certainly one of them. She played a variety of roles, including rather wooden reporter, rather wooden gangster's moll, rather wooden movie star, rather wo   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 1, 2012

Based on George M. Cohan's 1913 play, which itself was based on a novel by Earl Derr Biggers, the man who also gave us Charlie Chan, the 1929 film version of "Seven Keys to Baldpate" takes place in what one character calls "the loneliest spot on earth -- a summer...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on September 1, 2012

Based on George M. Cohan's 1913 play, which itself was based on a novel by Earl Derr Biggers, the man who also gave us Charlie Chan, the 1929 film version of "Seven Keys to Baldpate" takes place in what one character calls "the loneliest spot on earth -- a summer...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on August 30, 2012

In 1929, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey came west to RKO Pictures to appear in the film version of "Rio Rita," in which they had appeared on Broadway. They stayed in Hollywood and made movies, mostly for RKO, until Woolsey died in 1938. By the time they appeared in the...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on August 30, 2012

In 1929, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey came west to RKO Pictures to appear in the film version of "Rio Rita," in which they had appeared on Broadway. They stayed in Hollywood and made movies, mostly for RKO, until Woolsey died in 1938. By the time they appeared in the...   read more

The Man on the Flying Trapeze Posted by David on August 27, 2012

In the early 1930s, MGM boasted that it had under contract "More Stars Than There Are in Heaven," but the movies that we think of as classically MGM -- perfectly pruned packages of gloss and glamour and very little awareness of the outside world -- really didn't come along until...   read more