The Show of Shows

The Show of Shows

NR 1929 · 128 min · ★ 6.6 · Music

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

Directed by John G. Adolfi · Written by J. Keirn Brennan

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Cast

  • Frank Fay Master of Ceremonies
  • Lloyd Hamilton Hansom Cabby in "What Became of the Floradora Boys" number" / (segment "Recitations") / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution")
  • Lupino Lane Street Cleaner in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number / 'Tramp' Ballet
  • Ben Turpin Waiter in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
  • John Barrymore Richard III in 'Henry VI Part III'
  • Sally O'Neil Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Meet My Sister' Numbers
  • Alice Day Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Meet My Sister' Numbers
  • Patsy Ruth Miller Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'If I Could Learn to Love' Numbers
  • Marian Nixon Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
  • Lila Lee Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
  • Myrna Loy Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Chinese Fantasy' Numbers
  • Chester Morris Performer in $20 Bet Sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers

Make it a double feature

3h 9m together

The Show of Shows

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