Words & Music

Walter Webb, thinking his gas station has been destroyed, describes a "super-deluxe" gas station run by chorus girls to his insurance agent.

Newspaper columnist Mr. Inquisitive telephones readers to ask, "What would you like to do?", with the chosen responses being eligible for a prize. The callees include torch singer Vera Van, bandleader Lester Cole (and his Texas Rangers), and other late-period vaudeville acts, all whom are ready to perform.

A group of redcaps in a train station perform musical numbers to raise money for a sick member of their group.

Four convicts escape from a chain gang. Shortly thereafter, changes are made at the prison, because a blue ribbon commission will be investigating conditions there. The changes include steak every day for dinner and stage shows for entertainment. After reading about this, the four escapees plead with the warden to take them back in. Or was this all a dream?

In this musical short, General Bierbeau sends his weakling son, Pierre, to French Morocco to fight Arab insurgents, the Riffs, in the hopes that this will toughen him up. Pierre soon becomes the Riffs' leader and assumes a secret identity: The Red Shadow.

A fantasy satire on politics in which a little boy dreams that he becomes President of the U.S. and his 'mammy' is Vice President. The film spotlights two now legendary performers much earlier in their careers: Ethel Waters and Sammy Davis Jr. In his first screen appearance, around the age of seven, pint-sized Davis sings, dances and clowns. Nicknamed 'the beanpole' slim and slinky Waters looks far different from the heavier figure she displayed in Pinky (1949) and Member of the Wedding (1953). Statuesque in a long glamorous white gown, she sings her big hit "Am I Blue." Davis, in turn sings "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You." (Separate Cinema)

In this Vitaphone Broadway Brevity musical short, Hal and Dawn work at the same vaudeville theater, where he's an usher, she's a chorus girl. When they both get fired, they form an act and vow to get back to their old theater, as performers.

June never leaves her apartment, which has a view of an advertising sign of a knight in shining armor. She is two weeks behind in her rent and believes that if she leaves the apartment, the landlord will never let her back in. The only way she gets food is when her friend, singer Earlayne Schools, brings it to her. One evening June sees Hal, a tap-dancing sign painter, painting over her knight. She explains her predicament, and he does his best to help her out.

A hobo named the Professor and his son, Charlie McCarthy, believe there's money buried in an abandoned house which was previously owned by a fellow named Herbie Larkin. Pretending to be Herbie's brother, the Professor dreams of finding the money by consulting a gypsy fortune teller, who conjures up more than Charlie likes. The reality of the situation eventually sets in.

A doctor develops pills that make Hal a great tap dancer. Lola Green sees Hal dancing in a drugstore and asks him to join her vaudeville show. Everything is fine until Hal's pills disappear.

In this Broadway Brevities short, a stunt double is hit on the head and imagines himself in a series of movie scenes with doubles for various stars.

Ozzie and his orchestra play a few tunes.

A young American man in Paris spots a beautiful woman in a crowd and is instantly smitten, but soon loses sight of her. Later, as he and several friends are sitting at a table at an outdoor cafe and he is describing her to them, he sees her again. His friends begin to tease him about her, and he bets them that he can win her love in 30 days even though he has no money.

In this musical short, two night watchmen hear songs performed in a haunted pawn shop.

The Sultan is not a very happy man. He charges his royal jester to make him laugh before sunrise or die.