The Show of Shows
2 hours 8 minutes1929-11-21
5.5
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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!
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
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
Jack Mulhall
Performer in '$20 Bet' Sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number
Sôjin Kamiyama
Performer in '$20 Bet' Sketch (as Sojin)
Ted Lewis
Performer in 'The Pirate' Number
Winnie Lightner
Performer in 'Pingo Pongo' & 'Singing in the Bathtub' Numbers
Nick Lucas
Lady Luck Solo for 'The Only Song I Know' & 'Chinese Fantasy' Numbers
Dolores Costello
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Helene Costello
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Molly O'Day
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Marceline Day
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Sally Blane
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Loretta Young
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Armida
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number (as Mimi Vendrell)
Lolita Vendrell
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number (as Lola Vendrell)
Marion Byron
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Ann Sothern
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' & 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers (as Harriet Lake)
Alberta Vaughn
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Ada Mae Vaughn
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Viola Dana
Performer in 'The Pirate,' 'Meet My Sister' & 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Numbers
Shirley Mason
Performer in 'Meet My Sister' & 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Numbers
Irène Bordoni
Performer in 'Just for One Hour of Love' Number
Rin-Tin-Tin
'Chinese Fantasty' Presenter
Sid Silvers
Al Jolson Impersonator / Introducing Larry Ceballos Black and White Girls Number
Harry Akst
Pianist Accompanying Irene Bordoni
Johnny Arthur
Hero - Performer in 'The Pirate' (uncredited)
Mary Astor
Performer in 'The Pirate' Number (uncredited)
William Bakewell
Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
John Barrymore
Richard III in 'Henry VI Part III' (uncredited)
Richard Barthelmess
Meet My Sister Presenter (uncredited)
Noah Beery
Performer in "The Pirate" Number / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Monte Blue
Condemned Man (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Hobart Bosworth
Executioner - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Jack Buchanan
Jack (uncredited)
Joseph A. Burke
Joe Burke (as Joe Burke) (uncredited)
Georges Carpentier
Boulevardier in 'If I Could Learn to Love' Number (uncredited)
Ethlyne Clair
Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
James Clemens
Performer (as Jimmy Clemons) (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford
Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
William Collier Jr.
Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Betty Compson
Performer in 'The Pirate Number' & 'Lady Luck' Numbers (uncredited)
Chester Conklin
Traffic Cop in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin
Ice Man in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number (uncredited)
William Courtenay
The Minister - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Jack Curtis
Performer in 'The Pirate' Number (uncredited)
Sally Eilers
Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Ambrose in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Louise Fazenda
'Recitations' Sketch (uncredited)
Frances Lee
Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Beatrice Lillie
Performer in 'Recitations' Number (uncredited)
Jacqueline Logan
Performer in 'The Pirate' & 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers (uncredited)
Tully Marshall
Performer in "The Pirate" / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Edna Murphy
Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Carmel Myers
Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Gertrude Olmstead
Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
H.B. Warner
The Victim - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Dorothy Coonan Wellman
(uncredited)
Alice White
Performer in 'If I Could Learn to Love' Number (uncredited)
Lois Wilson
Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
