Rambling 'Round Radio Row #7

Rambling 'Round Radio Row #6 (1933)

** (out of 4)

A group of gypsies are sitting outside their home when a radio salesman (Ted Pearson) comes up to them hoping to sell a radio. The gypsies aren't interested until he turns it on and let's them hear some of the great music out there. The Pickens Sisters, Paul Whiteman's New Rhythm Boys, Tito Guizar and Frank Hazard are just some of the musical and comic talents on display here. The nine-minute short is about average with the rest in the series as the music is decent but nothing great. The attempted bits of comedy are mildly amusing but nothing more. As with some of the earlier films, this here remains mostly a curio for those wanting to see old-time music being performed by those most have long forgotten (if they were ever known). On that level this short is interesting but I doubt it's going to appeal to very many.

I recently got a hold of the multi-disk set "Warner Brothers Big Band, Jazz & Swing Short Subject Collection". It's made up of over 11 hours of Vitaphone musical shorts. Disk 1 is a bit different in style, as it consists mostly of the "Ramblin' Round Radio Row" shorts. These mostly star Jerry Wald. Wald apparently was famous for a newspaper column on radio programs and this was parlayed into him getting the chance to produce these shorts.

Like the rest of the films in the series, the plot was a very thin disguise for a talent show. In this case, it begins with a radio salesman trying to sell a radio to Gypsies who show him their magical crystal ball that receives music videos! The acts you see aren't bad but they're all virtually unknown to anyone watching the short today. The Hispanic singing was an odd one, as his singing wasn't bad but seeing him just sit there in a chair and sing made me wonder why he didn't just stick to radio! The Pickens Sisters were very unusual and hit notes and made sounds I didn't think were possible from humans! However, overall, it all makes you think that maybe the crystal ball wasn't all that magical after all as the film was not especially memorable--though the acts were certainly a lot better than you would have seen in #2 and 4 in the series.

Ted Pearson comes across a group of gypies, and asks them if they like radio. Radio? Never heard of it. Instead they use a crystal ball to see all their favorite acts, whether they're on the radio or not.

So Pearson, the gypsies and the theater audience are treated to several acts, few of which I've ever heard of, and the ones I have, I can't put a face to. They're all musical acts, and all competent, if not particularly memorable.

It's one of many short subjects of the 1930s that replicate the sort of vaudeville act that the biggest of the movie palaces could offer their audiences. It's ok, even if I would have preferred a juggler or animal act among the talent.