Shake, Mr. Shakespeare

This 1935 short by Warner Brothers is on the 2007 DVD of the studio's 1935 hit film, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I remember as a kid going to matinée movies, and later as a teen going to early evening showings. The movie theaters then often ran newsreels, cartoons and short featurettes such as this. Since it was made the same time as the Shakespeare film, I would imagine "Shake, Mr. Shakespeare" played around the same time in theaters. But, that was before my time.

This is a snappy little musical film that has various entertainers perform as characters from Shakespeare plays. Thus, we see Hamlet, Juliet, Romeo, Falstaff, Macbeth and others. They emerge in full costume from oversized book props to dance, sing or do their thing.

It's an entertaining little musical comedy that pokes fun at some of the bard's plays and characters, but more so at stage and screen for their renditions of the bard's plays. I doubt that any of the TV movie channels would show these shorts today, so the only way to catch this would be to borrow or buy the Warner Brothers DVD of the 1935 film with the bonus items.