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.
In this very first in the series, the plot is very thin and is just an excuse to film some radio acts. Jerry and his friend Sid head to the local radio station so Jerry can write some story. I assumed Jerry was some sort of famous newspaper man--but found almost nothing on him on IMDb. So, I checked Wikipedia and found he wrote a newspaper column about radio programs. And, because of this knowledge, he was able to parlay that into producing this series of shorts.
Most of the acts are only okay and names you'd never recognize today (such as the Boswell Sisters). However, buried within these folks is a young Kate Smith who sings and dances at the end in one of her first movie performances. This alone makes the short worth seeing.
In this very first in the series, the plot is very thin and is just an excuse to film some radio acts. Jerry and his friend Sid head to the local radio station so Jerry can write some story. I assumed Jerry was some sort of famous newspaper man--but found almost nothing on him on IMDb. So, I checked Wikipedia and found he wrote a newspaper column about radio programs. And, because of this knowledge, he was able to parlay that into producing this series of shorts.
Most of the acts are only okay and names you'd never recognize today (such as the Boswell Sisters). However, buried within these folks is a young Kate Smith who sings and dances at the end in one of her first movie performances. This alone makes the short worth seeing.