You may now select from a growing choice of “thank you” Vitaphone CD’s when making your (non-deductible) donation. Remember, these are unique, non-professional (but highly listenable) recordings of rare early talkie material. No fancy liner notes or slick packaging, but hours of enjoyment await you! Just let us know your pick:

• $50 - Pick any one
• $75 - Choose any two
• $100 - Pick any three
• $150 - Pick any six
• $200 or more - Pick any eight

• Complete WHY BE GOOD? (‘29) track (1)
• 1926-34 Vitaphone, Educational shorts tracks (2)
• *Sylvia Froos 78’s & Soundtracks 1930 - 1950’s (1)
• *QUEEN OF THE NIGHTCLUBS (‘29) full track (1)
• *GOLD DIGGERS OF BROADWAY (‘29) full track (2)
• *HARD TO GET (‘29) full track (1)
• *Warner Brothers 1932-36 Musical Radio Promos (1)(includes WONDER BAR, TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS, GO INTO YOUR DANCE, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935, much more)
• Baby Rose Marie, The Child Wonder 1929-38. (1) Includes her three Vitaphone tracks, all her 78’s of this period, plus other film tracks and a full 15 minute ‘38 radio show.
• Miss Frances Williams (1) - The great risqué songstress, include all but one of her 78’s, her ‘27 Vitaphone short, soundtracks to her 1930’s features, and radio shows.
• MY MAN (2) - All 11 Vitaphone discs that exist, plus trailer, related pop 78’s of the featured tunes.
• Vitaphone Shorts and features soundtracks 1926-31 (4). Vaudeville, bands, trailers, music & effects. Over 40 tracks.
• Vitaphone shorts music tracks, 1932-38. (2)

Checks (not deductible) should be made payable to Ron Hutchinson (NOT The Project) and sent to 5 Meade Court, Piscataway, NJ 08854.

• West coast singer Janet Klein is pursuing the idea of producing a “new” 1929 Vitaphone short of her act. Janet has recreated precise recordings of two Vitaphone shorts --- LAMBCHOPS with Burns & Allen (‘29) and FRANCES WILLIAMS (‘27) and hopes to produce a digital video with the look and sound of a late twenties Vitaphone vaudeville short. For info about her CD’s of 1920’s & 1930’s vocals and LA appearances, contact her at JKdarling@aol.com
• Novelty pianist Alex Hassan has just come out with a great new CD, “JEEPERS CREEPERS” featuring the tunes of songwriter Harry Warren. Warren wrote songs for countless WB/Vitaphone musicals like “Gold Diggers of 1933 and 1935”, “Dames”, “Go Into Your Dance” and “Wonder Bar”. Warren also appeared in a 1933 Brooklyn Vitaphone short, “HARRY WARREN, AMERICA’S FOREMOST COMPOSER”. To order the CD, contact Alex at alexsara@noveltypiano.com
• Armond Fields’ new book on performer Fred Stone, has just come out from McFarland Press. Armond’s previous books on Eddie Foy and Jim Corbett (both with Vitaphone connections) have been well received and feature his detailed research. Stone’s daughter, Dorothy, teamed with Bob Hope in the 1934 Vitaphone short “PAREE, PAREE” . “Fred Stone, Circus Performer and Musical Comedy Star” [ISBN 0-7864-1161-9] can be ordered online here, or from Armond directly at 5038 Pickford Way, Culver City, CA 90230
• Michael Cantor and Jeff Dupre at WNET continue work on their multi-part documentary on Broadway, with the help of the Project. Clips for a number of Vitaphone shorts have been provided for possible inclusion
• We heard from the Willimantic, Rhode Island Public Library of their pursuit of information on one of their hometown celebrities, vaudevillian Josephine Harmon. Harmon’s 1930 Vitaphone short was her only film appearance and was a hit at two Film Forum shows. A kind of cross between Sophie Tucker and Fanny Brice, Harmon retired from show business in 1937 and married manufacturer Phillip Lauter. Harmon wrote “Just You, Just Me”, “Kitty from Kansas City” and “I’m Gonna Get My Sweetie Now” under her real name of Greer. We were happy to supply the Library with a copy of “HARMONIZING” (1930)
• Dudley Heer, whose generosity has funded THE FOY FAMILY (‘28), “HARRY WAYMAN’S DEBUTANTES” (‘29), “HAWAIIAN NIGHTS” (‘27) and “GRACE JOHNSTON & THE INDIANA FIVE (‘29) has advised UCLA that he will next fund “CHAZ CHASE, THE UNIQUE VAUDEVILLIAN” (;28, see our last issue for a still), WARING’S PENNSYLVANIANS (‘27), and THE HAPPINESS BOYS, BILLY JONES & ERNIE HARE” (‘26). The Vitaphone Project and film buffs everywhere can’t thank Dudley enough for his support of these important restoration projects! Congratulations on his pending marriage!
• We continue to try to find two Vitaphone starlets who may still be alive: Gloria Shea (who made a number of WB features and co-starred in the Columbia Musical Novelty “UM PA” (‘33) with Jack Osterman) and Dorothy Dare, who made a number of musicals in Brooklyn with Hal Leroy and Arthur Lake before moving on to Technicolor Vitaphone shorts and features in 1934. Anyone know if they are still around?
• Dr. David Ahlstrom of The Chinese University of Hong Kong is researching the transition to talking films and is studying a number of early Vitaphone shorts, including “AL JOLSON in A PLANTATION ACT” (‘26)
• Leads on the earliest use of “Happy Birthday” continue to roll in. John Bamberger cited the song’s use in a 1932 Vitaphone cartoon, “BOSKO’S PARTY” which was made a few months after the (so far) earliest citation, “MICKEY’S BIRTHDAY PARTY (Disney, ‘31)

Dick May, Warner Brothers’ Vice-President of Film Preservation, and our earliest studio-based supporter, has announced that WB has just stepped up the preservation (onto safety film) of Vitaphone shorts. A large number (over 1000) of pre-1950 one and two reel Vitaphones still exist only on unstable nitrate stock. Dick reports “starting in January 2002, we will be really getting into the preservation of the WB shorts in volume, trying to do 170 per year. I’m selecting them chronologically. I’m trying to stay with the entertainment or history shorts. We will also do the three remaining early three-strip Technicolor Vitaphone shorts, GYPSY SWEETHEART (‘34, with Dorothy Dare), SERVICE WITH A SMILE (‘34 with Leon Errol, just completed and shown May 28 at Film Forum) and SHOW KIDS (‘35). The Project had provided Dick with an extensive list of recommended restorations and that is assisting in the selection process.

Once preserved, the films are then available for airing by TCM as well as showing at film festivals.

Discoveries of 12 and 16 inch shellac soundtrack discs continue unabated worldwide. Since our last newsletter, here is what has been found.....

• Reels 1 - 6 for the 1929 Robert Armstrong Pathe feature “OH YEAH!”
• disc for Pathe cartoon TOY TOWN TALES (‘31)
• reels 4 and 8 for “HOLD EVERYTHING” (WB/’30)
• reel 4 for foreign silent version of “A ROYAL ROMANCE” (‘29)
• reel 1 for foreign silent version of “THE SQUEALER” (‘29)
• reels 1-7 for Harold Lloyd’s “FEET FIRST” (UA/’30)
• reels 10 and 12 of “DESERT SONG” (WB/’29) in a British pressing
• disc for the 1928 Vitaphone short “LARRY CEBALLOS’ CRYSTAL CAVE REVUE” which allegedly has Lyda Roberti in her film debut
• from disc and nitrate, audience exit music for “ONE HOUR WITH YOU” (Par, ‘32 and absolutely fantastic!), “GOLD DIGGERS OF BROADWAY (WB/’29), “SHOW OF SHOWS (WB/’29), “GLORIFYING THE AMERICAN GIRL” (Par/’29), and “THE LOVE PARADE” (Par/’29)
• reels 1 through 11 (except for reel 10) for the still lost Fanny Brice feature, “MY MAN” (WB/’28)
• reels 1 through 8 for “A MOST IMMORAL LADY” (‘29) with Walter Pigeon
• reels 6, 8 and 9 for Al Jolson’s “SAY IT WITH SONGS” (WB/’29) in British pressings
• reels 2, 4, 9 and 11 British pressings for “SALLY” (WB/’29)
• reels 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 for Al Jolson’s “THE SINGING FOOL” (WB/’28)
• reel 5 for “THE SINGLE STANDARD” (MGM/’29)
• reel 4 for “EXCESS BAGGAGE” (MGM/’28)
• an otherwise unknown early (probably pre-1920) acoustic German Biograph disc for a short titled “DARKEY WARBLERS”. This is possibly for an early Oskar Messter sound film
• reel 5 for “DARK STREETS”

“Baby” Rose Marie, star of the first short The Vitaphone Project was involved in [“BABY ROSE MARIE, THE CHILD WONDER” (‘29) ] has just completed her biography. “Hold The Roses” - which will be available online here in October 2002 - published by Kentucky University Press and will be packed with stories and pictures from Rose Marie’s film, stage, radio, and television careers. We hope to be able to arrange for VITAPHONE NEWS readers to buy their own autographed copy directly from this great performer. We will let you know as soon as we have more details.

We continue to hear from relatives of Vitaphone performers seeking more information on their talented ancestors. Relatives often input the performer’s name in a search engine, and it may turn up a “hit” on the Vitaphone Project Web site - www.vitaphoneproject.com.

Sadly, we heard from the daughter of Vitaphone child star Billy Hayes, who appeared in Arbuckle’s first comeback short, “HEY POP!” (‘32) as well as in a series of “PENROD & SAM” Vitaphone shorts. Eileen Heyes was seeking copies of some of her father’s films and contacted us in early April, 2002. Billy passed away at the end of that month. Milton Cohen contacted us seeking info on his grandfather who starred in “MEL KLEE, THE PRINCE OF WAILS” (‘29). This is a restorable Vitaphone short, and we were able to share the soundtrack with Milton’s family. We located Kay Meroff Bohmann, widow of performing bandleader Benny Meroff who made several Vitaphone shorts including “IT’S A PANIC!” (‘31). We shared copies of this short with Kay and asked here if the 6 foot sax in the short was still around. “It’s upstairs,” she said. Bandleader and Project member Vince Giordano acquired it and is currently restoring the 70+ year old stage prop to working order. The son of mandolinist Rex Schepp, who made a 1927 Vitaphone, contacted us hoping to see his father’s short. It still requires restoration, though. Bella Stander, daughter of character actor Lionel Stander, enjoyed seeing her dad again in the early thirties’ Vitaphone shorts he made with Roscoe Arbuckle, Jack Haley, Bob Hope and Shemp Howard. “I knew nothing of my father’s pre-Hollywood films and I loved seeing these,” she told us. Francis Baggett of Salem, NH learned that a 1937 Vitaphone short with her performing family, “The Five Elgins” existed. We helped the family acquire a copy. “You were the key to bringing a lot of happiness to the Baggett family,” he said. A long time favorite of the Project has been comedian, songwriter and monologist Jack Osterman. His 1929 one reel Vitaphone short, “TALKING IT OVER” has just been restored by UCLA with generous funding from Scott Margolin. It is being dedicated by Scott to Project co-founder David Goldenberg who owned the disc and introduced many to Osterman’s infectious, off the cuff delivery. Well, this winter we got a call from Jack’s granddaughter, Marisa Iacomini. She’d been searching for any information on Jack, who died at age 37 in 1939. No family memorabilia existed, and her grandmother (Jack’s wife) committed suicide in the 1940’s. Fearing the trail was cold, she tried us. We were happy to share the soundtrack recording, info on Jack’s other surviving short, “UMPA” (Col./’34) some sheet music and articles. Marisa plans to be in the audience when “TALKING IT OVER” is screened for the first time in 73 years. Not known to audiences by name, beautiful Margaret Cooper graced many a late thirties Vitaphone musical in the background, in dance numbers and in WB print ads for the shorts. John Lavery of Canada contacted us about his mother’s Vitaphone work. He found many stills, but none with any titles. A review of scans indicated they included Hal Leroy, Ken Murray and Rufe Davis shorts. The family was able to connect with The University of Wisconsin to again see a number of Margaret’s films.

The sixth Vitaphone program was presented at New York’s Film Forum on May 28th, and once again it was a sell out. The program included a number of Vitaphone shorts not previously seen in the east since their restoration by UCLA. On the bill was FRED ALLEN’S PRIZE PLAYLETS (‘29), ARDEN & OHMAN, THE DUAL PIANISTS (‘27). GREGORY RATOFF in ‘FOR SALE’ (‘29), JOSEPH E. HOWARD (‘239), JOE E. BROWN in ‘TWINKLE TWINKLE (‘27), THE HAPPY HOTTENTOTS (‘30), BURNS & ALLEN in ‘LAMBCHOPS’ (‘29) and a super new print from Dick May at WB of the 1934 three-strip Technicolor Leon Errol Vitaphone musical SERVICE WITH A SMILE.

Film Forum plans to present the Vitaphone program of shorts described on our front page some time later this year. Be sure to check their website at http://www.filmforum.com for the latest destails!

John Carpenter’s silent three reel comedy, “Late To Lunch” has been selected to be shown at the Long Island International Film Expo on July 18, 2002. This film boasts a custom Vitaphone music track of vintage tunes to accompany the comedy. The black and white film is an authentic looking comedy with a 1928 “feel”. The Vitaphone score includes pop dance tunes which enhance the chase and restaurant scenes, and is likely the first film in over 70 years to have its own “Vitaphone” score.

Ten years ago, the only surviving elements of the lost 1928 Fanny Brice WB feature "MY MAN" were the disc for the trailer and one disc from the film itself. No film element is yet known to exist. In the summer of 1998, three more discs turned up, representing sound for reels 3, 4 and 11. The emerging discs showed the feature to be largely a talkie with relatively few music-and-effects silent passages. In the Spring of 2002, a collection of discs found overseas included all but reel 10 of "MY MAN". should the film ever be found, this missing sound could, in some way, be abridged from the other discs as was done by UCLA for "EVANGELINE" (UA/'29).

So keep your fingers crossed. Nitrate still turns up occasionally, and it would be a major accomplishment to resurrect the first sound film appearance of the original "Funny Girl" who sings "My Man", "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You", "If You Want The Rainbow, You Must Have The Rain" and When A Woman Needs A Man", "I Was A Floradora Baby", "I'm An Indian", "Second Hand Rose", as well as performing "Mrs. Cohen At The Beach".