The Show of Shows
The Show of Shows
Release: 1929-11-21
·Runtime: 128m
·★ 5.5
Music
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!
Production Countries
United States of America
Production Companies
The Vitaphone Corporation
Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
William Bakewell
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Ethlyne Clair
as Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Nick Lucas
as Lady Luck Solo for 'The Only Song I Know' & 'Chinese Fantasy' Numbers
H.B. Warner
as The Victim - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Armida
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number (as Mimi Vendrell)
Beatrice Lillie
as Performer in 'Recitations' Number (uncredited)
Molly O'Day
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Alberta Vaughn
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Jack Mulhall
as Performer in '$20 Bet' Sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number
Hobart Bosworth
as Executioner - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford
as Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Jacqueline Logan
as Performer in 'The Pirate' & 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers (uncredited)
Ann Sothern
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' & 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers (as Harriet Lake)
Viola Dana
as Performer in 'The Pirate,' 'Meet My Sister' & 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Numbers
William Collier Jr.
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Edna Murphy
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Johnny Arthur
as Hero - Performer in 'The Pirate' (uncredited)
Monte Blue
as Condemned Man (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Louise Fazenda
as 'Recitations' Sketch (uncredited)
Lois Wilson
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Loretta Young
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Jack Buchanan
as Jack (uncredited)
Lila Lee
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
Chester Morris
as Performer in $20 Bet Sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers
Sally Blane
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Sid Silvers
as Al Jolson Impersonator / Introducing Larry Ceballos Black and White Girls Number
Betty Compson
as Performer in 'The Pirate Number' & 'Lady Luck' Numbers (uncredited)
Dorothy Coonan Wellman
as (uncredited)
Frank Fay
as Master of Ceremonies
Marian Nixon
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
Richard Barthelmess
as Meet My Sister Presenter (uncredited)
Noah Beery
as Performer in "The Pirate" Number / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Carmel Myers
as Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Sally O'Neil
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Meet My Sister' Numbers
Georges Carpentier
as Boulevardier in 'If I Could Learn to Love' Number (uncredited)
Ben Turpin
as Waiter in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number
Myrna Loy
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Chinese Fantasy' Numbers
Tully Marshall
as Performer in "The Pirate" / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution") (uncredited)
Gertrude Olmstead
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Alice White
as Performer in 'If I Could Learn to Love' Number (uncredited)
Lupino Lane
as Street Cleaner in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number / 'Tramp' Ballet
Chester Conklin
as Traffic Cop in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
William Courtenay
as The Minister - Guillotine Sequence (uncredited)
Grant Withers
as Performer in 'Bicycle Built for Two Number (uncredited)
Dolores Costello
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Marceline Day
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Mary Astor
as Performer in 'The Pirate' Number (uncredited)
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
as Ambrose in 'Bicycle Built for Two' Number (uncredited)
Frances Lee
as Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Sôjin Kamiyama
as Performer in '$20 Bet' Sketch (as Sojin)
Shirley Mason
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' & 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Numbers
Sally Eilers
as Performer in 'Ladies of the Ensemble' Number (uncredited)
Winnie Lightner
as Performer in 'Pingo Pongo' & 'Singing in the Bathtub' Numbers
Helene Costello
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
John Barrymore
as Richard III in 'Henry VI Part III' (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin
as Ice Man in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' Number (uncredited)
Lloyd Hamilton
as Hansom Cabby in "What Became of the Floradora Boys" number" / (segment "Recitations") / Soldier (segment "Rifle Execution")
Alice Day
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'Meet My Sister' Numbers
Patsy Ruth Miller
as Performer in 'What Became of the Floradora Boys' & 'If I Could Learn to Love' Numbers
Marion Byron
as Performer in 'Meet My Sister' Number
Irène Bordoni
as Performer in 'Just for One Hour of Love' Number
