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