Rambling 'Round Radio Row #8

Rambling 'Round Radio Row (Second Group) #1 (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Somewhat legendary gossip columnist Eddie Bruce is host for this first entry in the second series of shorts. This time Eddie is sitting at his desk talking on the radio when he introduces the three acts that we're going to see. Tito Guizar plays "Zuni, Zuni", a Mexican sounding number. Shirley Howard performs "Don't Blame Me" and The Men About Town perform "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore". The setting is certainly different in this group of musical numbers but in the end none of them are really good enough to where you'd want to listen to them more than once. If I had to pick I'd probably go with Guizar as being the best as at least his guitar playing as a catchy tune to it. The Howard songs isn't too bad, lyrics wise, but I can't say her voice thrilled me. The Men About Town sound pretty good but the song itself is pretty bland. Bruce has some nice energy that he pushes across the screen but his jokes fall pretty flat. The highlight of the movie comes at the very end with a comedy sketch where Alan Reed plays a stuttering man who wants to open a bank account but the banker (Gene Lockhart) can't understand what he's saying. Rude humor but it's funny.

Eddie Bruce hosts this occasional series of Vitaphne shorts, in which he plays a radio announcer, cracks jokes, and introduces four acts.

Few of the performers' fame have survived, but take a look at Blubber Bergman. He's better remembered as Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone. Shirley Howard sings a nice version of "Don't Blame Me", and that's about it by me.

In 1932-1933, Vitaphone made six "Rambling 'Round Radio Row" shorts--all produced by Jerry Wald and many featuring him playing himself. However, here, Wald is no where to be found and the short is very different from previous ones. While the others ONLY featured singing acts, this one has some comedians as well--with an emcee who THOUGHT he was funny--and tried very hard with some corn-ball jokes. As a result, it's a very, very tedious film with really nothing to recommend it.

Apart from a lot of unlikable material, you do get a chance to see the character actor, Gene Lockhart (father of June Lockhart). Too bad he's doing a god-awful bit with Alan Reed (later, the guy who voiced Fred Flintstone). It's bad because Reed did a stuttering gag that was insensitive AND very annoying. The Lockhart groupies can watch this one--but the other 99.999997% of the viewers can steer clear of this one. And, it just proves that not every Vitaphone short is worth your time!