One reviewer called these performers second rate. Well, in 1932 they were at the top of the radio game. Abe Lyman, Kate Smith and the Boswell Sisters were featured on network radio every week.
You can't compare these guys to the Garbos, Lombards and Cagney's of the day...It would like be comparing Marlon Brando to William Shatner. Still, like we know the voice of Captain Kirk they knew the voices of these stars...and they were stars.
There was a lot of curiosity about the people whose voices were coming into the homes of Americans and these shorts helped satisfy that desire. The short itself suffers from the choppiness of a low budget, and was probably filmed in Queens rather than Hollywood, but in its day this was hot stuff.
Its fun to watch, once you put everything into perspective.
You can't compare these guys to the Garbos, Lombards and Cagney's of the day...It would like be comparing Marlon Brando to William Shatner. Still, like we know the voice of Captain Kirk they knew the voices of these stars...and they were stars.
There was a lot of curiosity about the people whose voices were coming into the homes of Americans and these shorts helped satisfy that desire. The short itself suffers from the choppiness of a low budget, and was probably filmed in Queens rather than Hollywood, but in its day this was hot stuff.
Its fun to watch, once you put everything into perspective.