Paramount on Parade
Encyclopedia
Paramount on Parade is a all-star revue
released by Paramount Pictures
, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding
, Dorothy Arzner
, Ernst Lubitsch
, Rowland V. Lee
, A. Edward Sutherland
, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower
, Edwin H. Knopf
, Frank Tuttle
, and Victor Schertzinger
-- all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis
.
Featured stars included Jean Arthur
, Richard Arlen
, Clara Bow
, Evelyn Brent
, Buddy Rogers, Jack Oakie
, Helen Kane
, Maurice Chevalier
, Nancy Carroll
, George Bancroft
, Kay Francis
, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
, Gary Cooper
, Fay Wray
, Lillian Roth
and many other Paramount stars. The screenplay was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
, produced by Adolph Zukor
and Jesse L. Lasky
, with cinematography by Victor Milner
and Harry Fischbeck.
, The Show of Shows from Warner Brothers, and King of Jazz
from Universal Studios
. The film had 20 individual segments—several of them in two-strip Technicolor
— directed by 11 directors, and almost every star on the Paramount roster except Claudette Colbert
and the Marx Brothers
.
Internet Movie Database
says the Jeanette MacDonald
segment — showing her and Metropolitan Opera
tenor Nino Martini
just before he sings "Come Back to Sorrento" — was cut from the release print, but may still exist in Galas de la Paramount, the Spanish-language
version of the film. Paramount also produced a French-language
version Paramount en Parade directed by Charles de Rochefort
and a Romanian-language
version Parada Paramount (see IMDB links below). Chevalier and Martini also starred in the French version, and Romanian actress Pola Illéry
starred in the Romanian version. There was also a Dutch version, Paramount op Parade.
. Unfortunately, the sound for some of the Technicolor sequences is still missing. According to Robert Gitt, film archivist now retired from UCLA, in a lecture at Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley
, the film was also released with sound-on-disc
for those theaters not equipped for sound-on-film
. The archive had a report of the soundtrack for this film still existing on disc until the 1994 Northridge earthquake destroyed a set of discs that a collector was planning to donate.
The opening fanfare from this film, used for all later Paramount Pictures, was also known as "Paramount on Parade". The lyrics were "Proud of the crowd that will never be loud, it's Paramount on Parade".
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
released by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding was a British film writer and director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 British made Paramount silent Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 20s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray and...
, Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner was an American film director. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.- Biography :Born in San Francisco, California, Arzner grew up in Los...
, Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
, Rowland V. Lee
Rowland V. Lee
Rowland Vance Lee was a U.S. film director, writer, and producer....
, A. Edward Sutherland
A. Edward Sutherland
A. Edward Sutherland aka Eddie Sutherland was a film director and actor. Born Albert Edward Sutherland in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaudeville performer...
, Victor Heerman, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower
Otto Brower
Otto Brower was an American film director. He directed 45 films between 1928 and 1946.He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
, Edwin H. Knopf
Edwin H. Knopf
Edwin H. Knopf was an American film producer, film director, and screenwriter.-Biography:He was born in New York City and went to work early in his life in the editorial department of his brother Alfred A. Knopf's publishing business.After trying his hand at acting, Edwin turned to producing in 1928...
, Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 to 1959 ....
, and Victor Schertzinger
Victor Schertzinger
Victor L. Schertzinger was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include Paramount on Parade , Something to Sing About with James Cagney, and the first two "Road" pictures Road to Singapore and Road to Zanzibar...
-- all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis
Elsie Janis was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and screenwriter. Entertaining the troops during World War I immortalized her as "the sweetheart of the AEF" .-Early career:...
.
Featured stars included Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
, Richard Arlen
Richard Arlen
-Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club...
, Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
, Evelyn Brent
Evelyn Brent
Evelyn Brent was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida and known as Betty, she was a child of 10 when her mother Eleanor died, leaving her father Arthur to raise her alone...
, Buddy Rogers, Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:...
, Helen Kane
Helen Kane
Helen Kane was an American popular singer; her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved By You". Kane's voice and appearance were a likely source for Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick when creating Betty Boop, although It-girl Clara Bow is another possible influence.-Early life:Born as Helen...
, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll
Nancy Carroll was an American actress.-Career:She was christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City. Of Irish parentage, she and her sister once performed a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen. She began her acting career in...
, George Bancroft
George Bancroft (actor)
George Bancroft was an American Hollywood film actor of the 1920s and '30s.-Biography:Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a "black...
, Kay Francis
Kay Francis
Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher
Richard "Skeets" Gallagher was an American actor.He was educated at Rose Polytechnic Institute and Indiana University. He first studied civil engineering and then to become a lawyer but ended up on the stage...
, Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth
Lillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...
and many other Paramount stars. The screenplay was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...
, produced by Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
and Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L...
, with cinematography by Victor Milner
Victor Milner
Victor Milner, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He was nominated for ten cinematography Academy Awards, winning once for 1934's Cleopatra...
and Harry Fischbeck.
Production
Paramount on Parade, released on April 22, 1930, was Paramount's answer to all-star revues like Hollywood Revue of 1929 from Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, The Show of Shows from Warner Brothers, and King of Jazz
King of Jazz
King of Jazz is a 1930 motion picture starring Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. The film's title was taken from Whiteman's controversial, self-conferred appellation...
from Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. The film had 20 individual segments—several of them in two-strip Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
— directed by 11 directors, and almost every star on the Paramount roster except Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert was a French-born American-based actress of stage and film.Born in Paris, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
and the Marx Brothers
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950...
.
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
says the Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
segment — showing her and Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
tenor Nino Martini
Nino Martini
Nino Martini was an Italian operatic tenor and actor. He began his career as an opera singer in Italy before moving to the United States to pursue an acting career in films...
just before he sings "Come Back to Sorrento" — was cut from the release print, but may still exist in Galas de la Paramount, the Spanish-language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
version of the film. Paramount also produced a French-language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version Paramount en Parade directed by Charles de Rochefort
Charles de Rochefort
Charles de Rochefort also known as Charles d'Authier de Rochefort, son of Paul Charles Dominique d'Authier de Rochefort and Camille Caroline Rose Félicité Guelfucci, was a French film actor of the silent era...
and a Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
version Parada Paramount (see IMDB links below). Chevalier and Martini also starred in the French version, and Romanian actress Pola Illéry
Pola Illéry
Pola Illéry, born Paula Iliescu is a Romanian silent and early talking film actress. She was born in Corabia, Romania....
starred in the Romanian version. There was also a Dutch version, Paramount op Parade.
Preservation status
The film, including its Technicolor sequences, has been restored by the UCLA Film and Television ArchiveUCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...
. Unfortunately, the sound for some of the Technicolor sequences is still missing. According to Robert Gitt, film archivist now retired from UCLA, in a lecture at Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, the film was also released with sound-on-disc
Sound-on-disc
The term Sound-on-disc refers to a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or playback sound in sync with a motion picture...
for those theaters not equipped for sound-on-film
Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
. The archive had a report of the soundtrack for this film still existing on disc until the 1994 Northridge earthquake destroyed a set of discs that a collector was planning to donate.
List of Sequences
- "Showgirls on Parade" with Mitzi Mayfair (Technicolor)
- "Title Sequence"
- "Introduction" Jack OakieJack OakieJack Oakie was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.-Early life:...
, Richard "Skeets" GallagherRichard "Skeets" GallagherRichard "Skeets" Gallagher was an American actor.He was educated at Rose Polytechnic Institute and Indiana University. He first studied civil engineering and then to become a lawyer but ended up on the stage...
, and Leon ErrolLeon ErrolLeon Errol , was an Australian-born American comedian and actor, popular in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
introduce themselves as MCMaster of CeremoniesA Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
's - "Love Time" Buddy Rogers and Lillian RothLillian RothLillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge...
- "Murder Will Out" William PowellWilliam PowellWilliam Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
, Clive Brook, Warner OlandWarner OlandWarner Oland was a Swedish American actor most remembered for his screen role as the detective Charlie Chan.-Biography:He was born Johan Verner Ölund in the village of Nyby, Bjurholm Municipality,...
, Eugene PalletteEugene PalletteEugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946....
, and Oakie - "Origin of the Apache" Maurice ChevalierMaurice ChevalierMaurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
and Evelyn BrentEvelyn BrentEvelyn Brent was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida and known as Betty, she was a child of 10 when her mother Eleanor died, leaving her father Arthur to raise her alone...
do a parody of an Apache danceApache (dance)Apache is a highly dramatic dance associated in popular culture with Parisian street culture in the beginning of the 20th century. The name of the dance is taken from a Parisian street gang, which in turn was named for the American Indian tribe due to the perceived savagery of the hoodlums... - "Song of the Gondolier" Nino MartiniNino MartiniNino Martini was an Italian operatic tenor and actor. He began his career as an opera singer in Italy before moving to the United States to pursue an acting career in films...
sings "Come Back to Sorrento" (Technicolor) - "In a Hospital" Leon Errol, and David Newell
- "In a Girl's Gym" Jack Oakie and Zelma O'NealZelma O'NealZelma O'Neal was an actress, singer, and dancer in the 1920s and 1930s. She appeared on Broadway and in early sound films, including the Paramount Pictures films Paramount on Parade and Follow Thru ....
- "The Toreador" Kay FrancisKay FrancisKay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
and Harry Green (as Isadore the Toreador) parody Carmen - "The Montmartre Girl" Ruth ChattertonRuth ChattertonRuth Chatterton was an American actress, novelist, and early aviatrix.- Early life :Chatterton was born in New York City, on Christmas Eve 1892, to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton...
, Stu Erwin, and Fredric MarchFredric MarchFredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr... - "Park in Paris" Maurice ChevalierMaurice ChevalierMaurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
- "Mitzi Herself" Mitzi GreenMitzi GreenMitzi Green was an American child actress for Paramount and RKO, in the early talkie era...
- "The Schoolroom" Helen KaneHelen KaneHelen Kane was an American popular singer; her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved By You". Kane's voice and appearance were a likely source for Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick when creating Betty Boop, although It-girl Clara Bow is another possible influence.-Early life:Born as Helen...
, Mitzi GreenMitzi GreenMitzi Green was an American child actress for Paramount and RKO, in the early talkie era...
Kane sings "What Did Cleopatra Say?" to her class - "The Gallows Song" Skeets Gallagher and Dennis KingDennis King (actor)Dennis King was an English actor and singer.Born in Coventry as Dennis Pratt, King had a stage career in both drama and musicals. He emigrated to the USA in 1921 and went on to a successful career on the Broadway stage. He appeared in two musical films and played non-singing roles in two other...
(Technicolor) - "Dance Mad" Nancy CarrollNancy CarrollNancy Carroll was an American actress.-Career:She was christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City. Of Irish parentage, she and her sister once performed a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen. She began her acting career in...
and Abe LymanAbe LymanAbe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....
's Band - "Dream Girl" Richard ArlenRichard Arlen-Biography:Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club...
, Jean ArthurJean ArthurJean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
, Mary BrianMary BrianMary Brian was an American actress and movie star who made the transition from 'silents' to 'talkies'.-Early life:...
, James HallJames Hall (actor)James Hall was an American film actor. Born James E. Brown in Dallas, Texas, Hall began his film career during the silent film era. He made his sound film debut in the 1929 film The Canary Murder Case, opposite William Powell and Louise Brooks. In 1930, Hall co-starred in Howard Hughes' epic film...
, Gary CooperGary CooperFrank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
, and Fay WrayFay WrayFay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong... - "The Redhead" Clara BowClara BowClara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
, and 42 Navy men sing "True to the Navy" - "Impulses" George BancroftGeorge Bancroft (actor)George Bancroft was an American Hollywood film actor of the 1920s and '30s.-Biography:Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a "black...
, Kay Francis, and Cecil CunninghamCecil CunninghamCecil Cunningham was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in more than 80 movies between 1929 and 1946... - "Rainbow Revels" finale (in Technicolor) Chevalier and girls' chorus (including Iris AdrianIris AdrianIris Adrian was an American film actress.-Life and career:Born in Los Angeles, California as Iris Hostetter, Adrian won a beauty pageant and worked with the Ziegfeld Follies, before she entered films at the end of the silent era in Chasing Husbands and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early...
and Virginia BruceVirginia BruceVirginia Bruce was an American actress and singer.-Career:Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she went with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That...
) sing "Sweeping the Clouds Away"
The opening fanfare from this film, used for all later Paramount Pictures, was also known as "Paramount on Parade". The lyrics were "Proud of the crowd that will never be loud, it's Paramount on Parade".
External links
- Paramount on Parade at IMDB
- Paramount en Parade (French language version) at IMDB
- Galas de la Paramount (Spanish language version) at IMDB
- Parada Paramount (Romanian language version) at IMDB
- Paramount op Parade (Dutch language version) at Film Database
- Paramount op Parade at IMDB
- Paramount on Parade at TCM Movie Database
- Paramount on Parade clips at Google Video
- Paramount on Parade at Silver Screen Archive
- Paramount on Parade at Vitaphone Varieties
- Paramount on Parade at Clara Bow Filmography
- Paramount on Parade at Fredric March Filmography