Twentieth Century-Fox went to the other flank of-picture tactics by building two productions, "Rose of Wa: ashington Square" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band," each round the core of a single: chansonette, then emptying out the cinema song cupboard for "Hollywood Cavalcade" and throwing f in the collected works of Stephen Foster for good measure in "Swanee River." Gus Edwards, with all the roundelays he wrote for the American was recreated for picture purposes in the image and likeness of Bing Crosby as "The Star Maker." Encouraged by the success of this lyric endeavour, Paramount put the Dublin ministrelsy of "The Great Victor Herbert" on the sound track in the picture of that title and Warner Brothers pounded out the phrenetic pulse beat of "The Roaring Twenties" in such as "It Had to Be You," "TH See You in My Dreams" and "Melancholy Baby."
Now Universal is back with a whole armful of period balladry in "It I Had My Way." The same Master Crosby who brought Gus Edwards to the screen on wings of song, trolls the charity of an earlier decade, which gives the picture its title.
But that is only the spearhead of this archaeological expedition to the land where the good songs go. Crosby's ce-star, 12-year-old Gloria Jean, sings "My Little Gray Home in the "West" at one point in the proceedings. Blanche Ring, premiere chan-tense of the Edwardian age, warbles the catch she has been trolling ever since she introduced it in "The Midnight Sons," 31 years ago this month, "Rings on My Fingers." And Eddie Leonard, last of the blackface min-stress, sings "Ida" which he has not only been yodeling through his burnt cork for nearly 40 years, but which he also wrote one afternoon when Apollo was auspicious.
From this.point it takes no H. G. Wells to prophesy the shape of things io come. Very likely, next on the list from the old song album to be filmed is that 1919 Broadway classic show, "Irene," which ran for 675 performances and whose song hits, "Alice Blue Gown," "Irene" and "Castle of Dreams," have never really dropped Stars Sometimes "Stuck"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.