It would take Busby Berkeley to take what Ziegfeld tried to do on stage to give it full expression on film. It would also take rival MGM studio to preserve the legacy of Florenz Ziegfeld with their films, The Great Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Girl, and Ziegfeld Follies. But Paramount got the real deal in Glorifying The American Girl as the man himself made an appearance in this early talkie.
With a minor backstage plot about Mary Eaton who here and in real life epitomized the Ziegfeld Girl Paramount did this film where Eaton like Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street gets to become a star, the real Follies with real Ziegfeld performers like Eddie Cantor and Helen Morgan made appearances. Rudy Vallee did appear on Broadway as well, but it was for rival producer George White.
Other than the story line Glorifying The American Girl is like so many early talkie musicals just a filmed stage play. But this is a valuable historical record of what the man's fabled Follies must have been like for theater audiences.
Too bad Florenz Ziegfeld didn't live another decade, he died in 1932. Had he done so he might have made a mark in film. This film done at Paramount's Astoria Studio is a hint of what he could have accomplished.
Mary Eaton herself had a most tragic life. You might remember her as the young love interest in the Marx Brothers debut film, The Cocoanuts, also a photographed stage play. Like her fellow cast member Helen Morgan, Eaton fell pray to too much Prohibition booze and her health went South.
For the historically minded among us, Glorifying The American Girl is a valuable piece of cinema.
With a minor backstage plot about Mary Eaton who here and in real life epitomized the Ziegfeld Girl Paramount did this film where Eaton like Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street gets to become a star, the real Follies with real Ziegfeld performers like Eddie Cantor and Helen Morgan made appearances. Rudy Vallee did appear on Broadway as well, but it was for rival producer George White.
Other than the story line Glorifying The American Girl is like so many early talkie musicals just a filmed stage play. But this is a valuable historical record of what the man's fabled Follies must have been like for theater audiences.
Too bad Florenz Ziegfeld didn't live another decade, he died in 1932. Had he done so he might have made a mark in film. This film done at Paramount's Astoria Studio is a hint of what he could have accomplished.
Mary Eaton herself had a most tragic life. You might remember her as the young love interest in the Marx Brothers debut film, The Cocoanuts, also a photographed stage play. Like her fellow cast member Helen Morgan, Eaton fell pray to too much Prohibition booze and her health went South.
For the historically minded among us, Glorifying The American Girl is a valuable piece of cinema.