Baby Burlesks
Encyclopedia
Baby Burlesks is the collective series title of eight thematically unrelated one-reeler films produced by Jack Hays
and directed by Charles Lamont
for Educational Pictures
in 1932 and 1933. The eight films are satires on major motion pictures, film stars, celebrities, and current events, and are sometimes racist and sexist. Cast members are preschoolers clad in adult costumes on the top and diapers fastened with large safety pins on the bottom.
Many of the children employed in the series were recruited from Meglin's Dance School
in Hollywood, and, when not rehearsing or shooting, were sent out by the studio as advertising models for a variety of products (including breakfast cereals and cigars) in order to underwrite the costs of film production.
The series is notable for featuring three-year old Shirley Temple
in her first screen appearances. In her 1988 autobiography, the actress describes the Baby Burlesks as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence". She also said the films were "the best things I ever did".
.
Jack Hays
Christopher John "Jack" Hays was an English professional association footballer who played as a winger.-References:...
and directed by Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont was a prolific film director of over 200 titles, and the producer and writer of many others. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and died in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Career:...
for Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
in 1932 and 1933. The eight films are satires on major motion pictures, film stars, celebrities, and current events, and are sometimes racist and sexist. Cast members are preschoolers clad in adult costumes on the top and diapers fastened with large safety pins on the bottom.
Many of the children employed in the series were recruited from Meglin's Dance School
Meglin Kiddies
The Meglin Kiddies was a well-known performance troupe consisting of acting, music and dance. The troupe was composed of child-actors up to the age of 16. The troupe was started by Ethel Meglin in 1928. Meglin was a Ziegfeld girl in feature films...
in Hollywood, and, when not rehearsing or shooting, were sent out by the studio as advertising models for a variety of products (including breakfast cereals and cigars) in order to underwrite the costs of film production.
The series is notable for featuring three-year old Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
in her first screen appearances. In her 1988 autobiography, the actress describes the Baby Burlesks as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence". She also said the films were "the best things I ever did".
Filmography
All eight films in the Baby Burlesks series were produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont, except the first, Runt Page, which was directed by Ray Nazarro. Rehearsals took place over a week or two for each film, with no pay, and then were shot quickly in two days. As a star, Temple, received $10 a day. In 2009, all eight films were available on videocassette and DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
- Runt Page, directed by Ray NazarroRay NazarroRay Nazarro was an American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter-Biography:Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Nazarro entered the movie business during the silent era, and began directing short films in 1929 with In and Out...
, was released on April 11, 1932, and distributed by Universal PicturesUniversal Pictures-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
. The 10-minute film is a spoof of the play The Front PageThe Front PageThe Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
with Temple playing Lulu Parsnips, a take-off on Louella ParsonsLouella ParsonsLouella Parsons was the first American news-writer movie columnist in the United States. She was a gossip columnist who, for many years, was an influential arbiter of Hollywood mores, often feared and hated by the individuals, mostly actors, whose careers she could negatively impact via her...
, and Georgie Smith playing Raymond Bunion, a take-off on Damon RunyonDamon RunyonAlfred Damon Runyon was an American newspaperman and writer.He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the...
. The film is notable for being Temple's first film appearance. In her autobiography, Shirley Temple Black wrote that Runt Page was "[a] dismal failure in the marketplace, [and] its sale [...] abandoned". Unlike the other films, the young actors' voices are dubbed by adults. - War BabiesWar Babies (1932 film)War Babies is a 1932 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and is the second in a series of eight one-reelers that satirized adult films and themes called Baby Burlesks. The casts in the series are pre-schoolers dressed in adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with large safety pins...
was released September 11, 1932, and distributed by Educational Film Exchanges. The 11-minute film is a spoof of the World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
film What Price Glory? and was originally titled What Price Gloria?. The film is set in Buttermilk Pete's Cafe where child performers dance, play music, and drink and spill milk. As a character called Charmaine, Temple spoofs Dolores Del RioDolores del RíoDolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
and speaks her first on-screen words, "Mais oui, mon cher". Georgie Smith and Eugene Butler play doughboys. Others in the cast are Georgie Billings and Philip Hurlic. - The Pie-Covered Wagon was released on October 30, 1932, and distributed by Fox Film20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. Its screenplay was written by producer Jack HaysJack HaysChristopher John "Jack" Hays was an English professional association footballer who played as a winger.-References:...
. The 10-minute film is a spoof of the popular 1923 silent Western film The Covered WagonThe Covered WagonThe Covered Wagon is an American silent Western film released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze based on a novel by Emerson Hough about a group of pioneers traveling through the old West from Kansas to Oregon. J...
, starring Lois Wilson and J. Warren KerriganJ. Warren KerriganGeorge Jack Warren Kerrigan was an American silent film actor and film director.-Early life and career:Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Kerrigan worked as a warehouse clerk in his teens until a chance arrived to appear in a vaudeville production...
. In Pie-Covered, Temple is tied to a stake by IndiansNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and pelted with clods of dirt until rescued by Georgie Smith. Others in the cast are Eugene Butler as Gene, Philip Hurlic as Dynamite, Arthur J. Maskery as an Indian Chief, and Jimmie Milliken as Baby. - Glad Rags to Riches was released on February 5, 1933, and was distributed by Educational Film Exchanges. The 11-minute film stars Temple as Le Belle Diaperina, a Gay NinetiesGay NinetiesGay Nineties is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the UK as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art by Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the...
chanteuse at the Lullaby Lobster Palace who must decide whether to marry a rich nightclub owner or a country boy. The film features her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage". Others in the cast are Eugene Butler as the Nightclub Owner, Lawrence Harris as a Policeman, Marilyn Granas as the Maid, and Georgie Smith as Elmer, Nell's boyfriend. - Kiddin' Hollywood was released March 14, 1933, and distributed by Fox Film. The 10-minute film stars Temple as a former beauty queenBeauty Queen"Beauty Queen" is the second song from Roxy Music's second album, For Your Pleasure. The lyrics refer to Ferry's girlfriend, Valerie Leon, one-time UK beauty queen, B-movie actress and model working in the Newcastle area, circa 1973.-Musicians:...
reduced to scrubbing soundstage floors until discovered by director Frightwig von Stumblebum, a satire of Eric von Stroheim, and made a star as Morelegs Sweetrick, a play on Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
. It is considered the best of the series. - The Kid's Last Fight was released on April 23, 1933, and distributed by Fox Film. The 11-minute film is a satire on Jack DempseyJack DempseyWilliam Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
and the boxing world. Georgie Smith plays boxer Diaper Dampsey whose girlfriend (Temple) is kidnapped by gangsters before a big fight. Others in the cast are Lawrence Harris as Pop Skull McGee, Arthur J. Maskery as Dampsey's Manager, Sidney KibrickSidney KibrickSidney Kibrick is an American former child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1935 to 1939. From 1937 to 1939, he portrayed "The Woim", the sidekick of the neighborhood bully "Butch", played by Tommy Bond.He is the brother of the late Leonard Kibrick,...
as a kidnapper, Philip Hurlic as Dampsey's corner man, and Marilyn Granas as Lulu Parsnips. Granas would later become Temple's stand-in. - Polly Tix in Washington was written by the film's director, Charles LamontCharles LamontCharles Lamont was a prolific film director of over 200 titles, and the producer and writer of many others. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and died in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Career:...
, released on June 4, 1933, and distributed by Fox Film. The 11-minute film stars Temple as Polly Tix, Butler and Smith as politicians, Gloria Ann Mack as The Little Sister, and Philip Hurlic as Dynamite. Shirley Temple Black describes the plot in her autobiography: "I was a strumpet on the payroll of the Nipple Trust and Anti-Castor Oil Lobby. Mine was the task of seducing a newly arrived bumpkin senator". Temple wore black lace panties and bra designed by her mother, and, as her biographer Anne EdwardsAnne EdwardsAnne Edwards is an author best known for her biographies of celebrities that include Princess Diana, Maria Callas, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Margaret Mitchell, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Temple and Countess Sonya Tolstoy...
summarizes, "Jack Hays's intentions were obvious. The Baby Burlesks were meant to titillate male matinee audiences". The script required Temple to take a ride in an ostrich-drawn cart but the frightened bird bolted and Temple came close to being killed. - Kid 'in' Africa was released on October 6, 1933, and distributed by Fox Film. The 10-minute film stars Temple as Madam Cradlebait, a missionary and captive of jungle savages rescued from the cooking pot by a TarzanTarzanTarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
-like character called Diaperzan (Danny Boone, Jr.), who arrives on the back of an elephant. A group of black children playing savages were directed to run and fall en masse when shot by arrows from the good guys. Unbeknownst to the children, a piano wirePiano wirePiano wire, or "music wire", is a specialized type of wire made for use in piano strings, as well as many other purposes. It is made from tempered high-carbon steel, also known as spring steel.-Manufacture and use:...
was strung shin-high in their path and they fell into a yowling heap, some with bleeding shins. The film was the most tasteless in the series, and, with its release, the series was discontinued. The film strangely includes an advertisement for Ex-Lax, a sign for which appears on a post in front of the Hotel "SqualdorfWaldorf- People :* William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor , financier and statesman* Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor , businessman and politician- Communities :United States* Waldorf, Maryland* Waldorf, MinnesotaGermany...
".
External links
- The Kid's Last Fight at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet 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...
- War Babies at the Internet Archive
- Partial script from Polly-Tix in Washington at the IMDB