Footlights and Fools
Encyclopedia
Footlights and Fools is a sound film
billed by Warner Brothers as an all-talking musical film
, released in Vitaphone
with Technicolor
sequences.
, also with Moore and directed by Seiter.
with only the Vitaphone
disks existing.
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
billed by Warner Brothers as an all-talking musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
, released in Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
with 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...
sequences.
Production background
This film was Moore's fourth film under her contract signed February 28, 1929, and followed Smiling Irish EyesSmiling Irish Eyes
Smiling Irish Eyes , known as Hymyilevät silmät in Finland, is a sound American musical film with Technicolor sequences.The film is now considered a lost film, however the Vitaphone discs still exist.-Plot:...
, also with Moore and directed by Seiter.
Plot
Moore plays the "dual" role of a French singer in America who was originally an American chorus girl in France to acquire a new persona.Preservation status
This is considered a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
with only the Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
disks existing.
Cast
- Colleen MooreColleen MooreColleen Moore was an American film actress, and one of the most fashionable stars of the silent film era.-Early life:...
- Betty Murphy / Fifi D'Auray - Raymond HackettRaymond HackettRaymond Hackett was a stage and screen actor. He had been a child actor on the Broadway stage and was the brother of Albert Hackett. He was born in New York City the son of Maurice Hackett and Florence Hackett . His mother was later a silent screen actress. Hackett's first wife was Myra Hampton,...
- Jimmy Willet - 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...
- Gregory Pyne - Virginia Lee CorbinVirginia Lee CorbinVirginia Lee Corbin was an American silent film actress. Corbin began her career as a child actress in 1916, and went on to become a youthful flapper in the 1920s...
- Claire Floyd - Mickey Bennett (born 1915) - Call boy
- Edward MartindelEdward MartindelEdward Martindel was an American stage and film actor. He appeared on Broadway and in 89 films between 1915 and 1946....
- Chandler Cunnungham - Adrienne D'Ambricourt - Jo
- Fred HowardFred HowardFrederick J. "Fred" Howard was an English footballer. He played in Wales with Mid Rhondda, Pontypridd, Wrexham, and Welshpool Town; in Scotland with Dundee Hibernian, Ayr United, and Clyde ; and in England with Manchester City, Port Vale, and New Brighton.-Playing career:Howard was born in Walkden...
- Treasurer (as Frederick Howard) - Sydney Jarvis - Stage manager
- Cleve Moore - Press agent
- Andy Rice Jr. - Song plugger
- Ben Hendricks Jr. - Stage doorman
- Larry Banthim - Bud Burke
- Earl BartlettEarl BartlettEarl Elburn "Cowboy" Bartlett was a professional American football halfback in the National Football League. He was born in Purcell, Oklahoma. He played college football at Centre College.-References:...
- Trio Leader (uncredited) - Nora Cecil - (uncredited)
Soundtrack
- "If I Can't Have You (If You Can't Have Me)"
- Lyric by Al Bryan
- Music by George W. MeyerGeorge W. MeyerGeorge W. Meyer aka Geo. W. Meyer was an American Tin Pan Alley songwriter....
- Copyright 1929 by Remick Music Corporation
- "You Can't Believe My Eyes"
- Lyric by Al Bryan
- Music by George W. Meyer
- Copyright 1929 by Remick Music Corporation
- "Ophelia Will Fool You"
- Lyric by Al Bryan
- Music by George W. Meyer
- Copyright 1929 by Remick Music Corporation
- "Pilly Pom Pom Plee"
- Lyric by Al Bryan
- Music by George W. Meyer
- Copyright 1929 by Remick Music Corporation
Footnotes
- Jeff Codori (2012), Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star, McFarland Publishing,(Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4969-9, EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8899-5).