''Dancing Sweeties'' (1930) is an American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

romantic comedy film with music directed by

Ray Enright Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927–53, many of them for Warner Bros. He oversaw comedy films like Joe E. Brown vehicles, five of the six informal pairings of Joa ...

, released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, and starring

Grant Withers Granville Gustavus Withers (January 17, 1905 – March 27, 1959), known professionally as Grant Withers, was an American film actor. He began working in motion pictures during the last years of the silent era. Withers moved into sound films, ...

and

Sue Carol Sue Carol (born Evelyn Jean Lederer, October 30, 1906 – February 4, 1982) was an American actress and talent agent. Carol's film career lasted from the late 1920s into the 1930s; when it ended, she became a talent agent. The last of her ...

. The film is based on the story ''Three Flights Up'' by Harry Fried. Carol, then under contract to Fox Film, was loaned out to Warner Bros. for the making of this film.

Plot

Grant Withers is a conceited dancer who spends all his free time dancing. He leaves his partner Edna Murphy, after seeing Sue Carol in the dance hall. He enters the waltz contest with Carol and ends up winning the first prize. Soon after they are convinced to marry by Sid Silvers (the dance hall manager), who needs a new couple to marry in a live ceremony in the dance-hall after another couple cancelled. He convinces them when he offers them a free furnished apartment which the other couple forfeited by not showing up. Withers' and Carol's parents are shocked by news of the marriage. Withers soon gets bored of home-life and the in-laws and yearns for dancing again. He convinces Carol to join him in a dance contest, but when she is unable to perform the dance steps of a new fox-trot, they fight. The fighting continues until they split up. After a while, Grant realizes what he has lost but thinks it may be too late to patch things up.

Cast

as Bill Cleaver *

as Molly O'Neil *

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

as Pa Cleaver *

Edna Murphy Edna Murphy (November 17, 1899 – August 3, 1974) was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 80 films between 1918 and 1933. Murphy was voted "Most Photographed Movie Star of 1925" by '' ScreenLand Magazine''. For part of her ...

as "Jazzbo" Gans * Adamae Vaughn as Emma O'Neil * Eddie Phillips as Needles Thompson *

Margaret Seddon Margaret Seddon (November 18, 1872 – April 17, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. Biography She appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1951. Her most memorable role was perhaps as one of The Pixilated Sisters, a come ...

as Mrs. Cleaver *

Sid Silvers Sid Silvers (January 16, 1901 in Brooklyn, New York – August 20, 1976 in Brooklyn) was an American actor, comedian, lyricist, and writer. Silvers began his career in vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertain ...

as Jerry Browne

Songs

* "The Kiss Waltz" (Sung by Grant Withers and Sue Carol) * "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" (Cut from film before release)

Preservation status

The film survives complete and has been released by

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the int ...

on DVD. It is also preserved at the Library of Congress.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at the Library of Congress'' <-book title> p.39 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

Notes Bibliography * Barrios, Richard. ''A Song in the Dark'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1995)

External links