''Paramount on Parade'' is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...

released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, directed by several directors including

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwi ...

, Dorothy Arzner,

Ernst Lubitsch Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...

Rowland V. Lee Rowland Vance Lee (September 6, 1891 – December 21, 1975) was an American film director, actor, writer, and producer. Biography Early life Born in Findlay, Ohio, Lee was the son of a suffragette who founded a newspaper. He studied at Columbi ...

A. Edward Sutherland Albert Edward Sutherland (January 5, 1895 – December 31, 1973) was a film director and actor. Born in London, he was from a theatrical family. His father, Al Sutherland, was a theatre manager and producer and his mother, Julie Ring, was a vaud ...

, Lothar Mendes, Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf, Frank Tuttle, and

Victor Schertzinger Victor L. Schertzinger (April 8, 1888 – October 26, 1941) was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include '' Paramount on Parade'' (co-director, 1930), ''Something to Sing About'' ( 1937) with James ...

—all supervised by the production supervisor, singer, actress, and songwriter Elsie Janis. Featured stars included Jean Arthur, Richard Arlen, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Jack Oakie, Helen Kane,

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", "Valentine", " Louise", "Mimi", and "Thank Heav ...

, Nancy Carroll, George Bancroft, Kay Francis, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher,

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

, Fay Wray, Lillian Roth and other Paramount stars. The screenplay was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, produced by

Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor (; hu, Zukor Adolf; January 7, 1873 – June 10, 1976) was a Hungarian-American film producer best known as one of the three founders of Paramount Pictures.Obituary '' Variety'' (June 16, 1976), p. 76. He produced one of America' ...

and Jesse L. Lasky, with cinematography by Victor Milner and

Harry Fischbeck Harry Fischbeck (1879–1968) was a German-born cinematographer who emigrated to the United States where he worked in the American film industry. He was employed by a variety of different studios during his career including Universal, United Artist ...

Production

''Paramount on Parade'', released on April 22, 1930, was Paramount's answer to all-star revues like '' Hollywood Revue of 1929'' from

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, '' The Show of Shows'' from Warner Bros., and '' King of Jazz'' from

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. The film had 20 individual segments—several of them in two-color

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...

— directed by 11 directors, and almost every star on the Paramount roster except Claudette Colbert and the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AF ...

. (Colbert became a star in May 1930 with the release of '' The Big Pond'', also with Chevalier and also released in a French-language version.) Cecil B. DeMille was also not involved in the revue as he had moved to

in 1928 and would not return until 1932 to direct '' The Sign of the Cross''.Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 12

International versions

Paramount also produced a Spanish-language version titled ''Galas De Paramount'' starring Barry Norton, Ramon Pereda and Rosita Moreno; a French-language version, ''Paramount en Parade'', directed by Charles de Rochefort; and a

Romanian-language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities i ...

version ''Parada Paramount'' (Chevalier and Martini also starred in the French version, and Romanian actress Pola Illéry starred in the Romanian version). There was also a Dutch version, ''Paramount op Parade'' with Theo Frenkel, and a Scandinavian version starring Ernst Rolf and his wife, Tutta Rolf.

Preservation status

Technicolor ad - Motion Picture, July 1930

The film, including some of its Technicolor sequences, has been restored by the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the ar ...

. The original title sequence and chorus girl number immediately following it, however, are still lost. The sound for two of the Technicolor sequences ("Gallows Song" and "Dream Girl") are also missing. According to Robert Gitt, film archivist now retired from UCLA, in a lecture at Pacific Film Archive at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, the film was also released with

sound-on-disc Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent syst ...

for those theaters not equipped for

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog ...

. The archive had a report of the soundtrack for this film still existing on disc until the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

destroyed a set of discs that a collector was planning to donate. In August 2010, CapitolFest in Rome, New York showed a 102-minute version restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive. Some sequences are still missing the sound, for some sequences only the soundtrack exists.

List of sequences

* "Title Sequence" during Credits with Kay Francis and George Bancroft (lost footage; only sound survives) * "Showgirls on Parade" with

Mitzi Mayfair Mitzi Mayfair (born Juanita Emylyn Pique; June 6, 1914 – May 1976) was an American dancer and stage and film actress. Life and career Born in Fulton, Kentucky, she grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1936, she told a '' Harvard Crimson ...

(lost Technicolor footage; only sound survives) * "We're the Masters of Ceremony" Jack Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, and Leon Errol introduce themselves as MC's of the film * "Love Time" Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Lillian Roth * "Murder Will Out" William Powell, Clive Brook,

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

, Eugene Pallette, and Oakie * "Origin of the Apache"

and Evelyn Brent do a parody of an Apache dance * "Song of the Gondolier" Nino Martini sings "Come Back to Sorrento" (Technicolor; survives complete) * "In a Hospital" Leon Errol, Jean Arthur, Phillips Holmes, and David Newell * "In a Girl's Gym" Jack Oakie, and Zelma O'Neal * "The Toreador" Kay Francis and Harry Green (as Isadore the Toreador) parody ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

'' (Technicolor; survives complete) * "The Montmartre Girl" Ruth Chatterton,

Stu Erwin Stuart Erwin (February 14, 1903 – December 21, 1967) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Early years Erwin was born in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California. He attended Porterville High School and the University of ...

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

, Stanley Smith,

Jack Pennick Ronald Jack Pennick (December 7, 1895 – August 16, 1964) was an American film actor. After working as a gold miner as a young man, serving as a United States Marine Corps, US Marine, he would go on to appear in more than 140 films between ...

* "Park in Paris"

* "Mitzi Herself" Mitzi Green * "The Schoolroom" Helen Kane, Mitzi Green. Kane sings "What Did Cleopatra Say?" to her class * "The Gallows Song" Skeets Gallagher and Dennis King (Technicolor footage survives; sound missing, current prints use King's commercial vocal recording of the song.) * "Dance Mad" Nancy Carroll and

Abe Lyman Abe Lyman (August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''. His name at birth was Abr ...

's Band * "Dream Girl" Richard Arlen, Jean Arthur, Mary Brian, James Hall,

, and Fay Wray sing "Let Us Drink To The Girl Of My Dreams" (Technicolor footage survives; sound missing) * "The Redhead" Clara Bow, and 42 Navy men sing "True to the Navy" * "Impulses" George Bancroft, Kay Francis, and Cecil Cunningham * "Rainbow Revels" finale Chevalier and girls' chorus (including Iris Adrian and Virginia Bruce) sing "Sweeping the Clouds Away" (in Technicolor; survives only in black-and-white)

Foreign-language versions

A large number of foreign-language versions were shot including: * ''Galas de Paramount'' (Spanish) premiered in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in early August, 1930, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

August 28, 1930 and in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

September 7, 1930; with Ramón Pereda, Barry Norton, Rosita Moreno as hosts to sequences from the original version and new sequences featuring Juan Pulido, Ernesto Vilches, Albertina Rasch as well as Nino Martini and Mitzi Green in both new and original-version segments. * ''Paramount en parade'' (French) with

, Nino Martini,

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier ('' The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', '' The Merry Widow'' and '' ...

, Saint-Granier, Marguerite Moreno, Louis-Jacques Boucot, Fanny Clair, and Charles de Rochefort (Rochefort also directed) * ''Parada Paramount'' (Romanian) with Pola Illéry; directed by Rochefort * ''Paramount op Parade'' (Dutch) with

Theo Frenkel Jr. Theo is a given name and a hypocorism. Greek origin Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example: *Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...

, Mien Duymaer van Twist, and Louis Davids; directed by Job Weening At Paramount's Hollywood studio, Ernst Rolf and his Norwegian wife, Tutta Rolf, filmed introductions and sequences for the Scandinavian version. Japanese comedian Suisei Matsui introduced the film in Japan. Mira Zimińska and Mariusz Maszynski appeared in the Polish version, and Dina Gralla and Eugen Rex appeared in the German version. Paramount filmed most of the above versions, along with Czech, Hungarian, Serbian, and Italian versions, at their Joinville Studios in Paris.

References

External links

*
''Paramount en Parade'' (French language version) at IMDB
*
''Parada Paramount'' (Romanian language version) at IMDB

''Paramount op Parade'' at IMDB

''Paramount on Parade'' at TCM Movie Database

''Paramount on Parade'' at Vitaphone Varieties

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paramount on Parade 1930 films 1930 musical films 1930s color films American musical films 1930s English-language films Film revues Films directed by A. Edward Sutherland Films directed by Dorothy Arzner Films directed by Edmund Goulding Films directed by Edwin H. Knopf Films directed by Ernst Lubitsch Films directed by Frank Tuttle Films directed by Otto Brower Films directed by Rowland V. Lee Films directed by Victor Heerman Films directed by Victor Schertzinger Films produced by B. P. Schulberg American multilingual films Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Joseph L. Mankiewicz American black-and-white films 1930 multilingual films Early color films 1930s American films