Vitaphone aggressively signed performers from the legitimate stage. Robert Ober, Irene Rich, Charles Ruggles, Daphne Pollard, Winnie Lightner, Jack Benny, Jay C. Flippen, and Karyl Norman ("The Creole Fashion Plate," a female impersonator appearing at the Palace) were listed as the top attractions of 1928.
1 The Vitaphone Playlets were all-talking adaptations of theatrical pieces and original comedies. Generally, they were two reels long (about twenty minutes). Subjects ranged from "heavy mnelodrama" (for example, THE BEAST [1928]) to "a fair amount of comedy" (THE NIGHT COURT [1928]).2 Vitaphone Varieties included assorted novelty series and were produced on both coasts. An advertisement emphasizes the different appeals: one promises virtual Broadway, the other the voices of Hollywood stars:
Let the diplomats parley, let the pacifists rave, but the most furious war in
history wages on right under their collective nose. It's a bloodless battle, of
course, but Broadway versus Hollywood is the cinema Battle of the Century.
Vitaphone Varieties, the entertaining short subjects, offer a field of honor
for the struggle. Two studios, one in Hollywood and one in Brooklyn produce
the Varieties. On the Western front, we find screen favorites in the
casts, while the Brooklyn studio garners the cream of Broadway "names."
The movie veterans laugh as they talk of "screen personality" and "screen
technique." The stage folk offer "stage presence" and "speaking voice" in
rebuttal.
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