Name: Marion Harris: Songbird of Jazz
Genre: Short, Music
Released: 1928-09-29
Duration: 8 min
Rating: 5.7
Cast: Marion Harris

Up until recently, I assumed that the Vitaphone unit were the only ones doing experimental sound films by recording various vaudeville singers of the age. Well, when I bought "Classical Musical Shorts from the Dream Factory", I thought they were also Vitaphone shorts but instead they were from MGM. However, the sound films appear to start about 1928...years after Vitaphone already created quite a few sound shorts. In other words, MGM was playing catch up and they weren't about to start making sound full length films until they learned the technology with these cheaper shorts.

I've never heard of Marion Harris, though the title card indicates that she was a Broadway star...a step up from the usual Vaudeville stars you'd see in these sorts of shorts. While she is not especially movie star-like in her looks, I can see why she hit the big time, as Marion had a really, really sweet voice...much more fluid and graceful than all the other female singers I've heard so far on the discs. The rest of the women belt out songs, whereas Marion excels by singer softer and showing off her talent. I was very impressed. Well worth seeing and hearing. I was so impressed I looked her up on Wikipedia and although she never made it in films, she sold a lot of records...with several #1 hits.

The music genre features stories showcasing musical performances, music-related documentaries and recordings of live concerts and music festivals.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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Marion Harris in Marion Harris: Songbird of Jazz (1928)

Marion Harris: Songbird of Jazz

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