User Reviews

Glimpses into the Warner Brothers vault must have been a thrill for movie musical fans of the 1940's. TV wouldn't take off for another few years, and TCM didn't come around for another 50. The only way audiences could see films that they might have missed, not been old enough or even born would be in revival houses, readily accessible in big cities, but perhaps not in small towns. By 1942, Busby Berkeley had long moved from there, going over to MGM, but Warners took time in their shorts department to put out this tribute to him. It surrounds how the studio called all the young hopefuls on those rare occasions that they did make a musical, which at this time was seldom. Flashbacks to musicals made a decade before is a glimpse to what movie historians would later do, "That's Entertainment" style. Certainly, these numbers are better in their entirety, but they are also magnificent on the big screen, no matter how truncates they are. "Hooray For Hollywood", indeed!

This film short transitions midway from describing a Hollywood casting call to actual clips from Warner Brothers musicals of the early 1930's. The studio kept hundreds of would be actress names on file for what essentially wound up being a cattle call for girls of a particular 'look' or talent. It was interesting to see that the 'type' of girl required for the particular show being cast here had to have that blonde Harlowe-esque quality to be selected for the musical under consideration. There were literally hundreds available for such an audition.

One wonders why the kind of talent shown in the musical numbers isn't even seen in modern films today; I guess the mass interest just isn't there. But the Busby Berkeley choreography is stunning in and of itself, with a symmetry that defies belief, especially when it comes to water milieus that involve swimming and diving. You have to wonder how some of the performers didn't wind up bumping heads or getting in each other's way with the intricacy of the routines.

A particular bonus for old time movie fans in case you haven't seen the actual picture from which it's taken, is the great James Cagney in a clip from 1933's "Footlight Parade". He hoofs it along as part of a military drill, while additional clips of 'By a Waterfall' and 'Shanghai Lil' are offered as well. Probably the most original and creative act on display had to do with the dancers in those billowy, balloon-like skirts that made them seem like they were floating along on air. For a film short coming in under twenty minutes, you couldn't ask for much more in the way of entertainment, though if I had my choice, this would have been even better if color was available.

. . . during the "Lullaby of Broadway" S & M number from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 to FDR appearing via flash cards to close out the "Shanghai Lil'" drill marching at the conclusion of 1933's FOOT.LIGHT PARADE, every second of CALLING ALL GIRLS appears to be carefully crafted to elicit a Presidential Pardon for Mr. Berkeley. This must have seemed like possible poetic justice for Mr. B., who was totally sloshed while swerving all over L.A.'s Roosevelt Highway, eventually killing two other motorists and critically injuring five more in September, 1935. Tried thrice for murder like Roscoe C. Arbuckle a decade earlier, typical Hollywood hung juries let Busby off the hook as free as the Icicle Man. However, there would be no pardon coming from Washington, DC, for the infamous choreographer. Even President Slump cannot excuse himself (or others) from state and local crimes.