A Vitaphone Broadway Brevity.
When her American husband neglects her, a French wife remembers that DU BARRY DID ALL RIGHT financially after acquiring a powerful lover...
Corsican stage star Irene Boldoni (1895-1953), in a rare film appearance, is pert & spunky in the leading role in this fast-moving short subject. Novelty dancers Eddie Noll & Marian Nolan prove they are limber to an amazing degree. Waiter Charles Carrer does some eye-popping juggling tricks with wine glasses & bottles. Movie mavens should spot an uncredited Percy Helton as a hotel desk clerk.
After appearing in a handful of silent films - he's best remembered as Abraham Lincoln in D. W. Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) - Joseph Henabery (1888-1976) moved behind the camera. During the next 25 years he would direct 83 films, of which this was one.
Operettas were idea subject matter for early talky two-reelers. They were swiftly paced, colorful (even in black & white) and rather cheap to produce, utilizing as they did the sets & costumes of feature films. Their brief length negated any need for character exposition and the stories were easy to follow, even when sung by heavily accented voices. Best of all, they were full of Sound, and that was still enough of a novelty to keep most audiences from becoming overly critical or expectant of anything smacking of real art.