Molly Picon, The Celebrated Character Comedienne | 1929 | Musical, Comedy, Short

Title: Molly Picon, The Celebrated Character Comedienne | 1929 | Musical, Comedy, Short Director: Murray Roth. Studio: The Vitaphone Corporation. Starring: Molly Picon. Release Date: December 21, 1929. Runtime: 10. Format: 35mm, black-and-white, Vitaphone sound-on-disc; 1.37:1. Country: United States. Language: English. Genres: Musical; Comedy; Short --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Opening titles and introduction 00:01:30 Character sketch and monologue 00:03:30 Song performance: Painting the Clouds with Sunshine 00:06:00 Comic transitions and second set 00:08:30 Closing reprise and farewell --- Summary: A Vitaphone variety short showcasing stage star Molly Picon, the film preserves her character comedy and musical turns in a studio setting. Picon performs to camera with quick changes in mood and manner, blending spoken patter with song. The emphasis is on presentation rather than plot, highlighting Picon’s expressive style and timing. Set-piece numbers and brief linking bits offer a compact record of her vaudeville-honed persona for late-1920s sound audiences. --- Background: Produced in Brooklyn as part of Warner Bros.’ Vitaphone program of filmed stage acts, the short is cataloged as Vitaphone reel no. 917 and runs approximately ten minutes. The original sound disc was long missing and was recovered only in 2011, enabling modern restorations and screenings. Picon, already a luminary of Yiddish theatre, made three Vitaphone shorts; this entry concentrates on her musical-comic range as early sound technology brought vaudeville to the screen. --- Trivia: The film’s Vitaphone production number is 917, aligning it within the late-1929 New York–made Vitaphone Varieties slate. The soundtrack includes the 1929 hit “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine,” written by Joe Burke and Al Dubin for Warner Bros.’ Gold Diggers of Broadway. UCLA notes that the short’s sound disc had been missing until 2011; its recovery allowed a complete presentation with synchronized audio. The title appears on Warner Archive’s Vitaphone Varieties, Volume 3, reflecting renewed access to late-1920s shorts. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: December 21, 1929. Original Studio / Distributor: The Vitaphone Corporation / Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright Status: Public Domain . Renewal: Unknown. --- Hashtags: MollyPicon Vitaphone 1929 PublicDomain ClassicFilm WarnerBros YiddishTheatre ShortFilm PreCode Source page: https: //commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Molly_Picon,_The_Celebrated_Character_Comedienne_(1929).webm Direct media URL: https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Molly_Picon%2C_The_Celebrated_Character_Comedienne_%281929%29.webm