Amazing Opening Musical Scene From Eddie Cantor's "The Kid From Spain" 1932

[Globall6]

Wonderful to see Betty, and of course the completely underrated Toby Wing? Why was she overlooked? Does anyone know? What a beautiful, sweet face!!

[bluedoris88]

the first girl looks like betty Grable?

[songplugger]

@bluedoris88 : Indeed. That's teenaged Betty!

[bootsamou]

Very interesting to see Busby experiment with some ideas in this early piece.

He would later use the "getting out of bed" idea in Dames, the "walking round & then up stairs" in Only Have Eyes For You, & the "water patterns" in By a Waterfall. (He didn't quite get a proper overhead shot in this clip.

[BusbyRocks1]

Spoofed by Mel Brooks in "History of the World, Part I".

[hemming57]

At 1:00....Toby Wing! Yum!

[braintree2]

Isn't this what Muslim heaven is supposed to look like?

[billwashy]

The sequence is discussed at length in Francesco Casetti's Inside the Gaze (1998)

[jfmanluke]

@billwashy

Thanks! The link won't post but if you Google

"Francesco Casetti Inside the Gaze the kid from spain" without quotes, the first link will take you that specific segment of the book that you mentioned. jfman

[coralarch]

Cant help wondering how many takes this took...

[swallin19]

@coralarch Not many, Busby Berkeley preferred to rehearse , then do long overlapping takes, to allow for special effects, keeping actual shooting time as short as possible. He did few re-takes, the rehearsal trained the girls to get it right or cover up mistakes. Every camera angle was totally pre-designed and worked out by him, again few alterations in the studio....a remarkable ability

[coralarch]

@swallin19 Thanks- you obviously know your subject thoroughly!!

[notpermitted]

This is unbelievable

[BusbyRocks1]

A young Betty Grable speaks the first lines. The water number is a forerunner to Berkeley water pieces in "Footlight Parade" (By a Waterfall) and "Million Dollar Mermaid" (the finale). A young Toby Wing appears in this and other musical numbers from "The Kid from Spain".

[felicity0504]

@BusbyRocks1 I also spotted Lucille Ball (1:25-1:31) and Paulette Goddard (1:51)!

[BusbyRocks1]

@felicity0504

It's not Lucille Ball. However, she did appear in Busby Berkeley's "Keep Young and Beautiful" and "Build a Little Home" numbers in the 1933 movie "Roman Scandals".