Dust (1930)

This, the original incarnation of Dust is taken from Children Of Pleasure starring Lawrence Gray and Wynne Gibson. This particular number is sung by May Boley who was cut when the second half of the number was used in Roast-Beef And Movies in 1934. The strangest thing is that it's not exactly the same take and that the recycled clip was presented in color which it never was in the original movie. Strange...

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• 1930
• talkie
• musical
• dust
• may
• boley
• lawrence
• gray

[stjn00]

Well, why didn't Mayer "hate" Roast-Beef and Movies where half of the number is featured in color? No, I think I'll stick to my theory that something went wrong with the Technicolor print during May Boley's singing and that the b/w safety print had to be used in the feature. The second undamaged half of the number could then later be recycled as a filler in a short to save some expenses.

[ClarasBeau]

Actually, the original release print of "Children of Pleasure" featured this number in early Technicolor. When the film was copied for television broadcast in the 1950s and 60s, the number was printed in b&w. The original version is lost, and so this is all we have... save for the recycled partial clip that survives in color, because "Roast Beef" was filmed in color, and the original version of it survives. By the way, look for Ann Dvorak in the chorus.

[stjn00]

I'm not sure you're right about Children of Pleasure having a color sequence. The footage is totally different in the feature film compared to the Roast Beef short. It's clearly not just a black and white print of the same footage anyway.

[MissVitaphone]

@stjn00

Have you watched "Roast Beef and Movies"? The first Technicolor excerpt is also an abbreviated number from "Lord Byron of Broadway". The singing by James Burroughs which preceeded the dance has been excised because the segment was too long. The same thing happened to this number. Furthermore, the cut from 1:00 to 1:27 showing the cast of "Children of Pleasure" watching the performance would have been absurd if it had been included in the short and completely out of place.

[MissVitaphone]

A full-aperture, dye-transfer print of this reel, which had a stamp from the MGM San Francisco exchange (so it was distributed) was found a few years ago indicating that the film was originally distributed with a Technicolor sequence. In addition a number of film reviewers mention seeing the Technicolor sequence in 1930.

[hectorthewonderdog]

More hideously unflattering costumes one couldn't conceive!

What ARE they meant to be?

[mikemcgee]

This number was in technicolor but mayer hated it and it was printed in black n white. /the color footage survived but Warners just don't want to reprint it in color cause it would change mayer demand

[ziggycat999]

Yap. This really looks like 1950's television claims to be sexuality than?  Thanks I was born a bit better.

[islandblackberryvine]

this is so fun,,, Thank You for posting,,,I hope you post more you have picked some GREAT musicla film clips..

[swallin19]

@swallin19 I should also add that the B/W dailies are now even rarer than the colour versions as they got put aside or thrown out after the colour version printing was under way. Double shooting only tailed away with post war Eastman colour stock, but was revived for TodA0, where 65mm and 35mm was shot side by side. Many Vista vision films exist on widescreen colour and a daily B/w edit version in non widescreen.

[swallin19]

@ClarasBeau You are correct for most surviving early colour films, but in this case the B/W version is from another slightly different view, the second "dailies" B/W camera film record, used for editing, also used to make sub 35mm copies, and B/W dupes for dubbing foreign language versions that would not be in the expensive colour versions, reserved for the domestic market in the States.

[swallin19]

It should be remembered that studio chiefs considered colour experimental, and it was the practice till the late 1930's to film each scene twice, concurrently or consequently, with both the double speed early Technicolor or the two strip, and with a black and white camera as well. The black and white film was processed for the "dailies", the editing copy to be reviewed by the director, the colour film taking several days to process and print for viewing.