British Pathe

Reel 6. United States of America - shots of skyscrapers at night. Interior of a nightclub. Couples dancing to jazz music. The music stops and people sit at tables. The MC of the club announces that they are having an all English evening. Miss Florence Desmond is introduced - she is an impersonator....

Reel 6. United States of America - shots of skyscrapers at night. Interior of a nightclub. Couples dancing to jazz music. The music stops and people sit at tables. The MC of the club announces that they are having an all English evening. Miss Florence Desmond is introduced - she is an impersonator. Her act is to give the audience an idea of a party given in Hollywood by Janet Gaynor. She announces that some of the people attending will be: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead and Gracie Fields. Moving camera spins around the club. She does her impersonations including the aforementioned plus Basil Pitt and Jimmy Durante. She then sings a song in the style of Gracie Fields - all about American food and how she prefers Hot Pot and Tripe. Funny.

ii) 01:18:38 Claude Hulbert and Gus McNaughton are next up. It is their first appearance in Chicago. They keep walking on and being scared by gangster types. They run off scared and then have to come on again. They sing:" Jolly Good Company" but gangsters keep shooting at them. C/Us of the gangsters. It is Al Sharpshot's birthday party. The manager of the club explains that they are all drunk and will shoot anything. "If they like you they laugh, if they don't they shoot." They begin singing again - very nervous so shaky voices. C/U of gangster type who throws off a table cloth to reveal a machine gun. The two continue to tell poor jokes in an attempt to amuse. They consult their notebooks. They sing "Chuckle, Giggle and Laugh." and get shot at. Gangster's moll also appears.

iii) 01:22:39 Back in the Art Deco set a small jazz orchestra performs a number (I think it is Roy Fox and band playing the Harold Arlen song 'Sweet and Hot' - SL). Three of the band come forward and sing in a close harmony style. C/U of the orchestra members feet tapping leads into a montage sequence featuring all the acts we have previously seen (and a couple from a missing reel). Very modern looking jump cut sequence of the exterior of BBC Broadcasting House. Different shots of the building's facade are edited together as the "pips" are played. Our radio announcer puts away his record player.

End title reads: "British International Picture - Elstree London."
Note: reel one of the original film is currently missing.

Note; apparently this is indeed Roy Fox and the trio, including Ivor Mairants, Les Lambert and Harry Gold, are The Cubs. The Radio Announcer at the end of the clip is Christopher Stone.