Just watched this promotional short on the 42nd Street DVD. It showcases Harry Warren, composer of several songs featured in this short like 42nd Street from the movie of the same name of which parts of that number is shown in a clip. Before all that though, Warren starts singing some of his songs before segueing to a couple of female singers of which one of them was Margie Hines, the original voice of Betty Boop who would come back to her when Mae Questel refused to move to Miami, Florida, with the rest of the Max Fleischer employees. Ms. Hines would take over Ms. Questel's Olive Oyl there as well. Anyway, the songs are well showcased and there are some interesting angles from Ray McCarey (Leo McCarey's brother) when he cuts to some silhouettes part of the time. So on that note, Harray Warren: America's Formost Composer is worth a look.

A short subject featuring Harry Warren at the piano and other performers singing and dancing to a medley of his songs. A word of warning - the short I saw was obviously cut and Hal LeRoy (even though he was listed in the credits as "LeRoy") was not featured in the "Young and Healthy" number. There was also some dancing featured in "Shadow Waltz" but again he was not among the dancers.Okay, Harry Warren may not have been "America's Foremost Composer" but he was certainly among them and oh those songs. "The Shadow Waltz", "Young and Healthy", "Ooh That Kiss", "42nd Street", "Have a Little Faith in Me", "Crying for the Carolines", "Would You Like To Take a Walk" and "Cheerful Little Earful" are his songs featured in the short.

This short was shown on Turner Classic Film Network at 7:40 P.M. today, and I watched it. It is not so unusual from other shorts from other studios. MASTER OF MELODY was a short from Paramount in 1930 starring Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. But Harry Warren is intriguing. He is now recognized as the equal (as a master song writer) to Herbert, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart (and Hammerstein), Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Youmans, Weill, Styne, Bernstein, Sondheim, Lerner and Loewe , and a handful of others. Was he America's foremost composer? Not really - Gershwin had made a mark in serious music that Warren never did. In fact, Gershwin, Ives, Coplan, Hanson, and a few other composers of serious music have better claim to the title "America's Foremost Composer.Still it is a nice little film, with Warren playing his popular films (from the Warner Brothers musicals - like WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE A WALK or I FOUND A MILLION DOLLAR BABY (IN A FIVE AND TEN CENT STORE). Frequently new words are added to make the song fit the party atmosphere of the film (Warren is seated at a piano playing for his guests). The film ends with part of the FORTY SECOND STREET finale as a coming attraction. It was a good film short, and a glimpse of things to come in the next big film musical hit.

This was one of the weapons in WB's promotional arsenal for their big budget production of "Forty Second Street." Harry Warren was undoubtedly ONE of America's foremost composers--- demonstrated by the fact that many of the 75+ year old songs in his catalog are still known (and used in modern soundtracks) today. That said, I have to grumble when this implies he reigned supreme over the likes of Irving Berlin, George Gershwin or even Cole Porter in 1933--- Warner's puffery to be sure. This Vitaphone 'Pepper pot' short (weren't these shot in NYC?) is essentially Harry at the piano playing a menage of his well known songs, culminating with a short cut to the finale of Lloyd Bacon's 42nd Street. Somewhere in that shot are Ginger Rogers, Toby Wing and Una Merkel tapping away like mad. Interesting curio!