Here's the original 4-minute trailer for RIO RITA (1929), which includes a glimpse of the Bert Wheeler-Dorothy Lee number "Are You There?" subsequently cut on Selznick's orders for the 1932 reissue:
https://youtu.be/u12tgFU6J04
RIO RITA trailer with Bert Wheeler number cut from reissue
RIO RITA trailer with Bert Wheeler number cut from reissue
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)
Re: RIO RITA trailer with Bert Wheeler number cut from reissue
And it is interesting that Wheeler was billed as a single here.
Rob Farr
"If it's not comedy, I fall asleep" - Harpo Marx
"If it's not comedy, I fall asleep" - Harpo Marx
Re: RIO RITA trailer with Bert Wheeler number cut from reissue
Rob Farr wrote:And it is interesting that Wheeler was billed as a single here.
To add insult to injury, here's how some of the advertising for the film billed its main cast:
Apparently Bert's long association with Ziegfeld productions was considered a greater calling card than Bob's frequent appearances in a succession of Broadway plays since 1919, with Woolsey always appearing as comic relief. Bob Woolsey was a fixture in New York City but Wheeler was on the road between Ziegfeld engagements where he was a big draw in vaudeville. Bert was especially popular in Los Angeles where Harold Lloyd wanted to sign him up for his Hollywood Productions company, starring in silent two-reelers, probably similar to the shorts with Edward Everett Horton's. Ziegfeld enjoined Bert from participating in movies so nothing came of Lloyd's offer apart from a screen test (and who knows, it might exist somewhere).
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)
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