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During today's lecture detailing the transition of silent films to talkies, this Billy Murray song kept going through my brain!! So I'll post the song here, and now it can go through everyone else's brain, too. ? For those not familiar with Billy Murray, he was a very popular singer in the early 20th century and made LOTS of great records, mostly novelty songs. One of them was "Ever Since the Movies Learned to Talk" (1928 or 1929, depending on which of the several recording versions he made), written by Walter O’Keefe, Bobby Dolan, and James Cavanaugh. Here are the lyrics: Ever Since the Movies Learned to Talk Science now has really revolutionized the screen Things out there in Hollywood are not so darned serene All the stars are in a panic Here’s the reason why Everyone must talk out loud or kiss their job good-bye Lots of old time stars are out of a job All they do is blubber and sob Ever since the movies learned to talk And a red hot vamp who registered pash* Sounds as if she’s ordering hash Ever since the movies learned to talk Oh they can’t fool you and they can’t fool me when they open up it’s a squeak Why, it’s a sin, even Rin Tin Tin has a bark that sounds like a Peke When the hero sings “Asleep in the Deep,” He sounds just like Little Bo Peep Ever since the movies learned to talk Every bathroom singer has a chance to make a name Any guy with leather lungs can crank the Hall of Fame If you know your vo-de-do and do-re-mi-fa-so You can go to Hollywood and make a lot of dough When the “villyan” gets the gal in his toils She says “Take your doity old poils.” Ever since the movies learned to talk And when Emil Jannings opens his mouth You’d swear he was raised in the south Ever since the movies learned to talk When a dark-eyed dame with a foreign name starts to talk in doing a scene We all know she’s from Buffalo and her Christian name is Levine Though the hero’s big still everyone knows He makes every stitch of his clothes Ever since the movies learned to talk Once the movie kiss made hearts loop the loop Now it sounds like drinking hot soup Ever since the movies learned to talk All the old time stars were seen but not heard Now you hear them lisp every word Ever since the movies learned to talk When they start a scene It's an awful scream He says, "Sweetheart, kiss me my dear." She says, "This is so sudden, sweet, and you say you miss me, my dear." He says, "Honest, truly, sweetie, I swear you, yourself, start lisping right there." Ever since the movies learned to talk --------------------------- *pash = a brief infatuation And for those not familiar with Emil Jannings (and his thick German accent): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0417837/

I am starting to flesh out my classic film book collection. And I have been trying to track down the best books on the history of the studio era, Scott Eyman's Lion Of Hollywood has been recommended to me as the definitive book about MGM, and there are others about Warner Bro's I am considering purchasing. I was wondering if anyone here can give me some recommendations, particularly for books about Fox, as there does not seem to be many out there. Thanks

I saw a film on TCM a while ago about a young girl and a man that pose as father and daughter (I think), in order to hustle a wealthy young man of his money. In the end the girl falls in love with the young man and the "father" decides to give up on the charade and let the girl tell everyone what their intentions were. Its an older film. I would say from the '20's-'30's. If i recall correctly its not a very long film either, maybe an hour or so. I can't remember the title or any of the actors but I would love to see it again for a movie/date night with my girl next week. Does anyone have any idea of what the film is or the actors so I can look it up? I'd really appreciate it.