Made by the short-lived Mercury Pictures (not to be confused with Orson Welles’ company), this silent short “Studios on Parade” was sold to the home market in the 1940s. It begins with shots of the “Cardboard Valley” and shots of many movie studios from RKO Pictures to Warner Brothers, Universal, Cecil B. DeMille Productions, and Columbia Pictures. At :34 RKO and Paramount are shown. At :43 an abandoned set from the 1937 movie Wells Fargo is seen on the back lot. At :59 construction of a movie set is seen. At 1:07, the film goes on set of a Little Rascals shoot and at 1:19 “Mickey is run over” in a carefully staged shot. At 1:34 kid actors are seen in school on a working set. At 1:45 Spanky and Mickey are seen on the set in front of the car. At 2:00 “Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton” are caught in an artificial rain storm with acetylene torches producing lightning. At 3:10 more rain effects are seen.
Next, the silent short “Cameramen on Location”. It shows “behind the scenes” footage shot during the production of the 1941 Roy Rogers movie “Robin hood of the Pecos”. The film begins with a Republic Pictures camera truck (4:05) arriving on set. A Mitchell camera is seen at 4:17 being loaded. At 4:23 reflectors are put in place and at 4:38 a boom microphone (mounted on the camera car) is put in position. At 5:00, Roy Rogers is seen behind the scenes during the shooting of a scene. At 5:50 the camera is attached on the car. At 6:00 horses move out on the set. At 6:18 the wagon is filmed without horses for a close up shot. At 6:43 the camera is disassembled for storage and the film canister removed. The Republic Pictures lot is briefly seen before the film ends.
Next, SILK STOCKING PARADE is a fun short that shows some mannequins in a department store window coming to life. The attraction of course are the legs on view, which might have excited a 1950s audience with their shapely curves. While there were many risque stag films made in this era — this one is strictly “clean fun”.
Finally, “Diversion”. Made by Harold F. Jenkins Productions, whose company “World in Color” produced a number of silent girlie films for the home market, “Diversion” is a classic “swimsuit girl” film. It was shot by Leo Caloia, who gained fame by being the first cameraman to film a young woman Jean Dougherty who later rose to fame as Marilyn Monroe. “Diversion” shows a beauty and talent contest that includes a ballerina, some singing (of course it’s a silent picture so we don’t know what!), and some swimsuit modeling. The contest was sponsored by Los Angeles radio station KMTR and may have involved the famed “Blue Book” Models.
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