A Few Moments With Eddie Cantor. 1923 Fun Film

In one of the earliest experiments with synchronized sound, Eddie Cantor does his vaudeville act (stand-up comedy and songs) against a plain backdrop.
If you'd like to get a taste of what old-time Vaudeville was like, take a look at this fascinating and amusing talkie short. Headliner Eddie Cantor delivers a six-minute routine consisting of several jokes, two songs, and one comic poem, performed before a black backdrop in an empty studio. It's too bad the filmmakers couldn't have captured him in front of a live audience-- as it is, Eddie's jokes are met with eerie silence --but at least George Olsen's terrific dance band was present (off-camera) to provide jaunty jazz accompaniment. This short captures Cantor's act at the point when his career was really taking off, when he was starring in the Broadway musical comedy "Kid Boots," produced by legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld. The film was made at the midtown Manhattan studio of Lee De Forest, pioneer of the sound-on-film process known as 'Phonofilm.' Between 1922 and 1926 De Forest made dozens of talkie shorts featuring prominent performers such as Cantor, DeWolf Hopper, Weber & Fields, Eubie Blake, etc., films that are invaluable records of the great stage stars of the day.
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[@The1920sChannel]

A rare look into the forgotten world of vaudeville

[@tedrobinson372]

Happy Birthday. It is 2023 and the film is 100 years old.

[@horarwgt]

Eddie Cantor was 31 years old in 1923 when this film was made. (His references to the bandleader are to George Olsen, whose orchestra accompanied several hit Broadway musicals and scored 45 hits itself between 1925 and 1945.) Cantor's energetic appearances in "The Zeigfeld Follies of 1917" turned him into a major star on stage, radio, movies and finally TV. Eddie himself racked up two dozen 1917-50 hits, including the chart-toppers "Margie," "No No Nora" and "If You Knew Susie." EC died in 1964.

[@gonzalopriale3293]

The first stand up comedian and rapper🙌🏻👏🏻 Genius

[@Michael-it6gb]

100 years ago. One of the first sound films. Pretty astonishing.

[@piyel456]

I love how comedy is stuck in its own zeitgeist, and I wonder how Dave Chapelle will sound like to people in 2120.

[@ccali327]

I found his timing to be really interesting though. To me it seems really off (like he honestly had trouble remembering the words), and maybe by today's standards it is. Is it a "bettering" of comedy or just a different preference? I'm simply referring to his "technical" ability, if there is such a thing, not so much the material.

[@Ulysses_S_Grant_18]

Tbh he's less offensive than Dave Chapelle

[@compactdisk2]

Awesome. I've been watching Boardwalk Empire, and Eddie Cantor is a minor character in the show. He does some of this routine in an episode, and it's amazing what a great job the actor does. Looks and acts just like Cantor.

[@craigdixon4113]

Yes, Stephen DeRosa.

[@TangentChaos]

It was boardwalk empire that clued me in on Eddie Cantor and it's been a blast finding things here. There's other gems from this time period that are also fun. The Andrews sisters😂🎉 makes me feel classy and I've had a good time listening to that too. Eddie Cantor🎉❤

[@AvitalShtap]

This is actually hilarious LOL!!!

[@AvitalShtap]

HHAHAHHAI LOVE THAT OYYYY JOKE WIHT THE TRAIN

[@davemiller4721]

DeForest was clearly an innovator - this very early process paired a sound recording with film. One thing to note is that by the time The Jazz Singer came out, electric recording became the standard. At the time of this film in 1923, I believe the recording is still acoustic - the sound quality of all recordings improved by leaps and bounds by 1926-27.

[@luvmyrecords]

Records were recorded acoustically, but this film's sound, like all of DeForrest's films, is electrically recorded. That is what makes it and the other films especially precious.

[@roberteadie3209]

What a gem. Thanks.

[@evanleehome2178]

brilliant

[@MrDeCorey]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I love it grate film!!!!!! Wow 1923 87 years ago.

[@Ramji6648]

Really?

[@ahuman1378]

@@Ramji6648 99 years ago

[@GoofRebelMusic]

100 yrs now!

[@michaelpreston233]

Love That Style !

[@max-vw3hl]

wow tough crowd

[@anthonyfrew1571]

First film appearance of Eddie Cantor in a 1923 sound film, four years before the Jazz singer!

[@ianpeddle6818]

Wow what a treat to actually see a performance that would have been seen on the stage of the era. We think we are so sophisticated today but honestly I think the true art of comedy is dead.

[@flannerymonaghan-morris4825]

Eddie should’ve had a biopic made about him!

[@BobNMullen]

Perfect.

[@vonpookie]

Great quality!

[@Chico-yg5yw]

I love ol’ banjo eyes

[@JamesIrwins78s]

Cantor and his style of comedy, very plainly depicted here. I have a few of his 78s going back to 1919. Interesting to see him do a stage show, makes his sarcasm and general comedy more funny. Also cool that Olsen was on set here as well, you can never go wrong with an Olsen recording!

[@muggedinmadrid]

would be hilarious if this act was on at the Apollo. hahhaha the looks on people's faces. i like him. of course the delivery and the song numbers are different, but as stand up goes it's quite similar to modern stand up.

[@ricarleite]

He would be removed from the stage by one of those giant hooks, while a man on a pianola plays frantically.

[@rossriver75]

“cuz the dumb ones know how to make love” LOL. Of course, “make love” in English didn’t mean sex in those days. It meant cucchie-coo and snuggle up kissing etc. Until the 1960s came along and changed that.

[@asdf2593]

nobody had sex until 1989

[@cablecar3683]

That laugh at 1:49 sounded like a cartoon laughing

[@johnwayne-3701]

"Usually work a bigger room"

[@rustydog1236]

One of the problems with this is that there is no audience interaction, I think it throws his timeing off...

[@AvitalShtap]

I actually adore his timing , gives me just enough time to laugh before he moves on:D

[@larrybressler295]

I am glad this was recorded. It is as if he just wanted his routine recorded, and they couldn't film it during a live show. We are lucky to see it now, almost 100 years later.

[@rustydog1236]

This might be the first time he was both filmed/sound recorded. He didn't really know whatt/how to do it. No one did. George Burns talked a little about how their first film with sound went. They didn't what to do either. They just showed up and a random set was ready for them. So they started doing Lamb Chops. It's on KZbin. They said same about radio. No one knew what to do. So they just made it up.

[@starpoint11]

cantor great

[@HappyGardenOfLife]

Thumbs up if you never heard of Boardwalk Empire til after you saw it mentioned on an Eddie Cantor video.

Yep. They're almost convincing me into watching the show, at this point. Big Eddie Cantor fan here from Brazil 👍

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

If Eddie "Banjo Eyes" Cantor was around today, he could probably be a Dylan Mulvaney because of his manners. I had a major crush on him when I was about 11 or 12 when our local TV station had a Busby Berkeley Week and it featured a couple of Cantor's films (Roman Holidays was the one I liked. Bawdy humor.) . I don't exactly know why I liked him so much. My mom (who was born the year this film came out) found my infatuation with him very amusing, but I always got crushes on effeminate men as a little kid, like Elton John. Part of adolescence, I guess.

[@kevink973]

Guys like that are larger than life but still non-threatening to young teenage girls.

[@ryoko65]

people may knock it... but you can see now why they use the laugh track in some shows. also seems that men's preferences haven't changed over the years....they didn't go for chicks with brains then and they still don't go for chicks with brains ... lolz

[@hansemist]

You should add "For non-profit"!

[@xJackeeboix]

The evolution of smack talk.

[@kevinc809]

I thought talkies didn't come out until the late 20's

[@DinahIsMyGal]

1923 is when this is from LOL that's the twenties

[@kevinc809]

@@DinahIsMyGal I did say late 20's. 1923 isn't late 20's. The 1st talkie movie was in 1927 but I just looked it up and they started making these shorts around 1923, so this was pretty groundbreaking at the time.

[@DinahIsMyGal]

@kevinc809 pardon me I skipped over the word late. 1927 was the year of the first official feature length film. As early as the late 1910's there was documented experimentation in synchronizing audio recording to motion picture.

[@muggedinmadrid]

lol. good observation.

[@cthuluforever]

Thumbs up if you're here because of Boardwalk Empire.

[@cristianfranciscorojasgonz9458]

where is Jimmy darmody?

[@thatoneguychad420]

Oooh nooooo

[@cristianfranciscorojasgonz9458]

and Richard harrow?

[@OfficialHomie1]

@midnight

[@maxsmirnoff8200]

That's Rodney Dangerfield routine 60 years ahead

[@markbusell3510]

Kid boots was 1926 (as advertised in the 1st slate) and the 1st talkie was the jazz singer 1927..so this can't date from 1923...has to be 1927 or after...great anyway.

[@Arthur_McGowan]

Nope. It's 1923. The Jazz Singer was the first successful feature with talking, not the first sound film.

[@Tadpole10538]

Kid boots was a 1923 stage musical before it was later made into a movie. Cantor played in both

[@electrowavez1680]

Interesting little film, though the comedy definitely too dated for me to find it funny(like the singing part though)

[@raidernumber42]

love the sexism. haha

[@s.seeley]

Bisexual king

[@solo23508]

🤔

[@ThatOneStuff]

bad

[@Alexandrius_Caesar]

ThatOneStuff you better take that back or I’ll make trouble for you. I’ll make trouble for you, you hear that?

[@ThatOneStuff]

u bad 2

[@MegaByte8904]

No u

[@johnzwirn5050]

Wow. That was not funny.

[@MegaByte8904]

🗜

[@Emiliee]

🦗