Gold Diggers Of Broadway (1929) NEWLY DISCOVERED FOOTAGE

Recently discovered Two Strip Technicolor footage from "Gold Diggers Of Broadway" (1929) featuring a straight acting, non-musical dramatic scene with Winnie Lightner and Albert Gran. Also MORE Technicolor Footage from "On With The Show" (1929). Courtesy and All Credit goes to The Vitaphone Project for making these amazing Technicolor scenes public for the very first time since 1929. www.vitaphonepr...
N.B. "On With The Show" is not a lost film. It still exists in a black and white copy that was made for television. "Gold Diggers Of Broadway" is a lost film -- however all of the soundtrack exists on Vitaphone Discs. And the last two reels of the film were found in the 80's and 90's and have been restored.

[@laurencrocker2468]

It's such a shame this movie was lost... I would have loved to see it! The actors look like they're having such a great time on camera. Every bit of film found is so precious.

[@michaelmcgee8543]

The technicolor print is lost .the black and white version exist

[@JimPigMuseumOfSound]

How sad this film was not preserved. The bits I've seen are haunting glimpses of a 20's world about to disappear. A complete film would have been a treasure and perennial favorite on channels like Turner Classic Movies ; instead we have fragments. Hopefully more will turn up, every bit I've seen is eye candy.

[@michaelmcgee8543]

Well the black and white version is better than nothing

[@robfriedrich2822]

Copyright is often the phobia about, somebody could enjoy a movie without paying.

[@steveheywood9428]

It’s amazing we even have snippets like this, because nitrate film used to disintegrate within a few years, let alone 90. Hope other bits may be located and added to this and other projects. 👍🥳

[@l_cflannigan9433]

It's odd how film preservation went over at Warner Brothers. A B programmer like Dancing Sweeties survives, but the film that made more money than any film until Gone With The Wind - Gold Diggers of Broadway - only retains the soundtrack and some fragments.

[@andresdodge7635]

This is gold !

[@12618again]

Keep digging, the rest is out there somewhere.

[@alanrowan6328]

It's possible, miracles have occured. Unfortunately, the original prints of both films were supposetdly destroyed in the not very well documented 1933 Warner Bros./First National Pictures vault fire. Although the sound-on-film print for 'On with the Show!' from 1931 (?) could possibly still exist. As well as prints from other archives possibly existing.

[@aldiboronti]

Wonderful to see even a part of the scene with Winnie Lightner and Albert Gram. And boy does she look gorgeous!

[@liberte5847]

Historical DISCOVERY Merci beaucoup. I got some 30 cm Vitaphone records. Merci beaucoup from Paris France

[@peterschultz6361]

Neither "Gold Diggers of Broadway" nor "Show of Shows" was two-strip Technicolor. Rather, they were Technicolor Process 3, in which a single strip went through the camera, exposing the film alternately through a red and a green filter.

[@alanrowan6328]

Yes, the correct name would be "2-color Technicolor", although one strip was used for the negatives, I believe there were two strips used for the dyed positives.

[@martinhughes2549]

@@alanrowan6328 Two printing matrices to print two colours into a single receiver film. ( Made from a single strip of negative. )

[@alanrowan6328]

@@martinhughes2549 For 2-color dye transfer prints, yes. P.S. I wish more of them survived.

[@MrRichiekaye]

Extraordinary. Very exciting to see this!

[@VideotapesCollection]

Early color films such as Alan Crosland's "On with the Show", Michael Curtiz's "Bright Lights" and Adolf E. Green's "Sweet Kitty Bellairs" exist only partially or not at all in color because the copies that were made of the film that exist were (by a.a.p. in 1950s) created on black-and-white stock. Later United Artists donated most films to others film preservation or private collector. No copies of the film are known to exist in the original Technicolor.

[@arfansthename]

The Gold Diggers of Broadway fragment was from Reel Six.

[@rjmcallister1888]

This being Warners' Vitaphone, the soundtrack was on a 78rpm disc. Trying to transfer the cellulose film after 80-plus years had to be a bear to keep it from crumbling.

[@coldwar1952]

33-1/3 rpm

[@ShadowsOnTheScreen]

Hey Pixar! You have enough remaining footage and the soundtrack and stills to figure this out. Give us a digital animation version of this movie and incorporate what is still left into it.

[@mollietenpenny4093]

That scene was so funny! It's sad that I couldn't see the rest. It's a shame that they didn't preserve the film properly. These are times when I wish time machines were real. 😂🤣😢😭

[@HMV101]

Nice find. With restoration of these early treasures, every extra foot that turns up is precious. Would I be correct in guessing that at least one of these clips was once included with a children's toy projection set? This was a common fate for unwanted 35mm film. They were often chopped up into 50-foot lengths to provide a cheap source of entertainment for junior home projectionists.

[@Davidalp1]

+Charles Slater - Yes both the clips portrayed here were from children's projectors of the 1930's. Darren Nemeth found both Technicolor fragments a few years ago - and handed them in for restoration. Each fragment runs for 23 seconds - so I am not sure if that would equate to 50 feet of footage?

[@alanrowan6328]

The prints ran at normal speed (24 fps). But the cameras ran at twice that (48 fps).

[@hebneh]

First of all, children's toy projectors used 35mm film, and not 16mm? Second, it seems very unlikely that 35mm nitrate movie film, which was very dangerously flammable, would've been given out to children to play with.

[@patriciaotoole5930]

I would have love to have seen the whole thing ty

[@robfriedrich2822]

The red looked pretty good for two colors

[@Satans_Legion_of_Evil]

These clips show you how the world was back in 1929. The first clip was from On With The Show, and showed actors being late to a play. One actor ask the man what his lines are, and he says, "You walk on and say: "Here's the Whiskey & Soda, Sir!", Then you drink it yourself and get a laugh.", and then when he asks him where the script is, he answers him with "The cat had kittens on one last week in the prop room". The second clip is from the lost movie, "The Gold Diggers of Broadway", where Winnie Lightner's character begs Albert Gran's character to buy her a car. (Winnie's character also uses the word "automobile" more often than the word "car".)

[@garymattscheck9066]

That'd be nice if they found some color footage of Ethel Waters from On With The Show.

[@michaelabrams7345]

All the technicolor negatives had to be returned to the technicolor corporation. They needed storage space in the late 1940s so they destroyed most of the 2 color negatives. But there were black and white copies made of many of the films for TV broadcast. Unfortunately since they did not have the vitaphone discs for Gold Diggers of Broadway they just junked the negatives without making a B/W copy.

[@allanfisch]

Thanks for these. Has any film turned up on the two missing Gumm Sister's shorts, Holiday in Storyland and The Wedding of Jack and Jill?

[@Aeonterbor]

The BFI found more fragments of both films!

[@michaelmcgee8543]

Thank you .Only if time Warner put back the 20 seconds of on with the show it would be showing the way it was for those seconds before ti was lost .I guess 20 seconds is very expensive for Time Warner,I think they could afford it ,unless they are hoping all the footage is f found

[@DDBurnett1]

The likely reason for not doing that is that it would be inconsistent to have 20 seconds of color footage abruptly appear in a black and white movie.

[@harryoakley]

The soundtrack could very easily have been audio restored and de-noised.

[@smadaf]

It starts at 0:43.

[@BornToLate]

This clip is from " on with the show," warners 1929

[@Davidalp1]

+Robert Webster Hi Robert.... Yes it is the second clip that has the Technicolor fragment from "Gold Diggers Of Broadway".... (Sorry I could not fit both Film Titles -- i.e "On With The Show" and "Gold Diggers Of Broadway" into the "Title" section/field of KZbin's format). But please enjoy both clips.

[@xxmoviemakerxxx]

+Robert Webster "On With The Show" is not a lost film. A complete black and white copy does still exist so it could be colorized and restored back to the original condition.

[@Davidalp1]

+Movie Maker Thanks for the information Robert, I have amended my notes accordingly to reflect that "On With The Show" still exists in black and white...

[@BornToLate]

Yes, "On with the Show" is not lost and I taped it off TCM. It is a review with great songs and a good back stage plot. Probably best remembered for Ethel Waters' introduction of "Am I Blue?" The old man in the show is Joe Jefferson's son, who was famous in the 19th century for his stage version of "Rip Van Winkle>" Joe E. Brown, Betty Compson, Frank Hardy, and Arthur Lake, later of Blondie fame, are there and the musical numbers are great. Similar to MGM's "Hollywood Revue of 1929" but better because of the back stage plot.

[@franzjosefkerkhoff592]

It's heree on KZbin now!

[@scotnick59]

Winnie Lightner could be a "bit much"

[@cartoonjoe]

Yep, that was a fragment, all right...

[@robfriedrich2822]

Missed color parts were replaced by black/white footage?

[@blofeld39]

Do you have a high-quality version of the "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sequence? Can't find one anywhere except in 240p on here... :-(

[@Davidalp1]

+blofeld39 No I don't have it I'm afraid. And yes you're right it sadly is on KZbin in only 240. I searched for another version, but couldn't find one I'm afraid. :(

[@blofeld39]

Davidalp1 I know a higher-quality version -- or several -- used to be on here, so it's very frustrating. :-(

[@TylerMcNamer]

*SWEEEEEEEEEETIEEEEEEE!!!!!*

[@Androidgamer-videosrandom]

Color en 1929

[@mainaccount131]

Interesting

[@michaelmcgee8543]

That was great ,but the fear is the recnt restored version of the king of jazz with it's drenched red and green for the preserved technicolor negative.Once universal put it back on DVD and Blu ray may be ,They could colorize all the green parts to give it a 3 color look ,the way the VHS version was and the unauthorized DVD version is .Maybe strong false three color,but, it won't be the way it suppose to be shown .i hope they don't Remember whoopee on DVD some of the scenes were enhanced in 3 making it stink ,i bought an old VHS version tha the colors not touched .I'm fears tha the better print of king of jazz could become like the VHS version,In an attempted to irrationally draw a modern audience,This is part of political correct fascism ,Don't offend the modern audience with old color

[@Aeonterbor]

I don't think they'd spend all that effort making King oF Jazz the correct colors only to re-issue it re-coloured

[@Satans_Legion_of_Evil]

Maybe there should be two versions of each movies, two-color and three-color versions. For example, the Rhapsody In Blue scene from King of Jazz would actually be blue in the three-color version. If there are still two-color versions of these movies, then everything is alright. I don't see what's so politically correct about recoloring movies. If the blackface scenes from Whoopee and The Jazz Singer were edited to make the performers have no makeup, then it might be politcally correct. Removing the scenes or banning the movies would more likely be politcally correct fascism.

[@karlellison5094]

Read about the discovery at: www.picking.com/vitaphone74.html

[@robfriedrich2822]

Would it be possible to use the color fragments to teach artificial intelligence, so it could restore the color of the as bw surviving elements.

[@westeggz]

Technicolor lab destroyed prints in the 1950s clearing house. 🫤

[@kimwood9119]

Sad. It's historical.