Show Girl in Hollywood (1930)

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:44 pm

So here's the question: Does Alice White do her own singing in this film?

IMDb states that the singing voice is dubbed and belongs to Belle Mann.

Richard Barrios seems to think (and dislike) the singing voice is indeed White's.

Any ideas?

Harold Aherne · Post by **Harold Aherne** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:46 pm

Belle Mann sang on a number of Victor records in 1928-29; one of them was "Buy, Buy for Baby" by the Ben Pollack orchestra. You listen to it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_62m-kVds0

and decide whether the voice is the same.

-Harold

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:33 pm

Well it certainly could be Belle Mann's voice in the film. The same New Yawk accent and all but it's impossible to tell. I know Alice White was credited with her own singing in other films (at least one). I guess only some sort of studio notes or such would tell us.

Apparently Mann was an RCA Victor singer with Ben Pollack's orchestra and had some hits.

bradleyem · Post by **bradleyem** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:19 pm

drednm wrote:ell it certainly could be Belle Mann's voice in the film. The same New Yawk accent and all but it's impossible to tell. I know Alice White was credited with her own singing in other films (at least one). I guess only some sort of studio notes or such would tell us.

Apparently Mann was an RCA Victor singer with Ben Pollack's orchestra and had some hits.

In my research on SGIH, I found no evidence that the voice was anyone's other than White. It sounds the same as in BROADWAY BABIES, and I'm pretty sure that it was Alice singing in that as well.

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:11 am

I always thought it was White, and it doesn't seem like the kind of error Barrios would make in his superbly researched book.

BixB · Post by **BixB** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:09 pm

[/quote]Apparently Mann was an RCA Victor singer with Ben Pollack's orchestra and had some hits.[/quote]

I have at couple of sides by The High Hatters on Victor that feature Belle Mann vocals. "Keepin' Myself For You" and "Ten Cents A Dance."

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:21 pm

from what I could tell, she had a good voice, but I had never heard of her before the IMDb listing....

vitaphone · Post by **vitaphone** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:51 pm

I am convinced it is Alice White singing and not Belle Mann. Does not sound like Mann to me after having heard her on all the Victors. At least to these Vitaphone-trained ears!

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:38 pm

Good enough for me..... of course when singers dubbed for stars they often changed their voices to try to match the star's voice.

Plus I don't think Barrios would make that big a mistake....

Brooksie · Post by **Brooksie** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:47 pm

Possibly the confusion arose from the way that when a popular song came out in those days, a number of different artists would record competing versions. I can think of half a dozen versions of Am I Blue or Pagan Love Song that came out alongside the `official' version.

sethb · Post by **sethb** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:28 am

Whoever did the singing, it sounds pretty good, and the segment is a wonderful historical look at the making of early sound films.

Too bad they couldn't do anything about her dancing, which is mostly non-existent except for a few high kicks! But they did do a fairly good job of covering up the deficiencies with artful camera work. SETH

drednm · Post by **drednm** » Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:31 am

I think it's a terrific film. Good music.