Tad Pole . . . whose main claim to fame seems to be that she was not THE Betty Jane Graham of COVER GIRL (1944). In fact, 1944 marked the final year of the ORIGINAL "Little Miss Vitaphone's" film career as a minor, which ran from when she was 4 years old in 1927 through her "big break" in the Vitaphone Family in the Warner Brother's puff piece, AN INTIMATE DINNER IN CELEBRATION OF WARNER BROS. SILVER JUBILEE (1930--which was certainly NOT intimate, nor a dinner that looked as appetizing as sliders from White Castle) to the role of "Autograph Seeker" in BR0ADWAY RHYTHM (1944). How is it that Betty Jane Graham Number One had a hiatus of 22 years (!!) following her minor acting career, only to have her major acting body of work consist solely of coming out of retirement to play the "bit part" in John Wayne's EL DORADO (1966), before she succumbed to mortality two weeks shy of her 75th birthday in 1998? Though I haven't seen most of her other 45 minor film roles, she seems such a presence rattling off the names of everyone from Warners Brothers stars Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler to the scrub lady and team videographer (oops!--I'm confusing this with the endless reading of the roster on opening day in a baseball park--sorry) that it seems life's promises were somehow snuffed out for Betty Jane Graham Number One by the improbable emergence of a Betty Jane Graham Number Two the exact year that One reached her majority.

tavm A Silver Jubilee would imply 25th anniversary and this was made in 1930 but Warner Bros. Pictures wasn't incorporated until 1923. How can that be? Well, according to many of the comments here, the actual brothers Warner started in the movie business when they rented a movie theatre in 1905. Okay! Anyway, it's a formal party with many of the studio's stars in attendance, well, except for George Arliss, John Barrymore, or Richard Bartheness. What, no Al Jolson, the one who put Warners on the map with The Jazz Singer? And it puzzles me why this was on TJS DVD when he's not even mentioned. Oh, and the little girl introing the stars is playing Miss Vitaphone, the sound process that also helped put the studio on the map. One more thing, among the songwriters at the tables are Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II but they're both with their then-partners of Lorenz Hart and Sigmund Romberg, respectively. In summary, An Intimate Dinner in Celebration of Warner Bros. Jubilee was an interesting curio and nothing more.

CitizenCaine Warner's Intimate Dinner is a historic curio indeed. The phony Mr. and Mrs. Warner Brothers Pictures yields to baby Vitaphone, who then proceeds to provide publicity to each actor and actress seated at the dinner table. Little miss Vitaphone introduces them one by one or in pairs as they appeared in their own or each other's films at the time. A high majority of the "stars" at the celebration weren't really stars at all but were just starting their film careers or had only a few movies under their belts at the time. This includes even Edward G. Robinson, who is referred to without the "G" here. Many of those present worked only a few years in films before flaming out, including the director of this piece. An unexpected but pleasant surprise is seeing the several composers appear who weren't really tied to Warner Brothers, so one can only wonder why they made appearances here. Due to to the talent involved, or in some cases, the lack of it, it seems as if this film is simply a shameless excuse to promote new talent for Warner Brothers, especially considering the fact this was no where near Warner's 25th anniversary.

theowinthrop I'm giving this short subject a few points more than it deserves, because there are some faces in it that one rarely if ever saw or heard in early talkies. Among them are Broadway stars Otis Skinner (see OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY and KISMET), and Marilyn Miller, as well as young Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II, Al Dubin, and such faces as Walter Huston, Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Walter Pidgeon, Loretta Young, Sidney Blackmer, and Ona Munson. I can even add the Fred Kohler Sr. and Beryl Mercer. It's pleasant seeing faces of some importance or still vibrant memory there.But having said that I look at the bulk of the celebrities. The chief spokesperson is a young girl, Betty Jane Graham, as "Little Miss Vitaphone". Vitaphone, of course, was the process that the Warners used to bring talkies to Hollywood. Ms Graham is polite and well spoken. She is a pretty child. That said, there has absolutely no spark of talent or panache in her. If you check the thread on her, she had a career into the 1940s, but increasingly it fell into not even supporting parts but extras. Finally she must have gotten the message and left films entirely.I have heard of Evelyn Knapp (barely) and Louis Fazenda, but who on earth are Leon Janney (any relation to television star Alison Janney?), Claudia Dell, or James Rennie? The stars of tomorrow. Their credits barely suggest anything.In the other comments on this thread, there are complaints that the brothers Warner failed to use such figures as George Arliss, Richard Barthelmess, or (my God, how could they?!) John Barrymore. Yes, indeed, they did. They also did not bring in their champion man of song Mr. Al Jolson. A song is sung at the end by some well intentioned crooner with a forgettable name, who looks like he's got a great future in half-empty concert halls. He is warbling a slightly passable ditty with words by Mr. Dubin. As I listened to him sing this, and saw Ms Miller was in that room, I wanted to cry. The tune is not a standard, but with a bit of friendly or sexy push it might have been. Or if Mr. Jolson had been around it might have been.I take it this was done as publicity (to show off some of the big and so-called promising names) for the studio. As such they may have grabbed whoever was available (due to shooting schedules) on that day or two it was shot. So, as a museum piece it is curious enough to merit a "7" out of generosity to Otis and Marilyn in particular. But otherwise I felt like a lot of good film stock was wasted in this work.