Let Me Call You Sweetheart (1930)

 

Let Me Call You Sweetheart - 1930

Coming up next on the blog we have something a bit unique.  A short cartoon film/sing-a-long entitled "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", the release date of which causes some confusion.  The copyright on the title card clearly gives the date as 1930, however other places online give the date as 1932.

In the days before "talkies", silent films were the only option.  An organist provided the accompaniment to the film.  Before the movie began, the organist would play a popular song from the day and the entire audience would sing along.  With the advent of sound motion pictures, the organist element of the movie house was done away with.

This film follows in that vein.  Here, Ethel Merman sings the title song "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", which would have been known by a vast majority of the moviegoing population at the time.

The film incorporates a classic Betty Boop cartoon.  Betty plays a nanny here, who meets a masher in the park.  By the end of the cartoon, they are together.

After the cartoon, Ethel Merman reappears and sings the chorus a couple more times.  "Come on, everybody, and join me," she invites the audience.

The lyrics to the song are then broadcast on the screen with a cursor to help the audience keep track of where they should be in the song.

Then the lyrics get a little creature in the way they look.  Ethel leads the audience in the chorus a few times before the short film ends.

And that's it for Let Me Call You Sweetheart.  It's a fun bit of silver screen nostalgia, and you can't beat the Merm's matchless voice.  You can watch the short film in its entirety here.

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