Tip Tap Toe (1932) User Reviews

Unforgettable!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 26 May 2018]

Hal LeRoy (Hal Evans), Mitzi Mayfair (Mitzi Blake), Frank McNellis (Blake), Helen Goodhue (Mrs Blake), Grace Bradley (salesgirl), Peggy Delight (Mandy), Dorothy Winter (Miss Simpson).

Director: ALFRED J. GOULDING. Screenplay: Jack Henley, Glen Lambert. Music played by The Vitaphone Orchestra conducted by Leo F. Forbstein. Photography: Edwin B. DuPar. Songs: "My Heart Is Breaking" (danced by LeRoy); "Three's a Crowd" (Lee, danced by Mayfair); "Here Comes the Bride" (danced by company) by Cliff Hess.

Copyright 16 December 1932 by The Vitaphone Corporation. Released through Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. 2 reels. 19 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Department store salesman dances up a storm in the shop-window.

NOTES: Movie debut of Hal LeRoy.

COMMENT: The Australian director, Alf Goulding, made hundreds of movies in Hollywood, yet is completely forgotten today, even (perhaps I should say especially) in his home country.

In this Warner Brothers production, we have a delightful little short featuring nimble Hal LeRoy and amazingly loose-limbed Mitzi Mayfair, fresh from their triumphs in the 1931 Ziegfeld Follies.

Not only are all the production credits attractively smooth, but all the production values themselves are commendably lavish.

In fact, the final production number, featuring a whole company of twirling wedding guests, is a really unforgettable wow!

High Kicking Kids

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 11 July 2003]

A WARNER BROS. VITAPHONE Short Subject.

A pair of dancing sweethearts carry on a private romance in a very public department store window.

TIP TAP TOE is an enjoyable little film and serves primarily as a showcase for its incredibly lithe & limber young stars Hal LeRoy and Mitzi Mayfair, stars of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. The story is very silly, but agreeable, and the plot doesn't get too much in the way of the highly energetic duo.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.