''Bubbling Over'' is a 1934 American musical comedy

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Leigh Jason Leigh Jason (July 26, 1904 – February 19, 1979) was an American film director and screenwriter. He was born in New York, New York, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He married Ruth Harriet Louise in 1927 at Temple B'nai B'rith, wi ...

. The film includes various negative stereotypes. It is extant.

Plot

Samson Peabody is the

janitor A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...

in an apartment building where he and his wife Ethel live with a large crowd of Samson's freeloading relatives. When more relatives come to stay, Ethel throws them out. A scheming occupant of the building reads Samson's mail and poses as a

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

predicting the events of the letter; the arrival of Samson's rich Uncle for dinner. However, the Uncle is a penniless lunatic (imagining himself to be

The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, ...

) and a pickpocket. He steals the chicken dinner, several watches of the guests, the clairvoyant's

crystal ball A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum or crystal sphere, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune-telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular. In more recent times, the cry ...

, and (in the final scene) all the clothes of the people in the room.

Cast

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...

as Ethel Peabody * Southernaires Quartet as Some Relatives * Hamtree Harrington as Presbee Peabody * Frank L. Wilson as Swami River

Soundtrack

* Ethel Waters - "Taking Your Time" * Southernaires Quartet - "Hang Your Hat in a Harlem Flat" * Ethel Waters - "Darkies Never Dream" * Southernaires Quartet - "Company's Coming Tonight"

References

External links

* *
Film at Daily Motion
1934 films 1934 musical comedy films American musical comedy films American black-and-white films RKO Pictures short films Films directed by Leigh Jason Race films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{musical-comedy-film-stub