"At the Moving Picture Ball" is a popular song composed by Joseph H. Santly ''(né'' Joseph Harry Santly; 1886–1962) and recorded by many artists during the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

era. Today the song is best remembered for its unusually topical lyrics, which mention many celebrities of the time. In fact, by 1920, the lyrics of the song had already been changed, since several celebrities mentioned had lost popularity.

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

and

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His b ...

performed the song on the 1963 TV series, ''

The Judy Garland Show ''The Judy Garland Show'' is an American Variety show, musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963–1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found succes ...

'', during a "tribute to vaudeville" medley.

Selected discography

; Atlantic Records : ''Bobby Short'' (1956) :

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

1230 : :
audio sample
''via''

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

) ;

Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Arg ...

, London : ''Hip Hooray for Neville Chamberlain'' (1974) :

Ian Whitcomb Ian Timothy Whitcomb (10 July 1941 – 19 April 2020) was an English entertainer, singer-songwriter, record producer, writer, broadcaster and actor. As part of the British Invasion, his hit song " You Turn Me On" reached number 8 on the ''B ...

: Argo ZDA162 :

Copyright

* "At the Moving Picture Ball" : Howard Johnson (words) : Joseph Santly (music) : Leo Feist, Inc., New York
© 8 January 1920; E470306
:
Sheet music
courtesy of

Johns Hopkins University Libraries Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

: Note: The sheet music cover art (unsigned) – in red, white, and black – shows movie stars in burlesque attire at a masquerade party

References

External links

Public domain version of the song at the internet archive
Songs about actors Pop standards Billy Murray (singer) songs Novelty songs Comedy songs Year of song unknown {{Pop-standard-stub