''Abie's Irish Rose'' is a 1928 early sound ( part-talkie) comedy film directed by

Victor Fleming Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an A ...

and starring Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Nancy Carroll, Jean Hersholt, and J. Farrell MacDonald. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film based on the 1922 play '' Abie's Irish Rose'' by Anne Nichols. The film was later remade in 1946. In the 1930s, author Nichols revealed that her deal with Paramount brought her $300,000 plus half the film's profits.

Plot

A Jewish boy, Abie Levy, falls in love with and secretly marries Rosemary Murphy, an Irish Catholic girl, but lies to his family that she's Jewish. The fathers of both bride and groom are at first religiously bigoted toward the other but with the birth of twin grandchildren, their antagonism fades.

Cast

* Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Abie Levy * Nancy Carroll as Rosemary Murphy * Jean Hersholt as Solomon Levy * J. Farrell MacDonald as Patrick Murphy *

Bernard Gorcey Bernard Gorcey (born Baruch Ugorsky; 9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was an American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski i ...

as Isaac Cohen * Ida Kramer as Mrs. Isaac Cohen * Nick Cogley as Father Whalen *Camillus Pretal as Rabbi Jacob Samuels * Rosa Rosanova as Sarah

Music

The film featured a theme song entitled "Rosemary" which was composed by J. S. Zamecnik and Anne Nichols. A song entitled "Little Irish Rose," also by the same composers, was also featured on the soundtrack. Both of these songs are sung by Nancy Carroll in the film. An additional song called "Abie" (by the same composers) is also heard on the soundtrack and is sung by Charles Buddy Rogers.

Preservation status

Only reels 3–6 and 9–12 survive of this film in a silent incomplete copy. There may also be an incomplete copy of reel 8, unverified. All of the surviving reels of the film are held at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

soundtrack discs for the film still exist complete has been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The film entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.

References

External links