A group of African-American waiters on a railway believe they have made a deal to secure a railroad dining car that they set up on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles as a diner. To bring in customers, they sing, their voices providing most of the musical accompaniment as well. At the diner, in front of a crowd of swells, the police deliver the bad news.
Direction
Keaton's silent-film instincts in a talkie musical.
Sound
No orchestra—just waiters singing their own accompaniment.
Director
Buster Keaton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the few surviving films featuring the Four Blackbirds, a popular 1930s African-American vocal group largely erased from mainstream musical history.
Keaton made this for Educational Pictures during his 'poverty row' period—his slapstick mastery reduced to 9-minute fillers while MGM destroyed his silent classics.
US
