Harry Fox and His Six American Beauties (1929) User Reviews

Singing About Towels

[boblipton · 5/10 · 3 February 2021]

Harry Fox comes onto the Vitaphone stage and does a brief version of his act: two songs, and some snappy patter that hasn't aged well.

He's all genial smiles, and the second song is about hotel towels he steals; out come his "Six American Beauties", half a dozen of less than attractive women, each dressed in a towel bearing a hotel name; Marjorie Main is listed by the IMDb as Miss Statler in her movie debut, but I don't think it's her.

I can see why Fox was a popular performer of the era, even if his efforts must have fallen off the map in a very few years. In the meantime, he had had a good run.

Sort of like watching Zeppo Marx doing a solo act...along with some 'American Beauties'.

[planktonrules · 24 January 2017]

Harry Fox, the creator of the Fox Trot, is featured in this Vitaphone short. You don't see an orchestra...just Fox singing through most of the film as well as telling some lame jokes. Interstingly, to me, Fox looked quite a bit like Zeppo Marx and his singing and jokes only heightened that similarity. Later, when he sings a song 'Glorifying the American Girl' at which time several very unattractive middle-aged women come parading on stage sporting a collection of towels that Fox supposedly stole from some of the best hotels. These ladies then sing a number with Fox and they aren't particularly talented. But this is THE key to the film--they are supposed to be terrible and unattractive. Kind of a nasty joke, I know. The overall effect is mildly humorous but it's not exactly a must-see film.

By the way, at one point Fox makes a comment about Mr. Fisher and bodies. This was a reference to the company responsible for making car bodies...not women's bodies!