Artistic Temper

A troupe of performers runs into an old friend at the Automat, and gets invited to visit his current gig, playing the piano for Ruth Etting. She wants to go into show business, but her husband is a doctor and a snob about show people.

It's all an excuse for Miss Etting to sing three songs over the course of two reels. She was a major Broadway star, who made several attempts on the movies, but rarely got much further than the Vitaphone studio in Brooklyn. Given her performance here, it's not hard to understand why. It looks like the director has told her to tone down her performance from the stage, and it's been so toned down she seems a amateur except when she sings.