The King of Jazz Reviews

Then-popular band leader Paul Whiteman, whose group was well-known for its rendering of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," is featured in this all-talking, all-singing revue, which opens with an animated sequence in which Whiteman's scrapbook opens to show how he was crowned King of Jazz, and closed with a spirited Busby Berkley-esque production number called "The Melting Pot," in which various national musical influences are blended to produce all-American jazz. In between, stage director Anderson assembled a hodgepodge of comedy sketches, ballads and song-and-dance numbers. Unlike 1929's HOLLYWOOD REVUE, KING OF JAZZ featured few performers who achieved lasting fame.