The Christmas Party

When this short film begins, Jackie Cooper arrives home after his team won the football game. He asks his kind of grouchy mother if he can have the team over for a Christmas party and she reluctantly agrees. But soon kids start inviting ALL their friends and it looks like the party might be a disaster. When Jackie realizes what's happened, he asks Norma Shearer to help him and soon all the swell folks at MGM are throwing the kids a nice party. Included among the cameos are Clark Gable, Polly Moran, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Marion Davies, Lionel Barrymore, Ramon Novarro, Cliff Edwards, Charlotte Greenwood (and her long and wiggly legs) and quite a few others.

The film is a totally staged but enjoyable film. I truly doubt these movie folks would routinely throw parties for kids...especially Wallace Beery, who Cooper described as a complete creep in his autobiography. So, it's a film you can enjoy...provided you really don't take the story very seriously. I liked seeing all the cameos and like it despite it being incredibly phony.