A Vaudeville Turn --- Jack Osterman in Talking It Over (1929)

Too few of the most influential comedians of early stage and vaudeville were captured properly on film, but here's one rescued by Warner Archive for their second volume of Vitaphone Varieties. I looked for antecedent of Bob Hope in Jack Osterman's one reel of song and patter. Hope was said to have been an admirer and copier of stuff Osterman did. So too was Jack Benny inspired by this headliner who'd peak-drawn $1,750 a week. A Broadway "Playboy," or "Bad Boy," take your pick, he'd be forgotten, but utterly, if not for marriage of picture and disk that enabled revival of his act here. Hope and Benny's characters didn't emerge from thin air. Someone had to have been there first with a persona that impressed them, enough so as to incorporate building blocks for their own styles. Osterman is relaxed, looks not at the camera, but rather to an imaginary audience (or back-of-camera crew?). His songs are comic and serious by turns. I was surprised to read of Osterman's early death (age 37) after long substance struggle, as he looks young and fit here. Such an act is buried treasure, very near a travel back to when Jack Osterman performed live and youngsters Hope and Benny took their mental notes offstage.