Unable to pay her rent, young singer Jan Clayton is evicted by her landlady, Helen Boyce, and ends up in a jam session with fellow musicians from the boarding house who are swingin' the jam around when the nasty landlady invades. Will she be swayed by the swing? Or will she reveal herself to be the old fuddy duddy she seems to be, and evict everybody else for disturbing her peace? Practically all sung in dialogue with rhythm, this one reel short is truly an entertaining mix a song and dance and is very reminiscent of some of the more inventive early musicals where plot was developed through song, disguised as poetry to music. Jan Clayton would go onto Broadway success with both Carousel and a revival of Show Boat, but this is a rare chance to see her on screen. Boyce, however steals the scene as the seemingly nasty landlady and really seems to be having a lot of fun. A forgotten gem of a musical short from MGM, this is one of the better musical shorts to come out of the swing years.
Review of Spreadin' the Jam
