Behold a very rare and significant MGM short film from 1929 called ‘The Song Writer’s Revue’. The film features a half-dozen songwriting legends–including Gus Edwards, Fred Fisher, Arthur Freed, Fred Ahlert and Nacio Herb Brown–sitting glumly at a clutch of grand pianos. Before playing examples of their own work, they’re introduced by the films ‘master of ceremonies’, a man who talks like Jack Benny, walks like Jack Benny and who you might be forgiven for thinking really is Jack Benny. Then you begin to take in his persona–sarcastic, unfunny, sneeringly superior–and you realize that the fellow simply couldn’t be the beloved comic we eventually came to know. The vulnerable, vain, sadly self-deluded everyman that personified Benny’s radio and TV character is so missing from this younger incarnation of Benny that he truly must be a different man wrapped in the same package. Of course it’s really Benny wearing his vaudeville persona–the Benny we know was developed a few years later with the advent of his radio show. This film defines the word ‘curio’ and if Benny, the composers and a very fiery Latina dancer aren’t enough for your enjoyment, the vast deco set should leave you mightily impressed. All those pianos are pretty cool too, though I can’t make out the brand name in any of the shots.