From 90 years ago, 2 lost films

I thought it might be fun to start the year by going back to 1930, in the early days of talkies, as movie ads were getting a little more artwork and becoming more interesting to look at. Looking at ads from 90 years ago this month, the first two I ran across were for movies that now considered lost. Often, rare copies of lost films do crop up, but these two don't seem important enough for anyone to be conducting specific searches for them.

Above are two ads for Gold Diggers of Broadway, one of the better-known lost films, as it was the first of the classic Gold Diggers series of the 30s which featured the stunning choreography of Busby Berkeley. He was not involved in this first film, but the plot, with "gold digging" chorus girls getting the better of  their rich sugar daddies, set the template for the later films. The top ad, from a Sandusky Ohio bill, stands in contrast the classier looking but very wordy ad from the New York Times in August of 1929.

Based on contemporary reviews, The Forward Pass was a run-of-the-mill sports romance (the Times review made note of its predictable plot) but enjoyable for the chemistry between the two co-stars, Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. It's not a musical but, as the ad above from a Tucson paper in January of 1930 notes, Young does sing at least one song.

Finally, an ad from Edmonton, Alberta featuring both films in the last week of 1929, not to mention prize giveaways!