Page Miss Glory (1936) review - A gorgeous, jazzy fever dream

Should you watch Page Miss Glory today? Yes, absolutely, if you have seven minutes and want to see what happens when 1930s animators get drunk on Art Deco design.

If you hate old cartoons or get annoyed by Shirley Temple parodies, though, you will probably hate it.

It is basically a quick trip into a dream world that feels way ahead of its time.

The Dream is Way Better Than Reality

It starts in some dusty, nowhere hotel. A tired little bellhop is waiting for "Miss Glory" to arrive and falls asleep on a bench.

Then, boom. We are sucked into his dream, which is this massive, shiny New York hotel that looks like it was designed by a futuristic architect.

Everything in this dream is made of sharp angles, glowing neon, and ridiculous towering shapes. It looks like a skyscraper had a baby with a math textbook. 📐

The music is handled by The Varsity Three, and it just keeps chugging along. The jazz beat is so catchy it almost makes you ignore how chaotic the screen gets.

Our little bellhop is running around trying to find this mysterious woman. He's screaming "Page Miss Glory!" into the void, and it starts feeling less like a cartoon and more like a beautiful nightmare.

"Page Miss Glo-ry! Page Miss Glo-ry!"

Honestly, the art style is the real star here. It doesn't look like any other Warner Bros. short from that era, which usually had much softer edges.

It's way too stylish. Like they spent the entire budget on ruler tools and shiny paint.

The Little Things I Noticed

• A elevator indicator light blinks in perfect sync with the drum beat.
• The characters look like little wooden dolls moving through a paper metropolis.
• The background characters have these blank, creepy smiles that feel very uncanny.

It reminds me of those weird short collections like Goofy Movies Number Ten, where nobody really knew what the rules of cinema were yet. Or even the chaotic, silent-era energy you get in Seeing the World.

But then the dream ends. And the ending is... well, it's a joke that doesn't quite land anymore.

The real Miss Glory finally arrive in a giant limo. You expect this gorgeous glamor queen after all that buildup.

Instead, out steps this tiny, obnoxious child star who looks exactly like Shirley Temple. She starts tapping her feet and acting cute, and the bellhop looks like he wants to die.

Honestly, same. The joke feels a bit dusty now, but the visual journey getting there is totally worth your time.

It’s just a neat little piece of animation history. Go watch it on YouTube or wherever you can find it.