The Big Benefit: Bobby Jordan and some very loud tap dancing

Should you watch The Big Benefit today? Only if you have a high tolerance for kids from the 1930s screaming their lines and you have exactly ten minutes to kill. If you hate variety acts or that specific high-pitched 'stage kid' voice, you will absolutely loathe this. But if you are a nerd for the history of the Dead End Kids, it’s a weird little curiosity.

It is not a 'movie' in the way we think of them now. There is no real plot to speak of. A bunch of kids decide to put on a show, and then they just... do it. It feels a lot like Behind the Scenes, but with way more tap dancing and less of a point.

The Bobby Jordan Factor

The main reason anyone would dig this up is Bobby Jordan. He’s young here. Really young. He hasn't quite developed that 'tough kid' persona that made him famous later, but you can see it starting to poke through. He has this way of looking at the other kids like he’s about to ask them for a cigarette, even though he’s probably only ten.

He is clearly the most 'pro' person on that tiny stage. Some of the other kids look like they were pulled off the street five minutes before the camera started rolling. One kid in the background keeps looking at the lights like he’s afraid they are going to fall on him. Honestly, the way the set looks, he might have been right.

The stage is cramped. It is supposed to be a benefit, but it looks like it’s being held in a closet. Every time a kid does a high kick, I got nervous they were going to smack the person next to them in the ear.

The Acts (If you can call them that)

The music is... well, it’s loud. The piano player is really going for it. I think his name was Albert Whitman? He plays with this aggressive energy that doesn't really match the songs. It’s like he’s trying to win a race against the dancers. 🏃‍♂️

• The tap dancing is constant.
• The jokes are mostly puns that weren't funny in 1933 and definitely aren't now.
• There is a lot of leaning on the proscenium arch.

Louis Williams is in this too. He’s fine. He does what he’s told. Most of these kids probably went back to school the next day and never thought about this again. It’s weird to think about that. They are all immortalized in this grainly black and white footage, forever doing a shuffle-ball-change for a benefit that probably never happened.

The writing is credited to Ballard MacDonald. I wonder if he actually wrote 'lines' or if he just wrote 'Kids enter and act talented' on a napkin. It feels very loose. Almost too loose. Like they forgot to tell the kids when to stop talking.

It reminds me a bit of the energy in Rowdy Ann, just that frantic, low-budget 'let's put on a show' vibe. But Rowdy Ann had more of a pulse. This is just a sequence of events. One kid finishes, another one starts. It’s like a YouTube talent show from ninety years ago.

Small Things I Noticed

There is a moment where a girl in the front row of the 'audience' (if there even was a real audience) looks completely bored. She’s just staring off into space while a kid is literally three feet away from her doing a backflip. I felt that. I was that girl.

The audio quality is pretty rough. There’s a constant hiss. It sounds like someone is frying bacon in the room next door. It adds to the charm, I guess? Or it just makes your ears hurt after five minutes. One or the other.

I also noticed the costumes are surprisingly clean. Usually, in these cheap shorts, the kids look a little disheveled. But here, they are all polished up. Someone’s mom spent a lot of time with an iron before this was filmed. 👗

Is it better than Mary's Ankle? Probably not. That had a bit more of a comedic bite. This is just sweet. Too sweet. Like eating a spoonful of sugar while someone taps on your forehead.

I don't know. I can't really get mad at it. It’s just a bunch of kids trying their best. But I’m glad it was only ten minutes long. If it had been twenty, I might have started rooting for the stage to collapse. 🏚️

One weird thing—the way they transition between acts is so abrupt. It’s like the editor was in a hurry to get to lunch. A kid finishes a song, and BAM, we are looking at the next kid. No applause, no breathing room. Just move it along, kid. We got film to waste.

Anyway, watch it if you like Bobby Jordan. Skip it if you have literally anything else to do. It’s a Benefit for the kids, but not really for the viewers.