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Sport Slants

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The Sport Slants (a.k.a. Sports Slants) and its follow-up “Sports Thrills” were a series of documentary film shorts produced by Warner Brothers and hosted by the top sports caster of the 1930s, Ted Husing.

Overview

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Each black & white film ran 8 to 9 minutes in length and covered three or four topics much like a newsreel. Ted Husing was a leading announcer, with the Warner Brothers ad campaign declaring in Film Daily (May 30, 1931) that each of the initial 13 titles featured "the champions of every sport"[1] Bert Frank, who worked on Ripley's Believe It or Not! series for Warner, handled the editing at the Vitaphone studios in New York.

Turner Classic Movies occasionally airs these, giving modern TV viewers a glimpse at the world of Depression Era sports.

List of films

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Specific dates listed below are the Film Daily reviews, close to the time of their release.

Title Vitaphone number Release date Synopsis Notes
Sport Slants #1 1218 June 14, 1931 wrestlers Frank Judson & Clevio Massimo / hockey with Lester Patrick & the NY Rangers / gymnasts Al Jochim & Adelaide Meyers / Buck Freeman & St. Johns (NY) basketball TCM listing [2]
Sport Slants #2 1240/1264 August 1931 fencing with George Santelli & Norman Cohn (among others) / Dick Glendon and Columbia University rowing TCM listing [3]
Sport Slants #3 1272 November 22, 1931 sport of cricket / Long Island sailing regatta / polo in Westbury International Field TCM listing [4]
Sport Slants #4 1306 December 1931 field hockey / soccer / Ireland hurling reviewed by Film Daily, February 14, 1932
Sport Slants #5 1330 February 7, 1932 bowling & wrestling with Walter L. Richard & Joe Felcaro TCM listing [5]
Sport Slants #6-7 1347/1360 March 27, 1932 boxers Tony Canzoneri & Teddy Martin / Ralph Greenleaf & other champions at billiards skipped a number in title card, TCM listing [6]
Sport Slants #8 1382 July 2, 1932 Greyhound racing / diving off Florida with Pete Desjardins
Sport Slants #9 1393 July 9, 1932 Florida water sports / alligator wrestling
Sport Slants #10 1402 July 19, 1932 Jai alai / deep sea fishing TCM listing [7]
Sport Slants #11 1409 August 9, 1932 features Olympic hopefuls TCM listing [8]
Sport Slants #12 1425 August 1932 cockfighting / catching swordfish TCM listing [9]
Sport Slants #13 1426 September 1932 champion child golfer / outboard motor & steeplechase racing TCM listing [10]
Sport Thrills #1 1448 September 24, 1932 Willard Rogers in ping-pong / swimmers Katherine Rawls & Eleanor Holm / Bill Heckman in handball
Sport Thrills #2 1449 October 1932, © January 3, 1933 more fishing / Scandinavian Skijoring / harness racing
Sport Thrills #3 1489 October 29, 1932 Pendleton, Oregon rodeo / bicycles
Sport Thrills #4 1446 © February 13, 1933 silent film footage of past athletes including Annette Kellerman
Sport Thrills #6 1505 © February 23, 1933 hunting game birds
Sport Thrills #5 1515 © March 22, 1933 moose hunting / Irish Hurling

See also

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References

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  • Liebman, Roy Vitaphone Films – A Catalogue of the Features and Shorts 2003 McFarland & Company
  • Motion Pictures 1912-1939 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1951 Library of Congress

Notes

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  1. ^ Film Daily, May 20, 1931 and June 14, 1931 [1]