Static (1933)

Another one of the "noisy" sound shorts from Educational, only mentioned because some uninformed source somewhere keeps marking nearly every short that came from Educational as being a silent. FYI to uninformed source; Educational wired for sound in 1928... and used it. The title, "Static" and the plot that takes place mostly in a store selling radios (the talking furniture) should have been a clue this one isn't silent. Tom Howard inherits $3000 and he buys a radio store with his Cousin Joe that has nothing but trade-ins and junk for inventory. Plus, an extortion gang is on the way over to collect the protection money. This was made in the period when all businesses were asked to display the NRA Eagle as their sign of support for this Depression-era program, and Walter Soderling plays an irate customer who berates Howard for not being patriotic and having the NRA emblem on display. Everybody talks. There are radio sound effects. There are sound explosions. It is not a silent film. It may have been better if it was.