A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor

{{short description|1923 film}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor, Star of 'Kid Boots'

| image = A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor.webm

| caption =

| director = Lee De Forest

| producer = Lee De Forest

| writer =

| screenplay =

| story =

| based_on =

| starring = Eddie Cantor

| music =

| cinematography =

| editing =

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| released = {{Film date|1923|4|15|}}

| runtime = 7 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

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A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor also known as A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor, Star of "Kid Boots" is an early sound film made in Lee De Forest's sound-on-film Phonofilm process{{Cite book |last=Nachman |first=Gerald |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Raised_on_Radio/RkCiJ4KvzPYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+Few+Moments+with+Eddie+Cantor&pg=PT12&printsec=frontcover |title=Raised on Radio |date=2012-10-17 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-82894-1 |language=en}} in late 1923{{Cite book |last=Bernard |first=Sheila Curran |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Archival_Storytelling/9DDgDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+Few+Moments+with+Eddie+Cantor&pg=PT49&printsec=frontcover |title=Archival Storytelling: A Filmmaker’s Guide to Finding, Using, and Licensing Third-Party Visuals and Music |last2=Rabin |first2=Kenn |date=2020-04-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-04699-1 |language=en}} or early 1924{{Cite book |last=Merwin |first=Ted |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/In_Their_Own_Image/J8O_MwesxUYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+Few+Moments+with+Eddie+Cantor&pg=PA35&printsec=frontcover |title=In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-3809-9 |language=en}} starring Eddie Cantor in an excerpt from the Broadway show Kid Boots. Some sources say the film premiered{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} along with other De Forest phonofilms at the Rivoli Theater in New York City on April 15, 1923.{{Cite web |date= |title=A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor (ca. 1923) |url=https://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/clips/a-few-moments-with-eddie-cantor-ca-1923 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918154857/https://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/clips/a-few-moments-with-eddie-cantor-ca-1923 |archive-date=2023-09-18 |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=National Film Preservation Foundation}} However, Kid Boots opened on Broadway somewhat later, on December 31, 1923.{{Cite book |last=Mordden |first=Ethan |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ziegfeld/8DLeKOw_lHoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22kid+boots%22+December+31,+1923&pg=PA212&printsec=frontcover |title=Ziegfeld: The Man Who Invented Show Business |date=2008-11-11 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-4299-5152-4 |pages=212 |language=en}}

It contains two songs: "The Dumber They Are, the Better I Like 'Em," and "Oh, Gee, Georgie."{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=Edwin M. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_First_Hollywood_Sound_Shorts_1926_19/M7vwCQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+Few+Moments+with+Eddie+Cantor&pg=PA147&printsec=frontcover |title=The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931 |date=2015-06-14 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0684-2 |pages=147 |language=en}} The rest of the recorded material would be considered standup comedy.{{Cite book |last=Buhler |first=James |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Theories_of_the_Soundtrack/6TRtDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+Few+Moments+with+Eddie+Cantor&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover |title=Theories of the Soundtrack |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-937107-5 |pages=3 |language=en}} In all, the recording is nearly seven minutes long.{{Cite web |title=A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/547884/a-few-moments-with-eddie-cantor#overview |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}{{Citation |last=De Forest |first=Lee |title=A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor, Star of 'Kid Boots' |date=1923 |url=https://archive.org/details/ptp_a-few-moments-with-e_lee-de-forest_mkv_x264_592x392_172196 |access-date=2025-01-07 |publisher=Internet Archive}}

The music was orchestrated by George Olsen.{{Cite news |date=1971-03-19 |title=George Olsen, 78, Bandleader Of the 20's and 30's, Is Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/19/archives/george-olsen-78-bandleader-of-the-20s-and-30s-is-dead.html |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}