It was based on the Broadway stage hit, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (which played at The New Amsterdam Theatre, from 12/21/1920 to 4/22/1922). Marilyn Miller, who had played the leading part in the Broadway production, was hired by the Warner Brothers at an extravagant sum (reportedly $1000 an hour for a total of $100,000) to star in the filmed version. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction in 1930.
Plot
Sally (Marilyn Miller) is an orphan who was named by the telephone exchange where she was abandoned as a baby. In the orphanage, she discovered the joy of dancing. Working as a waitress, she serves Blair (Alexander Gray), and they both fall for each other, but Blair is engaged to socialite Marcia. Sally is hired to impersonate a famous Russian dancer named Noskerova, but at that engagement, she is found to be a phoney. Undaunted, she proceeds with her life and has a show on Broadway, but she still thinks of Blair.
Preservation
The film survives only in black and white except for a brief color segment from the Wild Rose musical number which has been inserted into the print currently in circulation. Those frames which are missing in the color fragment, however, are presented in sepia toned black and white instead of being colorized to match.
Credited Cast
- Marilyn Miller as Sally
- Alexander Gray as Blair Farrell
- Joe E. Brown as Grand Duke 'Connie' Constantine
- T. Roy Barnes as Otis Hemingway Hooper
- Pert Kelton as Rosie, Otis' girlfriend
- Ford Sterling as 'Pops' Shendorff
- Maude Turner Gordon as Mrs. Ten Brock
- E.J. Ratcliffe as John Farquar
- Jack Duffy as The Old Roue
- Ethel Stone as Lutie
- Nora Lane as Marcia
References
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday April 21, 2008 at 12:16:53 PDT (GMT -0700)
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