Pretty Ladies

1925 film

September 6, 1925 (1925-09-06)

Running time

74 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Pretty Ladies is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D. G. Miller and featured intertitles by Joseph Farnham.^[1] Pretty Ladies originally featured musical color sequences, some in two-color Technicolor.^[2] However, the color sequences are now considered lost.^[3]

Plot

As described in a film magazine reviews,^[4] Maggie, a homely but lovable musical comedy star yearns for love, a home, and children. She marries Al Cassidy, a happy-go-lucky fellow. Her happiness is complete at the birth of a baby. Her husband leaves on business and gets into trouble with another woman. A friend of Maggie’s informs her of this. When her husband begins to confess, she seals his lips, declaring everything untrue and foolish.

Cast

ZaSu Pitts as Maggie Keenan
Tom Moore as Al Cassidy
Ann Pennington as herself
Lilyan Tashman as Selma Larson
Bernard Randall as Aaron Savage
Helena D'Algy as Adrienne
Conrad Nagel as Maggie's Dream Lover
Norma Shearer as Frances White
George K. Arthur as Roger Van Horn
Joan Crawford as Bobby, a Showgirl (credited as Lucille LeSueur)
Paul Ellis as Warren Hadley
Roy D'Arcy as Paul Thompson
Gwen Lee as Fay
Dorothy Seastrom as Diamond Tights
Lew Harvey as Will Rogers
Chad Huber as Frisco
Walter Shumway as Mr. Gallagher
Dan Crimmins as Mr. Shean
James Quinn as Eddie Cantor (credited as Jimmie Quinn)
Carole Lombard as Showgirl (uncredited)
Myrna Loy as Ziegfeld Girl (uncredited)
Bodil Rosing as Minor Role (uncredited)

Production

The film was set in New York City shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.^[5] The film's sets were designed by the art directors James Basevi and Cedric Gibbons.

Pretty Ladies marked the first credited appearance of "Lucille Le Sueur", soon to be known as Joan Crawford. According to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Films of Joan Crawford, this film was the only time Crawford was credited by her real name^[6] (Crawford is also billed as LeSueur in the 1925 promotional film MGM Studio Tour).^[7] It was also one of the first screen appearances of Myrna Loy (then still performing under her real last name Williams),^[8] who signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. in 1925 and then finally signed with MGM where she became a star in 1934 with the release of The Thin Man.^[9]

References

^ Stumpf, Charles (2010). ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career. McFarland. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-786-46023-6.
^ Barrios, Richard (1995). A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-195-08811-5.
^ "Progressive Silent Film List: Pretty Ladies". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
^ "New Pictures: Pretty Ladies", Exhibitors Herald, 22 (8), Chicago, Illinois: Exhibitors Herald Company: 49, August 16, 1925, retrieved July 17, 2022 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Leider, Emily W. (2011). Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-520-94963-8.
^ Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (2013). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. University Press of Kentucky. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-813-14411-5.
^ Golden, Eve (2013). John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. University Press of Kentucky. p. 1918. ISBN 978-0-813-14163-3.
^ (Leider 2011, pp. 50–51)
^ McLean, Adrienne L., ed. (2011). Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s. Rutgers University Press. pp. 221–222. ISBN 978-0-813-54904-0.