Why Girls Leave Home (1921 film)

Last updated

Why Girls Leave Home
Why Girls Leave Home (1921) - 2 crop.jpg
Newspaper advertisement
Directed by William Nigh
Written byWilliam Nigh
Produced by Harry Rapf
Starring Anna Q. Nilsson
CinematographyJohn W. Brown
Production
company
Harry Rapf Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • July 1921 (1921-07)(US)
[1]
Running time
70-80 minutes (7-8 reels)
CountryUnited States
Language Silent (English intertitles)
Budget$45,000 [2] [3]
Box office$450,000 (worldwide rentals) [2] [3]

Why Girls Leave Home is a lost [4] 1921 American silent drama film produced by Harry Rapf for Warner Bros. [5] It was the only film from the studio to make a profit in 1921. [6] The poster for the film was featured in the 1962 film Gypsy . [7]

Contents

Why Girls Go Back Home (1926) is a sequel to the film that was also produced by Warner Bros.

Cropped lobby card with Maurine Powers and Claude King Why Girls Leave Home (1921) still 1.jpg
Cropped lobby card with Maurine Powers and Claude King

Plot

Mr. Hedder (George Lessey) is an old fashioned man who will not let his daughter Anna (Anna Q. Nilsson) own an evening gown, but she is given one by a friend who is a model. Hedder believes that she stole it and confers with Mr. Wallace (Claude King), the owner of the store. On Wallace's advice, Hedder hits Anna, causing her to leave home and move in with some gold diggers. She discovers that Wallace is a lenient father, and his daughter, Madeline (Maurine Powers) frequents less-than-reputable nightclubs, and is also the pawn of Mr. Reynolds (Coit Albertson), who is dating her for business reasons. Anna discovers Madeline alone in Anna's apartment and uses this to get back at Wallace. She eventually sends Madeline home, and the two fathers reconcile with their daughters.

Cast

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $410,000 domestically and $40,000 in foreign. [3]

Preservation status

This film is now lost. Warner Bros. records of the film's negative have a notation, "Junked 12/27/48" (i.e., December 27, 1948). Warner Bros. destroyed many of its negatives in the late 1940s and 1950s due to nitrate film pre-1933 decomposition. No copies of Why Girls Leave Home are known to exist.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Q. Nilsson</span> Swedish-American actress (1888–1974)

Anna Quirentia Nilsson was a Swedish-American actress who achieved success in American silent movies.

<i>Gold Diggers of 1933</i> 1933 film by Mervyn LeRoy, Busby Berkeley

Gold Diggers of 1933 is an American pre-Code musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starred Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell. It featured appearances by Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers.

<i>Gold Diggers of 1935</i> 1935 American film

Gold Diggers of 1935 is an American musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, his first time as a film's overall director. It stars Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, Hugh Herbert, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh, and features Joseph Cawthorn, Grant Mitchell, Dorothy Dare, and Winifred Shaw. The songs were written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film is best known for its famous "Lullaby of Broadway" production number. That song, sung by Shaw, also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The screenplay was by Manuel Seff and Peter Milne, based on a story by Robert Lord, who also produced the film, and Milne.

<i>Gold Diggers of Broadway</i> Partially lost 1929 pre-Code American musical film

Gold Diggers of Broadway is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner and Nick Lucas. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film is the second all-talking, all-Technicolor feature-length film.

<i>On with the Show!</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

On with the Show! is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film produced by Warner Bros. Filmed in two-color Technicolor, the film became the first all-talking, all-color feature-length film, and the second color film released by Warner Bros.; the first was the partly color musical The Desert Song (1929).

<i>Paris</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Paris is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film, featuring Irène Bordoni. It was filmed with Technicolor sequences: four of the film's ten reels were originally photographed in Technicolor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Lessey</span> American actor

George Lessey was an American actor and director of the silent era. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1910 and 1946. He also directed more than 70 films between 1913 and 1922.

<i>The Gold Diggers</i> (1923 film) 1923 film by Harry Beaumont

The Gold Diggers is a Warner Bros. silent comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont with screenplay by Grant Carpenter based on the play The Gold Diggers by Avery Hopwood which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920. Both the play and the film were produced by David Belasco. The film stars Hope Hampton, Wyndham Standing, and Louise Fazenda. It was also the (uncredited) film debut of Louise Beavers.

<i>The Third Degree</i> (1926 film) 1926 film by Michael Curtiz

The Third Degree is a 1926 American silent romance film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Michael Curtiz, in his first American film. Starring Dolores Costello, it is based on the hit 1909 play of the same name written by Charles Klein that starred Helen Ware.

<i>Tenderloin</i> (film) 1928 film by Michael Curtiz

Tenderloin is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Dolores Costello. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects, along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. Tenderloin is considered a lost film, with no prints currently known to exist.

<i>Hearts in Exile</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Hearts in Exile is a 1929 American pre-Code romance film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Michael Curtiz. It was also released in a silent version with music and effects. It starred Dolores Costello in a story based on the 1904 novel by John Oxenham. An earlier 1915 film starring Clara Kimball Young was also produced, and is extant, but the 1929 version is considered to be a lost film.

<i>The Terror</i> (1928 film) 1928 American horror film

The Terror is a 1928 American pre-Code horror film written by Harvey Gates and directed by Roy Del Ruth, based on the 1927 play of the same name by Edgar Wallace. It was the second "all-talking" motion picture released by Warner Bros., following Lights of New York. It was also the first all-talking horror film, made using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

<i>Across the Pacific</i> (1926 film) 1926 film

Across the Pacific is a 1926 American silent romantic adventure film produced by Warner Bros., directed by Roy del Ruth and starring Monte Blue. It was based on a 1900 play by Charles Blaney and J. J. McCloskey. The play had been filmed before in 1914 with Dorothy Dalton. It is unknown, but the film might have been released with a Vitaphone soundtrack.

<i>The Beautiful and Damned</i> (film) 1922 film by William A. Seiter

The Beautiful and Damned is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by William A. Seiter and released by Warner Bros. The film, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 novel The Beautiful and Damned, starred Kenneth Harlan and Marie Prevost.

<i>Kiss Me Again</i> (1925 film) 1925 film by Ernst Lubitsch

Kiss Me Again is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It stars Marie Prevost, Monte Blue, and Clara Bow. The film was based on the French play Divorçons! (1880), by Victorien Sardou and Émile de Najac, and the adapted version of the play Cyprienne.

<i>The Little Irish Girl</i> 1926 film by Roy Del Ruth

The Little Irish Girl is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros., directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dolores Costello. Based on the story The Grifters, written by Edith Joan Lyttleton, it is considered to be a lost film.

<i>Why Girls Go Back Home</i> 1926 film

Why Girls Go Back Home is a lost 1926 American silent comedy drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. James Flood directed and Patsy Ruth Miller and Clive Brook starred. Myrna Loy has a feature role. The film is a sequel to Warner Bros.'s 1921 Why Girls Leave Home, which was a box office hit.

<i>Wide Open</i> (film) 1930 film

Wide Open is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Archie Mayo, starring Edward Everett Horton and Patsy Ruth Miller, and featuring Louise Fazenda, T. Roy Barnes and Edna Murphy. Released by Warner Bros., it is based on the 1924 novel The Narrow Street by Edward Bateman Morris.

<i>Broadway After Dark</i> 1924 film by Monta Bell

Broadway After Dark is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by Monta Bell and starring Adolphe Menjou, Norma Shearer, and Anna Q. Nilsson.

<i>School Days</i> (1921 film) 1921 film

School Days is a 1921 American comedy film directed by William Nigh, written by Walter DeLeon, Hoey Lawlor and William Nigh, and starring Wesley Barry, George Lessey, Nellie Parker Spaulding, Margaret Seddon, Arline Blackburn, and J.H. Gilmour. It was released by Warner Bros. on December 25, 1921 and was Warner's biggest grossing film until The Sea Beast in 1926.

References

  1. Why Girls Leave Home at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. 1 2 Glancy, H Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 15: 55–73. doi:10.1080/01439689500260031.
  3. 1 2 3 Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 1 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
  4. The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Why Girls Leave Home
  5. Progressive Silent Film List: Why Girls Leave Home at silentera.com
  6. Bachmann, Gregg (2002). American Silent Film: Discovering Marginalized Voices. SIU Press. p. 220. ISBN   9780809324019.
  7. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30 by The American Film Institute, c.1921