Mae Murray Movies
"Once you become a star, you are always a star," Mae Murray once stated, and she fully believed in that credo for the rest of her life -- despite having made her final film in 1931, and the final successful one in 1925. Publicized by Florenz Ziegfeld in the 1910s as the "Girl With the Bee-Stung Lips," Murray had made a professional debut of sorts singing "Comin' Through the Rye" in a 1906 Lew Fields concoction entitled About Town. She was in the Follies two years later and earned heaps of publicity when substituting for an ailing Irene Castle in Irving Berlin's Watch Your Step (1910). Adolph Zukor of Paramount spotted her in the 1915 version of the Ziegfeld Follies, in which she impersonated Mary Pickford while being chased around by comedian Ed Wynn, and signed her to a screen contract.Although she attempted to get out of her obligations to Paramount on several occasions, Mae Murray took to Hollywood -- and the Hollywood lifestyle -- like a fish to water, starring in scores of melodramas with titles such as Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1916), Princess Virtue (1917), Her Body in Bond (1918), The Delicious Little Devil (1919), and On With the Dance (1920), all of them popular and all of them more or less variations on the classic Cinderella tale. Her most frequent director was Robert Z. Leonard and she married him during a break from What Am I Bid? (1919) (having previously divorced New York playboy Jay O'Brien mere days after their highly publicized wedding). The union with Leonard lasted a bit longer and produced Tiffany, a company created to present her in the best light possible.
Releasing through Metro, Murray starred in the popular Peacock Alley (1923) and when the releasing company merged with Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer, she became the new conglomeration's first star. She was delighted when Mayer ushered her into a lavish screen version of The Merry Widow (1925) but clashed throughout with director Erich Von Stroheim, publicly denigrating him as a "dirty Hun." Surprisingly, the results of all the fighting proved a smash hit and Murray, on the top of the world, added the title of "Princess" to her name by marrying the Ukrainian Prince David Mdivani. Increasingly imperious, she then made the mistake of turning down Women Love Diamonds (1927), which she felt beneath her new status. Pauline Starke replaced her and she was virtually blackballed in Hollywood.
An old friend, Lowell Sherman, came to her rescue but Murray's appearances in both Bachelor Apartment and High Stakes (both 1931) were downright embarrassing; the years had not been kind and she now rather resembled Mae West but without the humor and talent. She briefly replaced Gladys George in The Milky Way on Broadway and performed in several dance recitals, but when a biography, The Self-Enchanted, appeared in 1959, few remembered her and it was quickly forgotten. Not by Murray, however, and in 1964 she embarked on a self-appointed publicity tour to New York. Sadly, she did not get any further than St. Louis, MO, where she was found, ill and destitute, by the Salvation Army and returned to her home in Hollywood. In her final years, Murray was known to hum a few bars of the "Merry Widow Waltz" in public, lest anyone forgot, and reportedly insisted on being called Princess Mdivani even when dying at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital. With some justification, it has been suggested that Mae Murray was the true inspiration for the character of Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder's poignant Sunset Boulevard. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Previously filmed in England as The Incomparable Bellairs, Agnes and Egerton Castle's romantic novel Sweet Kitty Bellairs(originally The Bath Comedy) served as an early movie vehicle for Mae Murray. Set in 18th-century England, the story concerns a flirtatious debutante who falls in love with a dashing highwayman. Robert Gray co-starred as bandit chieftain Captain O'Hara, while Tom Forman was cast as Lieutenant Varnay, the heroine's erstwhile sweetheart. Though Mae Murray was never much of an actress, she was a fascinating screen presence, and it was her natural charisma that carried the film over its rough spots. Based on the David Belasco stage version of the Castles' novel, Sweet Kitty Bellairs was remade as a musical comedy in 1930. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1916
A typical fanciful silent screen romance based on a bodice-ripping pulp novel, To Have and to Hold marked the screen debut of Mae Murray, the dancer with the bee-stung lips who had made quite a name for herself in several editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. Murray played Lady Jocelyn Leigh, who rather than marry Lord Carnal (Tom Forman), a man she loathes, changes places with her maid and sails to the New World as a mail-order bride. She is escorted by the dashing Captain Percy (Wallace Reid) and they fall in love. Lord Carnal, of course, isn't far behind and soon all three are shipwrecked and at the mercy of Robert Fleming's band of pirates. Mae Murray found filmmaking bewildering this first time out. Not expecting To Have and to Hold to be made out of sequence, she constantly turned to the more experienced Reid for advice. Happily, director George Melford never asked the dancer to do much more than strike ornamental poses while Reid performed his patented derring-do. A disillusioned Murray was all set to return to Broadway but Famous Players director Cecil B. De Mille persuaded her to stick around. She did and would eventually become the archetypal tempestuous silent screen star, the basis, some sources suggest, for the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950). Paramount remade To Have and to Hold in 1922 starring the rather more sensible Betty Compson. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1916
At the suggestion of his father, Colonel Slocum Castleton (Frank Keenan), young Rodney Castleton (Charles Ray) leaves his home in the South to expand his mind in New York City. Things don't work out that way, however, as Rodney becomes engaged to a trollop, Viola Bretagne (the vampy Louise Glaum). The Colonel comes up to meet this "sweet young thing" that Rodney holds dear and sees through her immediately. He takes the girl out for a night on the town himself just to show Rodney what she's really like, and this temporarily squelches the relationship. But after the old man leaves, the wily Viola gets Rodney drunk and hustles him into a marriage. Needless to say, the Colonel is less than thrilled when his boy comes home with Viola in tow. He takes her on a carriage ride and offers her money to leave Rodney. When she refuses, he rides the carriage over a cliff, killing them both. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Early in her screen career, former Follies sensation Mae Murray played a number of waif-like roles. Surprisingly, the formula worked; perhaps this is due in part to the direction of Robert Z. Leonard, who became the star's second (third, if you count a brief and apparently unconsummated union with New York broker Jay O'Brien) husband. Murray and Leonard met on this production. Lady Brentwood (Edythe Chapman) leads a sad and lonely life in London -- her daughter and son-in-law were killed in South Africa. However, she suspects that her granddaughter is still alive, and now that the girl would most likely be grown, she is determined to find her. She commands one of her poorer relations to do the searching, and he in turn sends young attorney John Stoddard (Elliot Dexter) to South Africa. Stoddard doesn't find the girl, but he does meet Margot (Murray), a tiny plow girl who is horribly abused by the farmer (Theodore Roberts) who is her boss. Stoddard rescues Margot from this terrible situation and brings her to London, claiming that she is Lady Anice, the long-lost granddaughter. Lady Brentwood's relative wants to marry Margot so he can get his hands on half the old lady's fortune, but Stoddard and Margot decide to confess. It turns out, however, that Margot really is Lady Anice after all, and she and Stoddard wind up together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Though many of Cecil B. DeMille's earliest films were based on plays and novels, The Dream Girl was a complete original, written directly for the screen by longtime DeMille associate (and reputed lover) Jeannie Macpherson. Still in her gamine period, superstar-to-be Mae Murray stars as Meg Dugan, a child of the San Francisco waterfront. To escape her shabby surroundings, Meg creates her own fantasy world, complete with a "Sir Galahad" galloping to her rescue. But the grim realities of life come crashing down upon Meg thanks to her reprobate father Jim Dugan (Theodore Roberts), who at present is trying to pass off his confederate "English Hal" (Charles West) as a nobleman, the better to win the heart -- and the bank account -- of susceptible young heiress Alice Merton (Mary Mersch). As luck would have it, Meg has been appointed the temporary ward of Alice's father Benjamin Merton (James Neill). Out of love for Alice's handsome brother Tom (Earl Foxe), Meg exposes her father's scheme, then resignedly returns to the waterfront. But Tom proves to be Meg's long-awaited Sir Galahad when he storms down to the docks and demands that she become his bride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The second 1917 collaboration between husband-and-wife team actress Mae Murray and director Robert Z. Leonard was On Record, wherein the star is cast as the much-put-upon Helen Wayne. Accused of a crime she didn't commit, Helen is dragged into police headquarters, where she is subjected to the humiliation of fingerprinting. Once she is set free, Helen falls in love with brilliant young inventor Rand Calder (Tom Forman). Frederick Manson (Charles Ogle), Calder's hated rival, gets his hands on Helen's police fingerprints, hoping to use them to discredit Calder in the eyes of the public. Once again, poor Helen is hauled into court, where she is at last able to thoroughly exonerate herself. The judge destroys the fingerprints, boots Manson out of his courtroom, and performs the obligatory marriage ceremony, with Helen and Calder exchanging the "I Do's." The huge supporting cast included 22-year-old character actor Lucien Littlefield, already an established expert in "old man" characterizations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Justine Gibbs (Mae Murray) is a very romantic young woman who is in line to inherit a fortune. She is engaged to Ralph Gaylor, who only wants her for her money. But Justine is unaware of this; she only wishes he were more romantic, like her favorite author, Hartley Poole (Sam T. Hardy). Things get complicated when Poole actually shows up in Justine's town. She makes sure she gets to know him, and he uses her as research for his latest book. What he doesn't realize is that he's gradually falling in love with her. Finally he figures it out and Gaylor, with his callous machinations, is left out in the cold. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Mormonism was considered something of a hot potato in 1917, with many sideline observers (including such self-proclaimed "experts" as Arthur Conan Doyle and Zane Grey) regarding the religious movement as a sinister cult, promoting blasphemy, polygamy and mind control. Director Robert Z. Leonard valiantly attempted to present a balanced view of the subject in his 1917 epic The Mormon Maid, using carefully delineated "good" and "bad" Mormons, just as D.W. Griffith patronizingly offered both heroic and villainous African Americans in his controversial The Birth of a Nation. The story begins in 1848, as frontiersman John Hogue (Hobart Bosworth and his family watch the westward procession of Mormons, who are in the process of escaping religious persecution in the East. Among these pilgrims are the sincerely religious Tom Rigdon (Frank Borzage) and tyrannical Mormon elder Darius Burr (Noah Beery Sr.). Both men are attracted to Hogue's beautiful daughter Dora, played by director Leonard's wife Mae Murray. When the Hogue homestead is attacked and burned down by Indians, the family is rescued by the Mormons, who take them along to the "promised land" of Utah. By and by, Nora becomes engaged to Rigdon, while the polygamous Burr plots and plans to add the heroine to his "harem." The emotionally overwrought climax finds the virtuous Nora lying about her sexual history to save herself from a forced marriage to the despotic Burr. While A Mormon Maid was considered to be scrupulously fair in 1917, modern-day viewers may be offended by the prejudicial depiction of the Mormon Elders, and by the misinformation cavalierly dispensed about the Mormon movement in general. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Few directors were as successful in coaxing a convincing performance out of the beautiful but highly variable actress Mae Murray as her longtime husband Robert Z. Leonard. In the Leonard-directed The Bride's Awakening, wealthy Elaine Bronson (Murray) is promised in marriage to socialite Richard Earle (Lew Cody). Like everyone else around her, Elaine is much taken by Earle's suave sophistication and honeyed words. Only after their marriage does the heroine realize that Earle is nothing more than a craven fortune hunter. In the manner later adopted by MGM, Elaine is shown suffering majestically in mink, surrounded by such trappings of wealth as country estates, custom-made roadsters and private golf courses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
When Della Arnold (Mae Murray), a hopeful young actress, winds up stuck at an inn with the troupe's leading man, Julian Lawrence (Philo McCullough), he signs them in as husband and wife. Although nothing happens -- the hotel proprietor puts a halt to his advances -- this goes on to haunt her throughout the film. She leaves acting, and through a friend, Myrtle Harris (Claire DuBrey), meets George Addison (Arthur Shirley), who finds her work as an artist's model with Wilbur Henderson (George Chesebro). Henderson falls in love with Della and they plan to get married, but he runs into Lawrence, who tells him that they had stayed at a hotel together, giving it the lascivious bent he had wished it had. Henderson grills Della on this but refuses to believe her, so she sends him away and goes to visit Myrtle. Addison is among the people there. She reveals her broken engagement and Addison asks to marry her. Before she accepts she tells him the story about Lawrence. He believes her, and finally Della has a man with whom she can be happy. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Her Body in Bond was another money-spinning collaboration between actress Mae Murray and her director husband Robert Z. Leonard. Murray gets to show off her considerable terpsichorean skills in the role of Peggy Hamilton, who with her husband Joe (Kenneth Harlan) performs a vaudeville dancing act. On the verge of "hitting it big" on Broadway, Joe collapses from exhaustion, obliging Peggy to carry on the act by herself. Soon thereafter, she catches the eye of rakish millionaire Jimmie Quinn (Albert Roscoe), who intends to make Peggy his wife -- or to just make her, period. With the help of Peggy's drug-addicted stepfather, Quinn convinces the girl that Joe has deserted her. When Joe finds out what's been going on, he beats Quinn to a pulp and reclaims his bride. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Whenever she was directed by her husband Robert Z. Leonard, Mae Murray ceased behaving like a Movie Star and started acting like a human being. Such was the case in Danger! Go Slow!, in which Murray was cast as a tough, streetwise sneak thief. When the cops close in, she hops a freight to a small rural town, where to protect herself from molestation she disguises herself as a boy. Adopted by a kindly old woman (Lydia Knott), Murray decides to keep up her masquerade, though slowly but surely she divests herself of her criminal tendencies and learns to enjoy being honest. The story ends happily as the heroine, at last revealing her true gender, marries the old woman's son (Jack Mulhall), whom she has saved from financial ruin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Although a bit slow to get off the ground, this witty film shows what star Mae Murray and her director husband, Robert Z. Leonard, could do with a good concept. Mae plays Mary McGuire, a girl of extremely modest means. She's a coat-check girl, but gets fired from her job for dancing around in a customer's expensive coat (Murray, an ex-Follies girl, always favored an opportunity to strut her stuff). A road house just outside of town is looking for a hostess with "experience," and the innocent Mary bluffs her way into the job by claiming to be Gloria du Monde, a European dancer who had had an affair with the Duke de Sauterne. Coincidentally, the Duke (Bertram Grassby) actually comes into the cafe and, amused by the ruse, decides to pursue her. But Mary has gotten involved with Jimmie Calhoun (Rudolph Valentino, in an early, non-Latin role), who realizes she is really a nice girl. But that is thrown into doubt by the attitude of the Duke. Mary finds herself having to prove her virtuousness when up until then, she has been pretending to be a wanton woman. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Director Robert Z. Leonard tries to fit his wife (Mae Murray) into a Mary Pickford mold here. Murray plays an animal-loving, mountain-bred daughter of a drunk whose lonely life is brightened by the appearance of a handsome stranger (Ralph Graves). When the girl is threatened by a lusty bartender, the stranger comes to her aid, but he is wounded in the ensuing fight. She nurses him back to health, only to have him snatched away by his wealthy family. But girl and boy are reunited by the film's end. While no Pickford, Murray made a fairly good show as the winsome girl ragamuffin -- and keep in mind that she was in her thirties when she made this picture. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
In spite of its racy title, this Mae Murray vehicle was pretty tame stuff. Elena Evana (Murray) is a young girl who is being reared by her stern Aunt Alvira (Martha Mattox). Because Elena's mother committed some horrible but unnamed sin, Aunt Alvira becomes upset when she finds the girl carrying on an innocent flirtation with Van Presby, the boy next door (Ralph Graves). Elena defiantly continues to see him, and when Aunt Alvira catches him in her house, she insists that Elena has been compromised and they must get married. Van's uncle, Harvey (Frank Elliott), prevents the wedding and sends Elena to live with Van's mother, Edith (Clarissa Selwynne). Van, meanwhile, is hustled off to college. Edith wants to marry Harvey, and when she finds him becoming too interested in Elena's well-being, she plots to marry the girl off to Joseph Fleming (Willard Louis). At the last minute, however, Elena refuses to go through with the ceremony. Van comes home from college and promptly tries to take advantage of Elena. Harvey puts a stop to it and marries the girl himself. And the mother's unmentionable sin? Alvira was mad that she got married twice -- not exactly a big deal, even in 1919. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Sonia Varinoff (Mae Murray) travels from Russia to New York to be with her father, who is a librarian for Schuyler Van Vechtan (John Miltern). Sonia, however, is a flighty young girl who does not share her father's bookishness. She falls in love with Peter Derwynt (David Powell), the secretary of Van Vechtan, and causes him to lose the girl he loves, Lady Joane Tremelyn (Alma Tell), to wealthy Jimmie Sutherland (Robert Schable). Peter marries Sonia only because he feels sorry for her. Jimmie and Sonia eventually meet, and on the sly, she becomes a masked cabaret dancer. Peter discovers the affair and part-time job, but she retorts that he has been romancing Joane. In a fit of anger, Peter kills Jimmie, and even though she knows that it will ruin her reputation, Sonia testifies so that Peter will be acquitted. She then leaves him so that he can marry Joan. But Sonia doesn't wind up alone, she finds a mate in Van Vechtan. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1921
A well-cast Mae Murray gets to show off some of her famous dance steps in this picture. The beautiful Lillian Drake (Murray) is a hostess at the Cafe Royal, a private New York club. She is constantly surrounded by adoring men who she uses mercilessly, among them Creighton Howard (Lowell Sherman) and John Stewart (Charles Gerard). But when country boy Frank Thompson (stage actor Jason Robards, Sr., in his screen debut) decides to have a fling with Broadway, Lily falls hard for him. Although Howard tries to tell her that Thompson is just using her and already has a sweetheart back home, she won't listen. She quits her hostess job and turns her apartment into the kind of homey place she imagines would suit a country boy. But Thompson finally shows his true colors when he drunkenly asserts that he wants her the way she was. So Lily, her hopes dashed, returns to the club. But all is not lost, because Howard gently takes her home to meet his mother and offers her an honest proposal. The film's director was Murray's husband and frequent collaborator, Robert Z. Leonard. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Lowell Sherman, (more)
- 1921
During the early '20s, the star/director team of Mae Murray and her husband Robert Z. Leonard was nearly unbeatable. Murray's fame was based on films like this one. Elmer Harmon (Monte Blue, Murray's co-star in several films) travels to Paris to land a contract with the French government. He gets the deal with the help of Cleo, a dancer (Murray). They fall in love and are married, but back home in the States, Harmon discovers that his small town associates do not approve of his bride. He decides to start over again in the big city, but between the pricey apartment he has rented and Cleo's expensive tastes, the money runs out quickly. In order to help out financially, Cleo teams up with an old friend, but Harmon believes she is being unfaithful. The truth is finally revealed and the couple are reconciled. In 1930, when Murray's career was on the skids, she made a talkie with the same title, but it had only the barest resemblance to the earlier film. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Monte Blue, (more)
- 1922
For a while, Mae Murray and her then-husband, director Robert Z. Leonard, were an unstoppable team. They had their own production company, and this comedy-drama followed in the wake of the massively successful Peacock Alley. Murray plays Dolores de Lisa, the Spanish-American daughter of the aristocratic Eduardo de Lisa (Charles Lane). Dolores's New York upbringing has turned her into a carefree flapper, and when her old world aunt, the Marquesa de Lisa (Emily Fitzroy), comes to visit, she insists on taking the girl back to Spain to become a lady. But Dolores continues her playful ways and becomes infatuated with toreador Carrita (Robert W. Frazer), even though she has a fiancé, Ralph Kellogg (Vincent Coleman), back in the States. By the time Kellogg arrives in Spain, with Dolores's father and drunken brother, Carlos (Creighton Hale), Dolores has run off to the bullfights. While the men are searching for her, they get into a lot of trouble, and Dolores has to help save them. After all the difficulty she has caused, Dolores decides to return to Kellogg and lead a more sedate life. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Creighton Hale, (more)
- 1922
Once again, Mae Murray plays -- what else? -- a dancer. But while the ex-Follies girl had made an enormous success in her past two films, Peacock Alley and Fascination, this one isn't quite as good. For one thing, the plot was as musty as an old, worn stage set -- a country girl makes it big on Broadway, marries a millionaire, but gives everything up to be with her faithful sweetheart back home. Neither Murray, nor her husband, director Robert Z. Leonard could do much with this type of pap. And Murray, who was in her late thirties, used too much white make up in an attempt to rid herself of the signs of encroaching age. Murray's country girl is named Rosalie Lawrence, and the boy she leaves behind is the homely-but-comfortable Tom Darcy (Monte Blue). While performing on the Great White Way, her impressive footwork and good looks attract Hugh Thompson (Ray Bloomer). His millionaire parents (Charles Lane and Maude Turner Gordon), however, are opposed to the match. Rosalie and Thompson marry in secret, but his family eventually finds out and they make it clear they have no use for their daughter-in-law. Instead of standing by her, Thompson refuses to live without his parents' money, so Rosalie returns to the country, and to Darcy, who has been faithfully waiting for her. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Monte Blue, (more)
- 1923
Produced by Robert Z. Leonard's Tiffany films and released by Metro, French Doll serves as a showcase for Leonard's dazzlingly beautiful wife Mae Murray. The star plays Georgine Mauzlier, a winsome French lass dealing in fake antiques as a means of supporting her family. Georgine's far-from-grateful parents intend to further exploit her by marrying her off to American millionaire Wellington Wick (Orville Caldwell). At first, the girl despises her arranged husband, but eventually realizes how much he loves her, and she him. Frances Marion's screenplay was adapted from a play by Paul Armont and Marcel Gebidou. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Orville Caldwell, (more)
- 1923
The bizarre Mae Murray, she of the bee-stung lips and haughty demeanor, plays sisters in this potboiler set during the Russian revolution. Fleeing to America, the non-identical sisters, both poor peasant types, lead totally opposite lives. The elder, Olga, masquerades as White Russian nobility and manages to land a rich husband, while Zita, the younger, finds herself desperately mired in poverty. When Olga is killed by a rejected suitor (Elmo Lincoln, Hollywood's first "Tarzan"), her kindhearted husband (Freeman Wood) adopts the pathetic but faithful Zita as his own. A typically overblown Murray escapade, Fashion Row was produced by Murray herself and directed by her husband, Robert Z. Leonard. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Earl Foxe, (more)
- 1923
This fluffy Mae Murray vehicle was dressed up with a Graustarkian veneer, but in reality it was merely an excuse for the star to wear exotic costumes and perform a few of her famous dance numbers. Jazzmania is a mythical kingdom devoted to dancing and revelry. But the country takes a darker turn when Queen Ninon (Murray) refuses to marry Prince Otto, the pretender to the throne (Jean Hersholt). He begins a revolution and Queen Ninon flees the bombs for the United States, accompanied by a handsome American newspaper reporter, Jerry Langdon (Rod La Rocque). She proceeds to enthrall New York with her dances, but she decides to return to her country and take care of Otto. After soundly deposing him she turns the nation into a republic, introducing it to modern conveniences -- Model Ts, for example (but she wisely leaves out the latest American innovation -- prohibition). Now that the crown is but a fond memory, Ninon gladly weds Langdon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mae Murray, Rod La Rocque, (more)
- 1924
Pauline Frederick stars in this romance, based on the Louis Joseph Vance novel Mrs. Paramor. Nelly (Frederick) is so intent on her writing career, that she neglects her appearance and her husband, Wayne (Huntly Gordon). Jill Wetherell (Mae Busch), who is looking for a rich husband, finds Wayne to be easy prey and Nelly catches them together. She divorces Wayne and travels to Europe. Jill, however, throws Wayne over for Perley Rex (Conrad Nagel). Nelly becomes a writer of note under the pseudonym Mrs. Paramor. She also takes advantage of her easy access to the latest Paris fashions and becomes a truly stylish and beautiful woman. Along the way, she meets Rex and discovers he is married to Jill. They all take the same ship back to the States, and while Jill is seasick in her room, Nelly steals Rex's affection. When Jill goes to "the other woman" to beg for her husband, she is surprised to see that it's Nelly. Nelly lets Jill have Rex, but she realizes she has never stopped loving Wayne. She calls for him, and they are reunited. One novel scene near the end of the film shows Nelly hosting a banquet and mahjong party which is attended by an impressive group of movie stars, including Mae Murray, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Aileen Pringle, and many others; all of them, of course, signed to Metro-Goldwyn, the studio that released the picture. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pauline Frederick, Conrad Nagel, (more)
