Pretty Ladies

Pretty Ladies
	German poster
Directed by	Monta Bell
Written by	Alice D. G. Miller; Joseph Farnham (Titles)
Starring	ZaSu Pitts; Conrad Nagel; Tom Moore; Joan Crawford
Cinematography	Ira H. Morgan
Edited by	Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	September 6, 1925;
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent; 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

Maggie (ZaSu Pitts) is a popular Ziegfeld Follies dancing comedian whose husband leaves her for one of the show's beauties, and who longs for the life of other chorus girls but eventually finds love by being herself.

Production notes

The film was set in New York City shot at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.[4] 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[5] (Crawford is also billed as LeSueur in the 1925 promotional film MGM Studio Tour).[6] It was also one of the first screen appearances of Myrna Loy (then still performing under her real last name Williams),[7] 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.[8]

Cast

ZaSu Pitts as Maggie Keenan
Tom Moore as Al Cassidy
Ann Pennington as Herself
Lilyan Tashman as Selma Larson
Helena D'Algy as Adrienne
Conrad Nagel as Maggie's Dream Lover
Norma Shearer as Frances White
George K. Arthur as Roger Van Horn
Lucille LeSueur (Joan Crawford) as Bobby - a Showgirl
Myrna Loy as Ziegfeld Girl (uncredited)
Carole Lombard as Showgirl
Dorothy Seastrom as Diamond Tights
Gwen Lee as Fay
Roy D'Arcy as Paul Thompson
Lew Harvey as Will Rogers
Walter Shumway as Mr. Gallagher

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.
"Pretty Ladies". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
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.

External links

Pretty Ladies at IMDb

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[1] Stumpf, Charles (2010). ZaSu Pitts: The Life and Career. McFarland. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-786-46023-6.

[2] Barrios, Richard (1995). A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film. Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 0-195-08811-5.

[3] "Pretty Ladies". silentera.com. Retrieved March 4, 2015.

[4] Leider, Emily W. (2011). Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood. University of California Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-520-94963-8.

[5] Quirk, Lawrence J.; Schoell, William (2013). Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography. University Press of Kentucky. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-813-14411-5.

[6] Golden, Eve (2013). John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars. University Press of Kentucky. p. 1918. ISBN 978-0-813-14163-3.

[7] (Leider 2011, pp. 50–51)

[8] 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.