The Extra Girl (1923)

Director:

F. Richard Jones

Writers:

Bernard McConville (writer)
Mack Sennett (story)

Release Date:

28 October 1923 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Sue Graham is a small town girl who wants to be a motion picture star. She wins a contract when a picture...

Plot Keywords:

Star | Motion Picture | Hollywood | Small Town Life | Talent Contest

Cast

Mabel Normand	...	Sue Graham
Ralph Graves	...	Dave Giddings
George Nichols	...	Zachariah 'Pa' Graham
Anna Dodge	...	Ma Graham (as Anna Hernandez)
Vernon Dent	...	Aaron Applejohn
Ramsey Wallace	...	T. Phillip Hackett
Charlotte Mineau	...	Belle Brown
Mary Mason
Max Davidson
Louise Carver	...	Madame McCarthy
William Desmond	...	The Actor
Carl Stockdale	...	The Director
Harry Gribbon
Billy Bevan
George Beranger	...	Undetermined Role (as André Beranger)

Also Known As:

Millie of the Movies (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Mack Sennett Comedies

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

The Girl With Something Extra

THE EXTRA GIRL (Pathe' Exchange, 1923), a Mack Sennett production, directed by F.Richard Jones, is a Hollywood story. With the year of its release, this is a silent movie. Starring comedienne Mabel Normand, with story and supervision by Mack Sennett, is a feature length comedy. The final result, no Keystone Kops and no climatic car chases, but a semi-comedy with serious overtones about one girl's dream to become a movie star in Hollywood and how almost everything seems to go in the wrong direction.

The story begins with the title card reading: "Between the Rocky Mountains and Pittsburgh, but a long way from Hollywood, lies River Bend (Illinois) where the Graham family lives," followed by character introduction: "Pa" Graham (George Nichols), who runs a River Bend garage that was once his blacksmith shop; Aaron Appleton (Vernon Dent), a well-to-do druggist and Graham's choice for his future son-in-law; "Ma" Graham (Anna Hernandez) a stay-at-home wife and mother who tends to her chores and copes with her movie struck daughter, Sue (Mabel Normand) by sitting back in her rocking chair and watching her act, as does Dave Giddings (Ralph Graves), Sue's childhood sweetheart and neighborhood mechanic. Realizing that their attachment to one another is more than "puppy love," "Pa" Graham insists that Dave no longer visits with his daughter so that Aaron is given his chance to court Sue and make her his wife. Later, while answering to a movie contest advertisement, Sue submits her photograph (with her facial expression of fright). Before mailing out her entry form, Sue stumbles upon Dave and agrees to elope with him and forget her lifelong dream of being in the movies, but after watching the sad expression on the faces of her parents as she is about to bid goodbye, she finds she's unable to leave them and sends Dave away. Wanting to see Sue happy and fulfill her dream, Dave shows the photo to Belle Brown (Charlotte Mineau), a "grass widow," and asks if she has a chance of ever winning the contest. Because Belle wants Dave all to herself, and finding this to be the perfect opportunity in getting Sue out of the way, Belle substitutes her own photo with Sue's and mails that one out instead. Time Passes. Because she hasn't heard any response about the movie contest, Sue reluctantly agrees to her father's wishes into marrying Aaron. But moments before the wedding is to take place, Dave arrives with a telegram from Hollywood that Sue has won the contest, and must catch the next train for Hollywood within fifteen minutes. With Dave's help, Sue escapes from her dreaded wedding and races over to the train station with Pa Graham and Aaron in hot pursuit. Sue makes it to the train on time, and as the it heads out, Sue, watching her father at a distance, tearfully bids him farewell as the old man sadly waves back to her with his rejected would-be son-in-law standing beside him. In the office of the studio manager of the Golden State Film Company, it is then learned about the photo switch, so instead of getting a screen test, the studio manager advises Sue to return home, but decides to give her a break by employing in the wardrobe department. Sometime later Dave arrives in Hollywood as promised to be near Sue, and after finding her working in the wardrobe department, he acquires a job at the same studio as a stage hand. As for the Grahams, they find Christmas time very lonesome without Sue around and decide to sell their home and join their daughter at the movie capital of the world, in spite the fact that she is not yet acted in a motion picture. Situations become more complex when Sue falls into the clutches of T. Philip Hackett (Ramsey Wallace), who swindles her parents out of their entire life savings by investing it in some "worthless" oil stock.

THE EXTRA GIRL reunites Mabel Normand with George Nichols and Anna Hernandez, her co-stars in MOLLY O' (First National, 1921), once again acting as her parents. Ralph Graves, the hero in the story, gets himself involved in some climatic fist fights, first with his rival, Aaron (Vernon Dent) over Sue, outside her home, concluding with the rival throwing a stone towards Dave only to accidentally break the glass of his own drug store, and second with the screen villain, Philip Hackett (Ramsey Wallace) for slapping Sue while be held against his will at a point of a gun in order for him to return the money that rightfully belongs to her parents. Also seen in smaller roles is silent film comedian Billy Bevan appearing as himself on the set at the movie studio; Charles K. French as a movie director; and Louise Carver as the hard-as-nails wardrobe department supervisor, among others.

Mabel Normand, whose movie career started with comedy shorts as early 1910, followed by her long association under Mack Sennett, and having worked opposite such legendary performers as Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin over the years, was nearing the end of her career by the time THE EXTRA GIRL, about a girl wanting to start her movie career on the movie screen, went into theatrical release in early 1923. With other movies similar in theme dealing with the ups and downs of a movie hopeful (ELLA CINDERS released in 1926 starring Colleen Moore, being one of the better ones), THE EXTRA GIRL goes one further, taking a realistic step as to what happens when a talented small town girl fails to succeed. Not precisely as sad as it all seems, THE EXTRA GIRL does present itself with some good intentional comedy, the most famous involving Mabel mistaking a lion for a tamed one named Teddy, tuggling the king of beasts on a rope behind her, eventually leading to a wild chase around the studio set after she discovers that she has the wrong lion. This five minute sequence must have stirred roars of laughter back then. Another funny scene, although not as amusing nor suspenseful as the one involving the lion, finds Mabel making her screen test opposite actor William Desmond in a period setting wearing her hoop skirt and pantelettes. During the filming, she accidentally sits on a black glove leaving a hand print on her bottom tush, conveniently captured on film whenever she bends down. A screen test for a costume drama provokes laughter from the staff working behind the camera, but distresses the director, of course. The comedy presented in THE EXTRA GIRL may appear overly familiar for today's audiences since similar gags have been performed numerous time by other comedians, past, present and future, but having it presented in a silent comedy plays better than on any television variety show.

Aside from appearing a bit too old to be wearing those Mary Pickford curls during most of the story, indicating that the character of Sue Graham being a teenager or a girl of her early twenties, Mabel Normand, in spots, does show signs of exhaustion and worry, possibly due to personal problems of her own or over extensive retakes during production. What hurts the movie more while watching the Grapevine Video copy, besides the not so crystal clear video transfer, is the abrupt editing on certain scenes suggesting either missing or lost footage. However, this is the version that has been circulating in the television markets or revival movie houses for many years. THE EXTRA GIRL, which runs at 70 minutes (chances are it was longer in its initial premiere), became one of thirteen selected silent features to be presented during the summer months in the PBS weekly series of "The Silent Years" (1971), as hosted by Orson Welles. Accompanied with an organ score by Jack Ward, the same one used for the Grapevine Video copy, this, and TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (1914) opposite Charlie Chaplin and Marie Dressler, have become the very few in the Mabel Normand film library to have circulated over the years, leaving some of her finer comedies such as MOLLY O (1921), among some others, to have very limited or no revivals. As for her final screen appearance in a feature length comedy, the movie itself isn't as good as one would want it to be, but in spite of mixed comments and reputation, it can only be enjoyed by those who appreciate rare finds like Mabel Normand as THE EXTRA GIRL.