Today's movie fans think it's inconceivable music could possibly play an important role in silent movies--beside an organ or piano accompanying the film in a theater setting. Paradoxically, music did prove to be a crucial element in a few silent movies. How can that be, one asks? A prime example is in Cecil B. DeMille's April 1920 comedy "Why Change your Wife?" Music, or the choice of musical selections favored by the film's characters, illustrates their identities, personalities and desires within the plot.
Case in point: Gloria Swanson stars as a prim, almost frumpy wife of her normal husband, played by Thomas Meighan. While he enjoys contemporary popular music, she tries to educate him to the more cerebral classics such as 'The Dying Poet' by Louis Gottschalk. He looks for spice in his marriage by going to a lingerie shop to buy her some sheer outfits. She's none too pleased. When an innocent evening out with Bebe Daniels, whom he met in the lingerie store, makes Swanson flip out by the smell of perfume all over his clothes, she files for divorce. Meanwhile, Meighan thinks she's having an affair with an European classical violin player--another musical element.
In short, the taste in music reflects a wide gap between the two in their relationship. When Swanson realizes maybe she's too conservative while the husband marries Bebe, a series of coincidental meetings between the former married couple (he slips on a banana peel and hits his head on the pavement while walking with Gloria) lands Meighan in the hospital. A fierce fight erupts between Gloria and Bebe, which, according to one DeMille biographer, was based on a real life argument between two of the director's mistresses. In the movie, a vial of what Bebe thinks is acid is thrown in the face of Gloria, but in the actual DeMille cat fight, a bottle of ink was splayed over one participant.
Music once again comes into play towards the end to reflect Gloria's taste in compositions has changed, a huge pivot point in the movie's narrative.
Case in point: Gloria Swanson stars as a prim, almost frumpy wife of her normal husband, played by Thomas Meighan. While he enjoys contemporary popular music, she tries to educate him to the more cerebral classics such as 'The Dying Poet' by Louis Gottschalk. He looks for spice in his marriage by going to a lingerie shop to buy her some sheer outfits. She's none too pleased. When an innocent evening out with Bebe Daniels, whom he met in the lingerie store, makes Swanson flip out by the smell of perfume all over his clothes, she files for divorce. Meanwhile, Meighan thinks she's having an affair with an European classical violin player--another musical element.
In short, the taste in music reflects a wide gap between the two in their relationship. When Swanson realizes maybe she's too conservative while the husband marries Bebe, a series of coincidental meetings between the former married couple (he slips on a banana peel and hits his head on the pavement while walking with Gloria) lands Meighan in the hospital. A fierce fight erupts between Gloria and Bebe, which, according to one DeMille biographer, was based on a real life argument between two of the director's mistresses. In the movie, a vial of what Bebe thinks is acid is thrown in the face of Gloria, but in the actual DeMille cat fight, a bottle of ink was splayed over one participant.
Music once again comes into play towards the end to reflect Gloria's taste in compositions has changed, a huge pivot point in the movie's narrative.