The Flapper (1920)

Ginger grows up in a slow town. Because of her wild attitude, her father decides to send her to a strict boarding school. Despite the strictness, the girls have fun getting into flapper lifestyle trouble including flirting.

Director:

Alan Crosland

Writers:

Frances Marion (screenplay), Frances Marion (story)

Stars:

Olive Thomas, Theodore Westman Jr., William P. Carleton

Cast

Cast overview:
Olive Thomas	...	Genevieve 'Ginger' King
Theodore Westman Jr.	...	Bill Forbes
William P. Carleton	...	Richard Channing (as W.P. Carleton)
Warren Cook	...	Sen. King - Ginger's Father
Katherine Johnston	...	Hortense
Arthur Housman	...	Tom Morran - The Eel
Louise Lindroth	...	Elmina Buttons (as Frances Marshall)
Marcia Harris	...	Mrs. Paddles
Charles Craig	...	Rev. Cushil
Bobby Connelly	...	King Jr
Maurice Steuart	...	Schoolboy (as Maury Stewart Jr.)

Storyline

Small town girl Ginger King ( Olive Thomas ) , attends a Eastern boarding school and yearns for a more glamorous life. Dissatisfied with her military school boyfriend, Bill Forbes, she meets the older Richard Channing and goes to a country club dance with him. More bold after that adventure, Ginger, while on her way home for a holiday, meets two crooks who entrust some stolen jewels to her for safekeeping. Ginger then puts the jewels on and appears in her home town dressed as a vamp. Once the crooks reappear, however, she realizes the seriousness of the situation and gives up her pretensions to return to Bill.

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Plot Keywords:

female protagonist | boarding school | flapper | f rated | country club | 

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Taglines:

In which "Sixteen" finds stealing hearts a more dangerous pastime than stealing doughnuts. (Print ad- The Age, ((Melbourne, Vic.)) 30 October 1920)

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Genres:

Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Ginger's introduction to New York finds her on the upper open-air level of a double-decker bus, and the shot provides an excellent overview of 1920 NYC traffic along 5th Ave., moving southward from 42nd St. The New York Public Library, recognizable at first by the then-bright marble lions (named Patience and Fortitude and only nine years old at the time), comes into view on the left.

User Reviews

To Be A Genuine Flapper

Dame Ginger is a youngster who lives in a boring provincial town, Orange Springs; due to her behavior and yearnings for a thrilling life, her father decides to send her to a boarding school, the kind of place where the upper class girls of the 20's learn to do important things like skiing or flirting, the last habit always with the supervision of a chaperon. In such an idle but strict place, and thanks to some adventures ( she falls in love with a mysterious adult man and will be involved in a robbery ) Ginger will have finally the chance to make her most inward dream come true, to be a genuine flapper.

Herr Alan Crosland 's direction of this film is remarkable ( even though Crossland later will betray the rules of the silent cinema, by directing the first talkie in film history ) because in this early 20's film the technique, continuity and rhythm are developed in an especially suitable way for a romantic comedy. The star is Dame Olive Thomas, an actress who died early and who shows in this film her versatility by playing a character with different shades, an innocent girl transformed into a flapper. In this excellent film restoration there are is also a collection of witty, funny and politically incorrect intertitles that were enjoyed by this stiff German aristocrat thanks to their irony and longhaired impudence.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count has an appointment with a vamp, a more dangerous woman than a flapper.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

10 May 1920 (USA)

Also Known As:

Neiskusno devojče

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1