Society Secrets is a 1921 American silent satire film, directed by Leo McCarey. It stars Eva Novak, Gertrude Claire, and George Verrell, and was released in February 1921. It marked McCarey's directorial debut. McCarey didn't make a further feature film for eight years as he concentrated on writing and directing shorts.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296Silver, 2010: “McCarey became a full-time director and writer of Hal Roach shorts by 1924.”
Plot No record of the scenario for Society Secrets to date has been discovered. Biographers Gary Hooper and Leland Poague report that “nothing beyond the production credits has survived” with respect to this lost film.Hooper and Poague, 1980 p. 296 The American Film Institute, however, characterizes the Society Secrets as a “satire,” but provides no plot summary.
Cast Eva Novak as Louise Gertrude Claire as Mrs. Kerran George Verrell as Amos Kerran Clarissa Selwynne as Aunt William Buckley as Arthur Ethel Ritchie as Maybelle Lee Shumway as George Carl Stockdale as Squire Lucy Donohue as Squire's wife
Background McCarey, age 20, was hired by Universal Studios in 1918 after studying law at the University of California.Silver, 2010: “McCarey entered the film industry at the tender age of twenty...” Working in “menial” jobs at Universal, he was assigned to work serve as an assistant to director Tod Browning, learning “the techniques of film directing and scenario construction.”Harrill, 2002Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296 After completing his apprenticeship on pictures including The Virgin of Stamboul (1920) and Outside the Law (1921), McCarey was permitted to direct his first film: Society Secrets.Hooper and Poague, 1980 in Leo McCarey Filmography section, p. 296
Reception Biographers Gary Hooper and Leland Poague write:
Footnotes
Sources Harrill, Paul. 2002. Leo McCarey. Senses of Cinema, Great Directors Issue 23, December, 2002 https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/mccarey/ Retrieved 3 April 2024. Hooper, Gary and Poague, Leland. 1980. Leo McCarey Filmography, in The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. pp. 295–314 Poague, Leland. 1980. The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7. The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. Silver, Charles. 2012. "A Leo McCarey Program." Inside/Out: Moma, October 5, 2010. https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/10/05/a-leo-mccarey-program/ Retrieved 6 April 2024.
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