The 29 Aug 1925 Motion Picture News announced that short story writer Fannie Hurst had won $50,000 from a short story-scenario writing contest in Liberty Magazine, sonsored in collaboration with Famous Players-Lasky Corp. Hurst’s plot synopsis, entitled “The Moving Finger,” was selected from among 100,000 entrants. She was reportedly awarded $25,000 up front, and would receive the remainder of the prize money after writing the completed story, to be published as a serial in the magazine, and for finishing the screenplay. Hurst’s story was later published as a novel titled Mannequin in 1926.
       According to the 29 Aug 1925 Exhibitors Trade Review, Famous Players-Lasky was putting Hurst’s story into immediate production as a Paramount Pictures Corp. release under the original title, The Moving Finger, directed by James Cruze. Hurst had been at the Famous Players-Lasky Studios in Hollywood, CA, for several weeks assisting Walter Woods in adapting the screenplay.
       Reporting a title change to Mannequin, the 18 Sep 1925 FD announced the casting of lead actress Alice Joyce. Five days later, the 23 Sep 1925 FD referred to the picture as The Mannequin, and indicated that principal photography would begin that week. However, the 3 Oct 1925 Motion Picture News announced that production would start that week. The 4 Oct 1925 FD confirmed that ZaSu Pitts had begun work on Mannequin. According to the 4 Nov 1925 Var, Pitts was on loan from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
       The world premiere of Mannequin was held the week of 21 Dec 1925 at the Grenada Theatre in San Francisco, CA, according to the 9 Jan 1926 Moving Picture World. The picture opened on 10 Jan 1926 at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City, as indicated in the 13 Jan 1926 Var review.        Reviews were mixed. Var criticized the story as “old stuff,” but praised James Cruze’s direction. The performances of Dolores Costello, Alice Joyce, Warner Baxter were also lauded, with ZaSu Pitts noted as the standout.