Polly with a Past (1920)
Drama | December 1920
Director:
Leander de CordovaWriters:
June Mathis, Arthur ZellnerProduction Company:
Metro Pictures Corp. Although most reviews and news items credit Maxwell Karger with "personally directing" the film, Leander de Cordova was the actual production director.
Items in the 2 Jan 1920 Var and Moving Picture World announced that actress Ina Claire had been put under contract with Metro Pictures Corp. to star in Polly with a Past, based on the 1917 play of the same name, in which Claire had also starred. The play had reportedly run for forty weeks “to record-breaking box-office receipts,” and Claire had been given the screen rights as a “gift” by stage producer David Belasco. Thus, Claire profited from Metro’s option of the play, for which the studio paid $75,000, as reported in the 6 Feb 1920 Var, which listed Claire’s salary as $50,000.
Production was set to take place at Metro’s New York City studios on West 61st Street, off Columbus Circle, according to the 3 Jan 1920 Moving Picture World. Filming began circa Aug 1920. The 28 Aug 1920 Wid’s Daily announced that exterior shooting was being done in Long Island, NY, and the same day’s Motion Picture News reported that Claire was set to perform a dance called the “nautch,” described as a “secret dance of India.” Some location shooting took place at the private residence of I. N. Spiegelberg outside Briarcliff Manor, NY, according to a 25 Sep 1920 Motion Picture News brief. Three days later, the 28 Sep 1920 Wid’s Daily announced that filming had ended.
Theatrical release was slated to occur the week of 6 Dec ...
Although most reviews and news items credit Maxwell Karger with "personally directing" the film, Leander de Cordova was the actual production director.
Items in the 2 Jan 1920 Var and Moving Picture World announced that actress Ina Claire had been put under contract with Metro Pictures Corp. to star in Polly with a Past, based on the 1917 play of the same name, in which Claire had also starred. The play had reportedly run for forty weeks “to record-breaking box-office receipts,” and Claire had been given the screen rights as a “gift” by stage producer David Belasco. Thus, Claire profited from Metro’s option of the play, for which the studio paid $75,000, as reported in the 6 Feb 1920 Var, which listed Claire’s salary as $50,000.
Production was set to take place at Metro’s New York City studios on West 61st Street, off Columbus Circle, according to the 3 Jan 1920 Moving Picture World. Filming began circa Aug 1920. The 28 Aug 1920 Wid’s Daily announced that exterior shooting was being done in Long Island, NY, and the same day’s Motion Picture News reported that Claire was set to perform a dance called the “nautch,” described as a “secret dance of India.” Some location shooting took place at the private residence of I. N. Spiegelberg outside Briarcliff Manor, NY, according to a 25 Sep 1920 Motion Picture News brief. Three days later, the 28 Sep 1920 Wid’s Daily announced that filming had ended.
Theatrical release was slated to occur the week of 6 Dec 1920, as noted in the 18 Dec 1920 Moving Picture World, although an 8 Jan 1921 Moving Picture World item cited a 20 Dec 1920 release date. Sometime early that month, one of the film prints caught fire during a private showing at Metro’s offices at the Longacre Building in New York City. The 11 Dec 1920 Moving Picture World reported that the projectionist’s aide had been slightly burned, and the office suffered damages that would cost an estimated $15,000-$25,000 to repair.
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this picture on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of October 2019.
Myrtle Davis is so engrossed in her self-imposed task of reforming derelicts that she cannot find the time for the attentions of Rex Van Zile, a wealthy young man devoted to her. While visiting his friends Harry Richardson and Clay Cullum, Rex meets Polly Shannon, a minister's daughter from a small Ohio town who, failing in her first attempt to locate a good position to pay her way to Paris where she hopes to study opera, has become a maid in the Cullum and Richardson household. Hearing of Rex's plight, Polly and her employers hatch a scheme to compel Myrtle to notice Rex. They decide to introduce Rex to Polly who, masquerading as a famous French woman with a dreadful past, will motivate Myrtle to marry Rex in order to save him from the vamp. After a series of complications, Rex decides that he does not love Myrtle, and Polly reveals her true past and marries ...
Myrtle Davis is so engrossed in her self-imposed task of reforming derelicts that she cannot find the time for the attentions of Rex Van Zile, a wealthy young man devoted to her. While visiting his friends Harry Richardson and Clay Cullum, Rex meets Polly Shannon, a minister's daughter from a small Ohio town who, failing in her first attempt to locate a good position to pay her way to Paris where she hopes to study opera, has become a maid in the Cullum and Richardson household. Hearing of Rex's plight, Polly and her employers hatch a scheme to compel Myrtle to notice Rex. They decide to introduce Rex to Polly who, masquerading as a famous French woman with a dreadful past, will motivate Myrtle to marry Rex in order to save him from the vamp. After a series of complications, Rex decides that he does not love Myrtle, and Polly reveals her true past and marries Rex.
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