The Clinging Vine, a 1926 silent comedy-drama starring Leatrice Joy and Tom Moore — both were quite popular in the 1920s — will be the next "Silents Under the Stars" feature, presented by the Silent Society. The screening will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, at the Paramount Ranch, north of Mulholland Drive, in the Agoura Hills area of the San Fernando Valley.
In the film, Joy plays a mannish woman who runs a business operation until she falls in love with the Big Boss' grandson (Moore). Joy's is the sort of role that Rosalind Russell would often play in the 1940s, the desexualized, masculine woman who discovers evening gowns and negligees after the Right Man comes into her life. (Russell, however, was never nearly as mannish as Joy is in The Clinging Vine.)
Directed by Paul Sloane, The Clinging Vine was written for the screen by Jack Jevne and Rex Taylor, from a play by Zelda Sears (who also happened to be a screenwriter at MGM).
The film is no masterpiece, but Joy, sporting a butch haircut, looks quite modern, and she's quite funny when trying to be feminine. (She learns that in order to win a man she must flutter her eyelashes while saying, "Do go on!" and "Aren't you wonderful?")
With live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla.
More information and directions on the Silent Society page.