Dancing Mothers is a 1926

1926 in film

-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....

 silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

, produced by Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

, shot on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, in late 1925. It was directed by Herbert Brenon, starred Alice Joyce

Alice Joyce

Alice Joyce was an American actress, who appeared in more than 200 movies during the 1910s and 1920s, perhaps best known for her roles in the 1923 silent and 1930 talking versions of The Green Goddess....

, Conway Tearle

Conway Tearle

Conway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...

 and Clara Bow

Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...

. It went on distribution on March 1, 1926. It survives on 16mm.

Plot

Dancing Mothers is a tale of a pretty mother, who was almost cheated out of life by a heartless husband and a thoughtless daughter.

Reception

• "A splendid picture containing mother appeal, flapper appeal and well balanced with comedy and a climax that's different, since 'they don't live happy ever after'".
• "...it is an effective drama, well acted and Clara Bow is a real little modern."
• "It is a picture that strikes home to the adult mind and is a tremendous indictment to every age."

Cast

• Alice Joyce
  Alice Joyce
  Alice Joyce was an American actress, who appeared in more than 200 movies during the 1910s and 1920s, perhaps best known for her roles in the 1923 silent and 1930 talking versions of The Green Goddess....
  
   - Ethel "Buddy" Westcourt
• Norman Trevor - Hugh Westcourt
• Clara Bow
  Clara Bow
  Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
  
   - Catherine "Kittens" Westcourt
• Conway Tearle
  Conway Tearle
  Conway Tearle was an Anglo-American stage actor who went on to perform in silent and early sound films.-Early life:...
  
   - Gerald "Jerry" Naughton
• Eleanor Lawson - Irma
• Dorothy Cumming
  Dorothy Cumming
  Dorothy G. Cumming was an actress of the silent film era. She appeared in 39 American, English, and Australian films between 1915 and 1929, notably appearing as the Virgin Mary in Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 film The King of Kings and the jealous wife in Lillian Gish's 1928 The Wind. She also appeared...
  
   - Mrs. Mazzarene
• Donald Keith (actor)
  Donald Keith (actor)
  Donald Keith born Francis Feeney was an American silent film actor remembered for costarring with Clara Bow in several films in the 1920s...
  
   - Kenneth Cobb
• Leila Hyams
  Leila Hyams
  Leila Hyams was an American film actress. Her relatively short film career began in silent films, and ended in the mid 1930s.-Early life:...
  
   - Birdey Courtney
• Spencer Charters
  Spencer Charters
  Spencer Charters was an American film actor. He appeared in over 220 films between 1920 and 1943.He was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and died in Hollywood, California by suicide, from a mix of sleeping pills and carbon monoxide poisoning.His first stage work soon after leaving school was a...
  
   - Butter and Egg Man

Production notes

Dancing Mothers was a successful Broadway stage play by Edgar Selwyn

Edgar Selwyn

Edgar Selwyn was a prominent figure in American theater and film in the first half of the 20th Century.Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Selwyn flourished in the Broadway theater as an actor, playwright, director, and producer from 1899 to 1942...

 and Edmund Goulding

Edmund Goulding

Edmund Goulding was a British film writer and director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 British made Paramount silent Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 20s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray and...

 and Paramount reportedly bought the film rights for $45,000. The shooting begun in November 1925 with the Peter Pan

Peter Pan (1924 film)

Peter Pan is a 1924 adventure silent film released by Paramount Pictures, the first film adaptation of the play by J. M. Barrie. It was directed by Herbert Brenon and starred Betty Bronson as Peter Pan, Ernest Torrence as Captain Hook, Mary Brian as Wendy, and Virginia Browne Faire as Tinker Bell...

-star; Betty Bronson

Betty Bronson

Betty Bronson was an American television and film actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was a famous actress in silent and sound films.-Film career:...

 as "Kittens", but due to professional shortcomings she was replaced with Clara Bow

Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...

.