Adrienne Crew, the coolest woman in Hollywood and president of the LA Chapter of the Dorothy Parker Society, sent us this message today. If you want to attend these events, shoot her an email: Adrienne [at sign] dorothyparker [dot] com
The LA Chapter of the Dorothy Parker Society is back with an event for May. On Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 8 PM, we’re going to partake of a jazz-era silent film called “Dancing Mothers” at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles, at 611 N Fairfax Ave, a few blocks S of Melrose but before Beverly. Mrs. Parker would have approved of this snazzy number about the mother of a wild flapper who turns the tables on her flighty offspring by taking up the Jazz Age lifestyle herself.
5/19 @ 8:00pm / Series: Mother, May I?
Dancing Mothers, one of the earlier films that helped to build Clara Bow into the “It Girl” flapper icon that she was, takes the ’20s trope of the jazz-mad family and turns it on its pin-curled head, by adding an intense, juicy twist worthy of today’s TV talk shows. Clara stars as spoiled and ungrateful flapper “Kittens”, whose mother (Alice Joyce), tired of being taken for granted by her selfish daughter and husband, kicks off her “well-behaved housewife” shoes and plunges herself into the flapper scene. And when both mother and daughter fall for the same man, the claws really come out! The film emerges as a refreshing take on melodramas of the time, as it avoids the typical neatly-packaged Hollywood ending, opting instead to close out on a resolution that’s frankly shocking for its time. A soap opera with some serious depth, Dancing Mothers is a Jazz Age jump for joy. Dir. Herbert Brenon, 1926, 16mm, 66 min.
Tickets – $10 Screenings tend to sell out so you can pre-purchase your tickets online here.
Let me know if you are coming so I know to look out for you. I’ll be having supper at Golden State Cafe around 7 PM if anyone wants to meet before hand. Golden State Cafe is across the street from the Silent Movie Theater 426 N Fairfax Ave.