Even though, to fans, she was the perfect flapper with phenomenal movie success, at one time earning over $12,000 a week, she was no overnight success. She worked long and hard for quite a few years at several studios (one, Selig closed just after she made good there in 1918) before Marshall Neilan decided she would be right for a small role in his "Dinty". "Broken Hearts of Broadway" made just before she hit the big time was nothing special, it had all been done before and in some ways ("Sex"(1920)) a lot better.
"The Street of All Streets" as Broadway is introduced is now a forlorn hop to struggling playwright Creighton Hale who is willing to admit he is licked but happens to hear the story of Mary Ellis (Moore), the latest "Great White Way" discovery, from taxi driver Tully Marshall. She has come to Broadway a "greenhorn" but happens to make the acquaintance of George Conlon (Johnny Walker) - yes, you guessed it, a struggling songwriter who lives in the flat above. Mary's flatmate "Bubbles" Revere (Alice Lake) used to be "green" but she has got wise and now eagerly takes jewels and jobs from stage door millionaires in exchange for being "friendly"!! Of course Mary refuses but it is hard to pay bills on your principles, while your friend has a speciality dance spot in the brightest show in town. "Bubbles" gold digger ways has also put a former suitor's nose out of joint - he thought "Bubbles" declarations of love meant something but she was just stringing him along and on the night Mary decides to put aside her "good girl" ways (as she confesses to George "I'm sick of being hungry and poor, I want some good times as well") he decides to take drastic action. Unfortunately the chap he kills is Mary's admirer and of course Mary (who got cold feet in the cab and was forced to walk home in the rain) gets the blame!!
Johnny Walker was an affable leading man of the silents whose career strangely petered out in the talkies. He does quite well as the male lead but I agree with the other review, Alice Lake has the more engrossing story line. It is a tribute to Miss Moore's winning personality that she is the one you remember.
"The Street of All Streets" as Broadway is introduced is now a forlorn hop to struggling playwright Creighton Hale who is willing to admit he is licked but happens to hear the story of Mary Ellis (Moore), the latest "Great White Way" discovery, from taxi driver Tully Marshall. She has come to Broadway a "greenhorn" but happens to make the acquaintance of George Conlon (Johnny Walker) - yes, you guessed it, a struggling songwriter who lives in the flat above. Mary's flatmate "Bubbles" Revere (Alice Lake) used to be "green" but she has got wise and now eagerly takes jewels and jobs from stage door millionaires in exchange for being "friendly"!! Of course Mary refuses but it is hard to pay bills on your principles, while your friend has a speciality dance spot in the brightest show in town. "Bubbles" gold digger ways has also put a former suitor's nose out of joint - he thought "Bubbles" declarations of love meant something but she was just stringing him along and on the night Mary decides to put aside her "good girl" ways (as she confesses to George "I'm sick of being hungry and poor, I want some good times as well") he decides to take drastic action. Unfortunately the chap he kills is Mary's admirer and of course Mary (who got cold feet in the cab and was forced to walk home in the rain) gets the blame!!
Johnny Walker was an affable leading man of the silents whose career strangely petered out in the talkies. He does quite well as the male lead but I agree with the other review, Alice Lake has the more engrossing story line. It is a tribute to Miss Moore's winning personality that she is the one you remember.