A Roman Scandal (film)

A Roman Scandal
A Roman Scandal
	A magazine ad featuring Colleen Moore as a new actress for Christie Film Co. starring in the film A Roman Scandal.
Directed by	Al Christie
Written by	Frank Roland Conklin (story); Scott Darling (scenario)
Starring	Colleen Moore; Earle Rodney; Eddie Barry
Distributed by	Christie Film Company
Release date	November 30, 1919;
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

A Roman Scandal is a 1919 American short silent comedy film starring Colleen Moore, and directed by Al Christie.

Plot

Mary is stage struck and will not marry until she makes it in show business. Her fiance is distraught that they might never marry. The actors of the local stage company go on strike, leaving management with nobody to fill all the roles. Mary volunteers herself and her fiance, and in the confusion of the production, chaos follows. In the end, Mary abandons her dreams for domestic bliss.

Cast

Colleen Moore as Mary
Earle Rodney as Jack
Eddie Barry
Billy Bletcher
Helen Darling
Jack Henderson
Gino Corrado (credited as Eugene Corey)

Background

Moore went to work with Al Christie to develop her comedy skills.^[1] Prior to her work with Christie, she was strictly a dramatic actress. In her autobiography Silent Star, she said she had read a quote that the greatest dramatic actresses had gotten their starts in comedy.

The film, a two-reel short,^[2] played with several other longer features at the various other venues where it was exhibited, such as with Anne of Green Gables, a Mary Miles Minter film,^[3] and with Cosmo Hamilton's The Miracle of Love at the Rivoli Rialto Theater in New York.^[4]

Footnotes

^ "Comedy for Training," Los Angeles Times, September 21, 1919, page III10.
^ Motion Picture News, November 22, 1919, page 3775.
^ Ad, top of page, Los Angeles Times, December 6th, 1919, page II9.
^ Ad, bottom of page, New York Times, December 21, 1919, page 77.

Bibliography

Jeff Codori (2012), Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star, McFarland Publishing,(Print ISBN 978-0-7864-4969-9, EBook ISBN 978-0-7864-8899-5).