For Alimony Only

For Alimony Only
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Directed byWilliam C. deMille
Written byLenore J. Coffee
Produced byJohn C. Flinn
StarringLeatrice Joy
Clive Brook
Lilyan Tashman
CinematographyArthur C. Miller
Edited byAdelaide Cannon
Production
company
DeMille Pictures Corporation
Distributed byProducers Distributing Corporation
Release date
  • September 20, 1926 (1926-09-20)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

For Alimony Only is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by William C. deMille and starring Leatrice Joy, Clive Brook, and Lilyan Tashman.[1]

The film's sets were by the art director Max Parker while the costumes were designed by Adrian, later known for his work at MGM.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review,[2] gold digger Narcissa marries Peter Williams so that she can then divorce him and live comfortably on the alimony. After Peter takes a second wife in the person of Mary Martin, he discovers that it is an expensive thing to maintain a past and present wife. With tight family finances, Mary is so understanding and such in love with Peter that she starts working in interior decorating to help their cause. While decorating the home of wife #1, she finds her husband visiting the ex-wife. Mary immediately steps out with Marcissa's boyfriend, Bertie Waring. After several situations, both couples end up at a roadhouse and all four are caught up in a police raid on the premises. To save the situation, Mary tells the police that Narcissa and Bertie were about to stage a wedding ceremony. To avoid arrest, they go through with it. The marriage of the ex-wife now ends Peter's alimony obligation, and Mary is satisfied that she put one over on the former gold digger.

Cast

Production

Leatrice Joy had impulsively cut her hair short in 1926, and Cecil B. DeMille, whom Joy had followed when he set up Producers Distributing Corporation, was publicly angry as it prevented her from portraying traditional feminine roles.[3] The studio developed projects with roles suitable for her “Leatrice Joy bob”,[3] and For Alimony Only was the fourth of five films before she regrew her hair. Despite this, a professional dispute would end the Joy / Demille partnership in 1928.

Preservation

A copy of For Alimony Only is preserved film at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[4]

References

  1. ^ Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema, p. 109
  2. ^ "For Alimony Only". The Film Daily. 38 (26). New York City: Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc.: 9 October 31, 1926. Retrieved December 17, 2023. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b Johanna, Schmertz (2013), "The Leatrice Joy Bob: The Clinging Vine and Gender's Cutting Edge", in Dall’Asta, Monica; Duckett, Victoria; Tralli, Lucia (eds.), Researching Women in Silent Cinema: New Findings and Perspectives, University of Bologna, pp. 402–13, ISBN 978-8-8980-1010-3, ISSN 2283-6462, archived from the original on November 20, 2021, retrieved July 2, 2020
  4. ^ "The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: For Alimony Only". Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.

Bibliography

  • Donald W. McCaffrey & Christopher P. Jacobs. Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema. Greenwood Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-313-30345-2


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