Negócios de Mulher

Something I'm learning about early DeMille films, he LIKED women. He was willing to flatter his actresses and record bold yet true emotions from them into his camera. His stories are equally bold, but not as true. The plots are farces, bedroom plays of cheating husbands and scheming wives which rely on coincidence to further the plot, and ultimately climaxing with his star in a stunning costume as she manipulates the men with sex appeal.

The Clinging Vine is a twist on that old plot, suggesting women would be superior in the office as well as the home. Enter Leatrice Joy as A. B. who is practically running the company, but has given up her femininity. Introduced only with initials, and seated at a desk of whirring office activity, we accept A. B. as a man. Helped by a dashing haircut and tailored business suit Leatrice Joy is the image of a young hero. Dedicated, hardworking, and ready to be the victim of female manipulation.

Much ballyhoo was made of Joy's daring haircut at the time. Hollywood rags dished on how DeMille was angry she could no longer play leads, and titillating stories about Joy passing for a man and flirting with young women.... This was mid-1920s. Flapper styles were slim and boyish, many had bobbed their hair. Women were adopting the modern look, and voting and working. Hollywood ballyhoo aside, Leatrice Joy just took it to the next level.

Once DeMille establishes that A.B. is an office woman, he lingers on Leatrice Joy as she acts very convincingly as a man. There is a sort of titillation here as she runs the office efficiently, even writing on her sleeve. She is not just mannish, she is a man's man, a go-getter, a brash young hero beating men at their own terms.

Yet it is clear she has no romantic life at all. She is even awkward when a secretary announces her engagement, sadly returning to her office alone. It's not that she's de-sexed, just de-personalized. She has not adopted the clothing of men, she has adopted the clothing of the office. As strong as the transgender theme is visually, it is not a part of the script. A.B. is always treated sympathetically as a woman, just an overly-efficient office woman.

It's hard to suppress our modern post-gender sensibilities, and clearly Joy has created such a convincing, even attractive masculine image that it is confusing when no one in the film reads A.B. as a man, but the film is a light comedy full of topsy-turvy characters. At one point the company execs (a bumbling, hen-pecked patriarchy) are afraid they may lose A.B. and begin scheming to marry her to keep her in the firm! One protests that A.B. would put a timeclock in the bathroom and their socks in a filing cabinet. The "bad" is that she is undomestic, rather than being too masculine, since in this world the men don't seem to be very useful. Clearly though, DeMille and Joy are presenting a polemic image of dualities, first a studied and convincing young man, then a fluttering and exaggerated female.

The boss's wife (Toby Claude as a jazz-age Grandma) steps in as fairy godmother and transforms A.B. into Abigale a "clinging vine" who is decorative and flirtatious. Sensing Abigale has no experience with love, Grandma hooks her up with her grandson Jimmie, whom A.B. has recently fired from the company. Abigale's Pygmalion transformation is so complete that no one recognizes her. Most of the comedy derives from Abigale's clumsy and mannered femininity, in exaggerated puffy gowns and over-sized bonnets.

To modern feminists The Clinging Vine seems like a nightmarish scenario: giving up a career to coddle a simpering man-child -- worse she invests her life savings in his hair-brained invention, but DeMille is not a woman-hater. He takes every opportunity to make A.B. sympathetic, while making Abigale ridiculous. It's true she gives up her career for marriage to an inferior man -- one she even fired, and learns to pacify men by pretending to be stupid..., but it is no different when she affirms her boss's ego allowing him take credit for her work. In DeMille's world women are superior (if unthanked) in the bedroom and the boardroom. When encountering a glass ceiling they learn to switch tactics. This could be interpreted as the goal of a lazy patriarchy, to be pampered and aroused by over-talented submissive women.

The patriarchy falls apart all together however when you look at Grandma. Here this dichotomy of young and old, who slides down banisters and dances to jazz music in her underwear, embodies the ultimate power-wielding matriarch. Knowing her grandson isn't gifted with business sense she marries him off to the company's top whiz. Grandma secures her own bloodline as well as her company's future with an injection of female brains, and by the end of the film Abigale has doubled her wealth using Jimmie as a financial puppet armed with her new powers of sexual manipulation.

The moral isn't pre-feminist, it's actually reverse sexist! Love takes care of the rest.

Mannish looking Leatrice Joy (as "A.B." Allen) is the brains behind a paint company headed by office putter Robert Edeson (as T.M. "Grandpa" Bancroft). With her suit, tie, and boyish haircut, Ms. Joy makes all the important decisions at the company, including the firing of the boss' grandson, Tom Moore (as Jimmie Bancroft). While she is very successful, Joy is also very sad. Why? For starters, she has never been kissed by a man. At a social gathering on Mr. Edeson's estate, spry old Toby Claude (as "Grandma" Bancroft) directs Joy to pluck eyebrows, bat eyelashes, and dress like a woman. Joy is taught to speak to men by simply interjecting the two phrases "Do go on!" and "Aren't you wonderful!"

The new, womanly "Antoinette" is a bit hit with men, especially Mr. Moore. As "The Clinging Vine" of the title, Joy performs well. Unfortunately, the story is silly and sexist. Most interesting is the fact that Joy dresses much better as a male than a female. Formerly married to superstar John Gilbert, Joy could play the typical attractive leading woman as well as these occasional "mannish" roles. Unlike many famous actresses from the 1920s to the present, she actually looks like a "juvenile young man" of her era. If you think Katharine Hepburn ("Sylvia Scarlett"), Greta Garbo ("Queen Christina"), Julie Andrews ("Victor/Victoria"), and Barbra Streisand ("Yentl") masqueraded well as men, check out Leatrice Joy.

**** The Clinging Vine (9/6/26) Paul Sloane ~ Leatrice Joy, Tom Moore, Robert Edeson, Snitz Edwards

Quite amusing film about A.B. (Leatrice Joy), the ultra-masculine assistant to the President of a big paint company. A.B. is efficient, always one step ahead of the boss, and wears sensible shoes (not to mention a man's tie, vest, shirt, haircut - and a skirt). She's hired, wired, and fired men - but never kissed one. Well, when the boss has gout and work has to be done at his estate instead of the office, A.B. arrives for an overnight stay and is soon befriended by wise, youthful Grandma, the bosses wife. Grandma decides to give A.B. a makeover - permanent wave, feminine clothes, plucked eyebrows, and tips on batting her eyelashes and spouting sweet talk to get herself a man - basically turning A.B. into what Grandma says men want "a clinging vine" (and if that's what men want, I give up!). Soon A.B. is sporting a Little Bo Peep bonnet and dress, and even though she still looks pretty mannish to my eyes, has all the men flipping for her at that weekend's house party - especially grandson Jimmie, doltish inventor of this gigantic egg-beater contraption, recently fired by ruthless A.B. Luckily he doesn't know what A.B. looks like!

I found this film to be very enjoyable and funny, even found myself laughing out loud in several places. The female characters in this, A.B. and Grandma, are really the only ones with any brains at all - the men just seemed overwhelmed by a bit of ruffle, big bows, puffed sleeves and "Aren't you wonderful", the line A.B. uses in her flirtations with them. Leatrice Joy is great in this, and certainly well cast playing the masculine looking A.B. - in fact, she literally looks like a man in the first scenes she is in, you can't really even tell she is a woman until they show the skirt. Snitz Edwards appears here as company VP, just one look at him makes me laugh - I love the expressions he gets on his face. The version of this I saw featured a lively/peppy piano score that really suited the story. A fun film, well worth seeing.

... and the sexist drivel is not what you'd expect from a 1926 film, as it makes all men look stupid and the women wise.

A. B. (Leatrice Joy) is the assistant to the owner of a paint company, T. M. Bancroft. AB is really the brains behind the operation, and the brawn for that matter. TM just wants to play and read about golf all day. His ineffective board of directors doesn't seem to be very useful either. AB dresses mannishly - She wears dresses but from the waist up they appear like a man's suit with vest and tie. Her haircut is very short and she uses no makeup.

TM's gout acting up makes it necessary for everybody to go to his Connecticut estate to conduct business. "Grandma" - TM's wife - takes one look at AB and sees a project. She gives AB lessons in how to make herself up, lets her borrow a couple of dresses, and tells her that men only want to hear two lines - "Aren't you wonderful!" and "Do go on!". This sounds ridiculous, but it works on all of the men at the estate. Furthermore, it works particularly well on Grandma's grandson, Jimmie (Tom Moore). The whole reason Jimmie is at their home? AB, whom he hasn't even met, has fired him by phone from his grandfather's business, and he's there to complain to TM. Complications ensue.

There is some original stuff here that works exceedingly well, like Snitz Edwards as a fellow employee of AB's who thinks she's lost her mind with the sudden feminine makeover. Just looking at him made me laugh. And then there's some stuff that is just plain ponderous - Like how grandma has dressed AB up like Little Bo Peep rather in the fashions of the day, and yet the men seem to like this strange get-up. Then there is grandma herself. She is supposed to be Tom Moore's grandmother and yet he looks about 35 and she looks about 50. In fact the actress who played grandma is only six years older than Moore. I know people married young in those days, but really!

Finally that AB would fall head over heels for Jimmie when she is so accomplished is just not very believable. This guy is just not that bright and AB saves the day for him at every turn. I can tell you from sad experience that saving the day every day of your life gets old in a hurry.

Still this is a very interesting silent comedy with some actors who aren't that well known today, and this film showcases them quite well.

Amusing film that is a wonderful showcase for talents of Leatrice Joy. (Not many remember her today, but at one time, she was Cecil B. DeMille's favorite actress.) Although predictable by today's standards, I'm sure 1920's audiences were immensely amused by this "Cinderella" story.