TCM to show Mabel Normand silent feature
"The Extra Girl"
Directed by F. Richard Jones. Story by Mack Sennett
Cast: Mabel Normand, Ralph Graves, George Nicholls, Anna Hernandez, Vernon Dent, Ramsey Wallace, Charlotte Mineau, Harry Gribbon, Billy Bevan, Max Davidson, Louise Carver, William Desmond, Teddy the Dog, Duke and Numa the lions.
Released October 28, 1923. Running Time: 73 minutes. Showing on TCM, Sunday January 13 at 11:30 pm central time (12:30am eastern, 9:30pm, pacific)
Several years ago CineMuseum released The Mack Sennett Collection, containing 50 beautifully restored films from the Sennett studios. This important 3-disc blu ray set offered a real history lesson in cinema’s development, covering Sennett’s work from the Biograph era, through Keystone, all the way up to talking pictures. I reviewed all 50 films on the entire set in a massive article that can be found here: Mack Sennett Collection.
Because of its TCM telecast, I am singling out my review of “The Extra Girl,” one of the few feature-length movies on the Mack Sennett Collection. It showcases one of the finest actresses of the silent screen.
Mabel Normand was one of the first big stars at Mack Sennett’s Keystone studios, and one of the cleverest and most brilliant female comedians of cinema's early years. Cute, funny, and fearless, Normand would engage in knockabout slapstick with engaging, expressive performances. She would act as her own director, and would help guide newcomer comics through the process, including Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin. Unfortunately, in the ten years since her early days with Keystone to the making of “The Extra Girl,” life had not been good to Mabel Normand. Heartbreak, scandal, and substance abuse had disrupted her life.
"The Extra Girl" was made during a time when Ms. Normand was seeking some level of redemption, after being implicated in the murder of director William Desmond Taylor in 1922. Mabel had been making films for Samuel Goldwyn productions, but a serious problem with drug addiction deemed her unreliable. Soon, neither Goldwyn nor other producers were interested in using her.
Mack Sennett bought Mabel’s contract from Goldwyn, and it is he who produced "The Extra Girl." The film features Mabel as Sue Graham, a character trying to make it in movies, but only able to find work as an extra. It was Sennett’s concept, and his attempt to put his beloved Mabel back in the spotlight in a vehicle tailored to her talents. With her old friend F. Richard Jones directing and a cast rounded out with old Sennett veterans like Billy Bevan and Vernon Dent, it couldn't have been a more perfect setup for Mabel.
"The Extra Girl" is, as a result, an effective experience for Mabel and for the viewer. A pleasant and amusing feature length movie, "The Extra Girl" does a good job of showcasing Normand's abilities, allowing her to prove that she could still be as charming and funny as she had been in her Keystone comedies with Arbuckle or Chaplin a decade earlier. Mabel Normand's innate talents are certainly on display. Normand remains completely adept at performing physical comedy, and also is able to project the homespun appeal necessary for the character she is playing. Mabel Normand is delightful in scenes in the studio’s wardrobe department, and a wild sequence where she unwittingly unleashes a lion on the studio backlot.
It has been stated that, despite Mabel’s charm coming through, it is sometimes a bit unsettling to compare her work in this film to the spunky performances in her earlier Keystone comedies. Even as she remains engaging and effective, her weariness at this point in her life is sometimes evident to viewers most familiar with her. This is a trifling quibble, and only included in this review to point out deeper perspective. The impact of “The Extra Girl” is how effectively director Jones remains able to connect with his star, and bring out such a strong performance despite her personal troubles during these times.
"The Extra Girl" has been carefully restored by CineMuseum from the finest existing pre-print elements and that is the version TCM is broadcasting. It is most certainly the best available print of this movie.
"The Extra Girl" should have been a triumphant comeback for Mabel Normand, but, sadly the following year she made headlines again when her chauffeur shot millionaire Courland Dines with a pistol that belonged to her. The scandal was a bigger setback than "The Extra Girl" had been a triumph. It would be another three years before Mabel Normand would make another film when she starred in a handful of two-reelers for Hal Roach in the later 1920s, some co-written by Stan Laurel. Mabel Normand died in 1930.