The Play Girl

The Play Girl
Film poster
Directed byArthur Rosson
Written byJohn Stone
Reggie Morris
Norman Z. McLeod
Produced byWilliam Fox
StarringMadge Bellamy
Johnny Mack Brown
Walter McGrail
CinematographyRudolph J. Bergquist
Edited byRalph Dietrich
Production
company
Distributed byFox Film
Release date
  • April 22, 1928 (1928-04-22)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

The Play Girl is a 1928 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Rosson and starring Madge Bellamy, Johnny Mack Brown, and Walter McGrail.

Plot summary

When Madge, a clerk in a flower shop, is sent to a bachelor's apartment to deliver and arrange a bouquet, she discovers a guest, young and handsome Bradley Lane, taking a bath. She loses her job and becomes a playgirl until Bradley, her true love, asks her to marry him.

Cast

Production

The film was marred by two deaths of crew members over a period of about two weeks. Studio electrician Thomas Rafferty was killed in a fall, and cinematographer Rudolph Bergquist died in an automobile accident on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles while driving a studio car.

Reception

Motion Picture Herald critic T.O. Service bluntly wrote, "I think 'The Play Girl' is bad," finding it clichéd, and blaming the poor reception on having seen a better film beforehand (Soft Living) and due to "suffering...from an overdose of Bellamy."

Laurence Reid of Motion Picture News called it "interesting and fairly amusing," despite the film having "no plot at all." However, Reid praised Madge Bellamy for "[doing] her bit in making it enjoyable."

Preservation

With no prints of The Play Girl located in any film archives, it is a lost film.

A manuscript listing each scene is preserved in the Library of Congress.

References

  1. ↑ Solomon p. 308
  2. ↑ Progressive Silent Film List: The Play Girl at silentera.com
  3. ↑ "The Play Girl". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved July 2, 2025.[dead link]
  4. ↑ "Picture's 2d Death". Variety. New York City. February 9, 1928. p. 9. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  5. ↑ Service, T.O. (April 28, 1928). "Service Talks: "The Play Girl"". Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World. Vol. 91, no. 4. Chicago. p. 92. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  6. ↑ Reid, Laurence (April 28, 1928). "Opinions on Pictures: The Play Girl". Motion Picture News. Vol. 17, no. 37. United States. p. 1346. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  7. ↑ "The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Play Girl". memory.loc.gov. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  8. ↑ "THE PLAY GIRL". Library of Congress. Fox Film Corporation. April 2, 1928. Retrieved April 15, 2026.

Bibliography