her leg-acy
by Douglas Messerli
Marion Orth and Harold R. Atteridge (screenplay, based on a fiction by
Aaron Davis), Millard Webb (director) Her Golden Calf / 1930 [Lost film]
Millard Webb’s 1930 film Her Golden Calf is
generally listed as a lost film, although Mubi lists it, suggesting there still
may be or have been a copy that they broadcasted temporarily on their site. The
film seems unobtainable today. There also seems to be some confusion about its
title, some sources listing it as The Golden Calf, while others such as
IMDb using the title Her Golden Calf, the latter being far more specific
and likely, since it implies not only her legs but the hopeful possession of a
husband.
The
movie appears on most LGBTQ lists apparently because it represents a
Pygmalionesque-like musical, with a woman also playing the major role of the
transformer.
When Homer posts an advertisement calling for a woman with the perfect
leg measurements for a hosiery manufacturer’s advertisement he has been
assigned to illustrate, Marybelle’s friend Alice (Marjorie White) convinces her
to apply, insisting that she can help to make her over. Slathering her with
mudpacks and encasing her in lovely silk dresses, Alice transforms her friend
into a true beauty, presumably herself falling in love with her “creation”
along the way.
Homer is immediately attracted to the beauty without even recognizing
her as his own former secretary, and of course, eventually she gets the job
and, after she confesses her deception, she wins her man.
This is all set against the backdrop of Greenwich Village artists and
models singing and dancing in the annual “Illustrator’s Ball,” for which Walter
Carlett serves as the Master of Ceremonies. Presumably the famed Village gay
scene is represented in these events as well. Comedian El Brendel is also on
hand to provide his version of corny cultural satire.
The film’s promoters represented some of the racy tone that must have
existed in this movie with the following promotional squib: “HER ONLY LEG-ACY
WAS A PAIR OF PERFECT CALVES - BUT THE HAVOC THEY CREATED!”
Los Angeles, January 19, 2023
Reprinted from World Cinema Review (January
2023).
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