Our Dancing Daughters (1928)

OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS is a silent MGM classic from 1928 that stars Joan Crawford as Diana, a party girl with a heart of gold. Diana’s in love with Ben (Johnny Mack Brown), who also loves her until her frenemy Ann (Anita Paige) drops hints that Diana is not “pure” and steals him away. Which is only the first half of the film… OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS has been called “the screen expression of The Jazz Age, and is a snapshot of what the youth and flapper culture was like between the end of World War I and the stock market crash that led to the Depression. The exuberant dancing and parties depicted in the film scandalized a lot of moviegoers in 1928, but it launched Joan Crawford’s fifty-year career and made her a superstar. Fashion expert Kimberly Truhler of Glamamor joins us to talk Art Deco style in clothing and buildings, how Joan danced her way through Hollywood to land the role of a lifetime, and how shortened hemlines in dresses symbolized a new era for women. We also discuss the MGM megastar the costume designer crossed and how that got him fired, and which OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS star ended up in movies because of an appearance on the Wheaties box. If you’ve never seen a silent film before, this is a great one to watch because it plays out like a soap opera, full of drama and beautiful people.