''Dance Madness'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard based upon a script by

Frederica Sagor Frederica Alexandrina Sagor Maas (; July 6, 1900 – January 5, 2012) was an American dramatist and playwright, screenwriter, memoirist, and author, the youngest daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia. As an essayist, Maas was best known fo ...

. The film starred Claire Windsor, Conrad Nagel, and Hedda Hopper. According to the credited screenwriter, Frederica Sagor, ''Dance Madness'' was "patently a rewrite" of '' The Guardsman'', a work by Ferenc Molnár that was later directly adapted for film. Sagor notes the screenplay was not written by her, but by

Alice D. G. Miller Alice D. G. Miller (June 28, 1894 – July 24, 1985) was an early American screenwriter. She was sometimes erroneously credited as Alice Duer Miller, another writer of no relation. Biography Miller was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1894, to Rob ...

, and she only provided script rewrites.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review, Roger Halladay weds May Russell, a former dancer. He becomes infatuated with Valentina, the notorious masked Russian dancer. May discovers that Valentina's husband is Strokoff, who taught her dancing. The two women unite to teach Roger a lesson. May, always masked, poses as Valentina while trying to seduce Roger and arranges to have Strokoff find them while they are embracing. Roger runs away, followed by his masked charmer until he discovers that she is his wife and they are reconciled.

Cast

* Conrad Nagel as Roger Halladay * Claire Windsor as May Russell * Hedda Hopper as Valentina *

Douglas Gilmore Douglas Gilmore (June 25, 1903 – July 26, 1950) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and theater productions. The University of Washington has a photograph of him from 1927. Filmography *''His Buddy's Wife'' (1925), his film d ...

as Bud * Mario Carillo as Strokoff * Elmo Billings * Estelle Clark as Minor Role (uncredited) *

Joyzelle Joyner Joyzelle Joyner (August 27, 1905 – November 30, 1980) was an American actress and dancer. She appeared in at least thirty films between 1925 and 1935, garnering some notoriety for her appearance in '' The Sign of the Cross''. Career Joyner be ...

as Dancer (uncredited) * Belva McKay as Minor Role (uncredited)

Preservation

''Dance Madness'' is now considered to be a lost film.Arne Andersen's - Lost Film Files (Metro-MGM - silentsaregolden.com

References

External links

* *

at silenthollywood.com * (''Dance Madness'' clip starts at 1:56) 1926 films 1926 comedy films Silent American comedy films American silent feature films American black-and-white films Lost American comedy films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Robert Z. Leonard 1926 lost films 1920s American films {{1920s-silent-comedy-film-stub