''Once to Every Woman'' is a 1920 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

starring

Dorothy Phillips Dorothy Phillips (born Dorothy Gwendolyn Strible, October 30, 1889 – March 1, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her emotional performances in melodramas, having played a number of "brow beaten" women on screen, bu ...

, directed by

Allen Holubar Allen Holubar (August 3, 1890 – November 20, 1923) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter of the silent film era. He appeared in 38 films between 1913 and 1917. He also directed 33 films between 1916 and 1923. Career Allen ...

and released by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

under the name Jewel Production. Supporting actors include

Margaret Mann Margaret Mann (4 April 1868, in Aberdeen, Scotland – 4 February 1941, in Los Angeles, California), was a Scottish-American actress. Biography Margaret Mann starred in a number of major silent films such as '' Black Beauty'' in 1921 and play ...

and a then-unknown

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...

. It was re-released in 1922 after Valentino's increased popularity. It is now a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, under the patronage of Mrs. Thorndyke (Wise), who recognizes that her protege has a voice, selfish and pampered Aurora Meredith (Phillips) leaves her family and rustic lover Phineas Schudder (Anderson) in the little village of Pleasanton to take up a singing career. After three years of study in Italy her patroness dies so Aurora, without funds to pay for her last year of study, accepts aid from an Italian youth, Juliantimo (Valentino). After her first triumph he threatens to kill himself if she refuses to marry him, so to avoid him Aurora accepts an offer to appear in New York City. There she meets the Duke of Devonshire (Elliott) who, in an effort to extract a promise of marriage, arranges for Aurora to be given the stellar role in a new opera. On the night of the opera's premiere Juliantimo appears at the theater and demands Aurora as his wife in payment of his loan. She refuses and orders him out of her dressing room, and he returns to his box seat. Phineas Schudder is in the theater as is the Duke of Devonshire. Toward the close of the opera Aurora sees Juliantimo draw a gun. Just before the fall of the curtain he fires a shot at her and misses, and then turns the weapon on himself. When Aurora recovers from her fright she discovers that she has lost her voice. Doctors tell her that she will never sing again. At once her friends leave her until there is no one left, not even the Duke or her maid. She then realizes the falsity of fame without love. Phineas, who has become a successful poet, vainly tries to see her. Broken-hearted and discouraged, she returns to the welcoming arms of her family and Phineas. Her mother is stricken ill and begs for her to sing to her. In her sorrow, Aurora suddenly recovers her voice, which her mother hears for the last time. Although Aurora can sing once again, she remains in Pleasanton. She has learned the happiness of helping and giving, and before she begins teaching children she pledges her troth with Phineas, obtaining the love that every woman wants.

Cast

as Aurora Meredith *

as Mother Meredith *

William Ellingford William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...

as Matthew Meredith *Emily Chichester as Patience Meredith * Frank Elliott as the Duke of Devonshire *

Elinor Field Elinor Field (born Eleanor Field; January 4, 1902 – February 24, 1998) was an American film actress who was one of Mack Sennett's Sennett Bathing Beauties. She also starred in the 15-episode serial ''The Jungle Goddess'' (1922). Biography E ...

as Virginia Meredith * Robert Anderson as Phineas Schudder *Mary Wise as Mrs. Thorndyke *

as Juliantimo *

Rosa Gore Rosa Gore (born Minnie Lyons; September 15, 1866 - February 4, 1941) was an American film actress active in Hollywood primarily during the silent era. She appeared in at least 70 films over the course of her career. She got her start in vaudevill ...

as Mrs. Chichester Jones *Dan Crimmins as Mr. Chichester Jones

References

External links

* * {{amg movie, 153424 1920 films 1920 drama films Silent American drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by Allen Holubar Universal Pictures films Lost American films American silent feature films 1920 lost films Lost drama films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films English-language drama films