''The Social Lion'' is a 1930 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by A. Edward Sutherland and written by

Octavus Roy Cohen Octavus Roy Cohen (1891–1959) was an early 20th century American writer specializing in ethnic comedies. His dialect comedy stories about African Americans gained popularity after being published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' and were ada ...

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best A ...

and Agnes Brand Leahy, and starring

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

Mary Brian Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002) was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Early life Brian was born in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. ...

, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher,

Olive Borden Olive Mary Borden (July 14, 1906 – October 1, 1947) was an American film and stage actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was nicknamed "the Joy Girl", after playing the lead in the 1927 film of that same title. Borden ...

Charles Sellon Charles A. Sellon (August 24, 1870 – June 26, 1937) was an American stage and film actor. Sellon appeared in more than 100 films and stage acts between 1901 and 1935. He played the blind Mr. Muckle in W. C. Fields' comedy ''It's a Gift'' ...

Cyril Ring Cyril Ring (December 5, 1892July 17, 1967) was an American film actor. He began his career in silent films in 1921. By the time of his final performance in 1951, he had appeared in over 350 films, nearly all of them in small and/or uncredited bit ...

and E. H. Calvert. It was released on June 21, 1930, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

Marco Perkins is a garage mechanic and a would-be-prizefighter who gets a place on the ritzy country club's polo team because he is the town's most proficient mallet-wielder, having learned to play polo while serving in U.S. army. His hobnobbing with the town-elite and social upper-crust at the polo-matches gives him an inflated idea of his social position, and he decides he is moving on up. He breaks off with his girl-friend, true-blue Cynthia Brown, and hits on débutante Gloria Staunton, who appears to have an interest in being hit upon. Gloria's interest lies mostly in showing marco that hired-hands who can play polo still aren't to the manor born.

Cast

as Marco Perkins *

as Cynthia Brown * Richard "Skeets" Gallagher as Chick Hathaway *

as Gloria Staunton *

as Jim Perkins *

as Ralph Williams * E. H. Calvert as Henderson *James Gibson as Howard *

Henry Roquemore Henry Roquemore (March 18, 1886 – June 30, 1943) was an American character actor who primarily played bit parts. He appeared in 229 silent and sound films from 1927 until 1943. Many of his roles were uncredited parts in Western movies, ...

as Smith *William Bechtel as Schultz *

Richard Henry Cummings Richard Henry Cummings (August 20, 1858 – December 25, 1938) was an American film actor of the silent era. Cummings performed in vaudeville and on stage before he began working in films. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1913 and ...

as McGinnis

References

External links

* American comedy films 1930 comedy films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by A. Edward Sutherland American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-US-film-stub