''The Very Idea'' is an American comedy film directed by Frank Craven and Richard Rosson and written by William LeBaron, based on his play of the same title. Released in 1929, it was the fourth film released by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

, starring Sally Blane, Hugh Trevor, Allen Kearns,

Doris Eaton Doris Eaton Travis (March 14, 1904 – May 11, 2010) was an American dancer, stage and film actress, dance instructor, owner and manager, writer, and rancher, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl, a troupe of acclaimed chorus girls wh ...

and Frank Craven. A comedy based on the theory of eugenics, it was a critical and financial failure. The play was filmed before in 1920 as a silent starring Taylor Holmes. The 1920 film is lost.

Plot

Alan Camp has written a book on eugenics, and is looking to prove his theories. His sister, Edith Goodhue, and her husband, Gilbert have been frustrated for years with their inability to have children. Alan convinces them to let him create a child through eugenics for them to adopt. Chosen to be the parents of this eugenic child are Joe Garvin, who happens to be Alan's chauffeur, and Nora, the Goodhues' maid. The two are offered $15,000 each if they conceive and deliver a child within twelve months, to which they agree. To give the young couple room to move ahead with the plan, the Goodhues leave on a year trip to California. Nora and Joe do have the baby, but have fallen in love in the interim and have decided to keep the child. When the Goodhues return from California, they find their home has been converted into a nursery, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Garvin, who have married. They will not give up their baby, and Alan frantically sends Joe to a local orphanage in order to find a replacement baby. However, the child Joe returns with is rejected by Edith and Gilbert. Despondent, Alan decides to have the nursery dismantled, when Mrs. Goodhue announces that she is pregnant.

Cast

* Sally Blane as Nora *

Hugh Trevor Hugh Trevor (born Hugh Trevor-Thomas; October 28, 1903 – November 10, 1933) was an American actor whose short career began at the very end of the silent era in 1927. He would appear in nineteen films in the scant six years during which he wa ...

as Joe Garvin * Allen Kearns as Gilbert Goodhue *

as Edith Goodhue * Frank Craven as Alan Camp * Theodore von Eltz as George Green *

Olive Tell Olive Tell (September 27, 1894 – June 8, 1951) was a stage and screen actress from New York City. Biography Tell was educated in several cities in Europe. She and her younger actress sister Alma graduated from the American Academy of Dramati ...

as Marion Green *Adele Watson as Miss Duncan

References

External links

* RKO Pictures films 1929 comedy films 1929 films American black-and-white films Films about eugenics American films based on plays American comedy films Films directed by Richard Rosson 1920s American films {{1920s-US-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links