sex, the movie, starring Louise Glaum
One hundred years ago today … New Yorkers were gearing up to finally see Sex on screen, as it was announced that the controversial film, released in April, would play at various Loew’s theatres starting on Sunday, May 31.
The Chat, 29 May, 1920, p. 51. Newspapers.com.
The advertisement above is from Brooklyn’s weekly theater and entertainment guide The Chat. Near-identical ads appeared in NYC dailies throughout the weekend.
The New York Times, 30 May, 1920, p. 65. Newspapers.com.
Sex was yet another 1920 film exploring, and ultimately condemning, marital infidelity. (We discuss other examples in posts of March 19 and May 6.) It stars Louise Glaum as a sexually liberated New York vaudeville star. Her erotic performance and several explicit scenes earned the film a reputation for promoting immorality.
Motion Picture News, 3 Apr. 1920, p. 3039.
Watch the whole film:
The movie’s blunt title also caused controversy. The May 29 advertisements were the first time New York newspapers printed the title, despite the fact that Glaum was a popular screen figure who herself appeared in print regularly.
Just a two weeks earlier, her image was used in shampoo ads.
The New York Times, 16 May, 1920, p. 54. Newspapers.com.
The title, indeed, had to be altered before the film could be released in Pennsylvania later that year.
Pittsburgh Daily Post, 22 August, 1920, p. 36. Newspapers.com
Though newspapers and censors responded squeamishly to the title, the film was a hit.
Source/further reading: Aronson, Michael. “Movies, Margarine and Main Street.” IN Lucy Fisher, ed. American Cinema of the 1920s. New BrunswicK: Rutgers UP, 2009. p. 35-6.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, MAY 29, 2020.
TAGS: cinema, marriage, sex, Louise Glaum, newspaper advertisements, Loew’s