Stephen Steps Out
{{short description|1923 film by Joseph Henabery}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Stephen Steps Out
| image = Stephen Steps Out lobby card.jpg
| caption = Lobby card
| director = Joseph Henabery
| producer = Jesse Lasky
William Elliott
| writer = Edfrid Bingham (scenario)
| based_on = {{basedon|"The Grand Cross of the Desert"|Richard Harding Davis}}
| starring = Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Harry Myers
| music =
| cinematography = Faxon M. Dean
| editing =
| distributor = Paramount Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1923|11|18}}
| runtime = 6 reels; (5,652 feet)
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
}}
Stephen Steps Out is a 1923 American silent comedy film that is notable as being the first starring role for the still teenaged Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Directed by Joseph Henabery, it was based on a short story by Richard Harding Davis, "The Grand Cross of the Desert."[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/StephenStepsOut1923.html Progressive Silent Film List: Stephen Steps Out] at silentera.com
With this film the young Fairbanks Jr. opted for a screen career despite opposition from his famous actor father, Douglas Fairbanks.
"I was terribly chubby," recalled Fairbanks Jr. "Did it for the money. When my parents separated, it was hardly amicable and mother and I needed to eat. Movie companies were willing to exploit my famous name. I didn't really understand that at the time."{{cite book |last1=Bawden |first1= James|last2=Miller |first2=Ron |date= March 4, 2016|title=Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkKWCwAAQBAJ&q=douglas+fairbanks+jnr+interview&pg=PA91 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=94 |isbn=9780813167121}}
Plot
As described in a film magazine review,{{cite journal|title=Tried and Proven Pictures: Stephen Steps Out|journal=Exhibitors Trade Review|pages=40|publisher=Exhibitors Review Publishing Corporation|date=May 3, 1924|location=New York, NY|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibi00newy/page/n627/mode/1up|accessdate=November 28, 2022}} {{Source-attribution}} the young son of a wealthy American fails his class in history at school, so he is sent to Turkey to learn the subject firsthand on the premises. He learns that the instructor who flunked him in his exam at school is to be dismissed for it, and he intervenes and gets the school board to retain the man, having first obtained for him a decoration from the Sultan.
Cast
{{castlist|
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as Stephen Harlow Jr.
- Theodore Roberts as Stephen Harlow Sr.
- Noah Beery, Sr. as Muley Pasha
- Harry Myers as Harry Stetson
- Frank Currier as Doctor Lyman Black
- James O. Barrows as Professor Gilman
- Fanny Midgley as Mrs. Gilman (credited as Fannie Midgley)
- Bertram Johns as Virgil Smythe
- George Field as Osman
- Maurice Freeman as Rustem
- Fred Warren as the Sultan
- Pat Moore as the Sultan's Son
- Jack Herbert as Secretary
- Frank Nelson as Hotel Proprietor
}}
Preservation
With no prints of Stephen Steps Out located in any film archives,[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.9525/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Stephen Steps Out] it is a lost film.The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1921-30 by The American Film Institute, c.1971[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=12410 The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Stephen Steps Out]
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|Stephen Steps Out}}
- {{IMDb title|id=0014510}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121023004604/http://silenthollywood.com/stephenstepsout1923.html Lantern slide] at silenthollywood.com
- [http://www.moviemem.com/files/photos/STEPHENSTEPSOUTHR.jpg Long poster daybill]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen Steps Out}}
Category:American silent feature films
Category:Films directed by Joseph Henabery
Category:Lost American comedy films
Category:Silent American comedy films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films based on American novels
Category:1920s English-language films
Category:English-language comedy films
Category:Lost silent American films
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