Enlighten Thy Daughter
Cast & Crew
John Varley
Herbert Rawlinson
Beth Barton
Charles Eaton
Claire Whitney
Edmund Macdonald
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Cousins Lillian and Ruth Stevens return home from a "smart" girls' school. Ruth gets a warm welcome from her mother, brother David and her father, a doctor who cancels a talk at a medical society to be with her; however, Lillian's father, a pompous professional reformer, leaves her to broadcast about the proper rearing of children, and her mother goes to a bridge party. Lillian visits Ruth's family and then goes with Margie, a school friend, to meet two boys at a Greenwich Village nightclub. Lillian, whose parents have not taught her about sex, is taken in by the glamour and gaiety of the club. She gets drunk and dances with Gerald Winthrop, the profligate son of a Wall Street broker, and ends the evening necking with him in the back of an automobile. Lillian falls in love with Gerald, and one night, after a party, they are stranded in a rain storm after his car gets stuck. As they spend the night together in a tourist camp cabin, her father lectures and her mother dallies with Dr. Palmer, a man she met while playing bridge. Soon Gerald loses interest in Lillian, who prefers a quieter life than he likes. When he meets Ruth, Gerald is attracted to her, and after he proposes, Ruth accepts believing him when he says that he and Lillian are only casual friends. Lillian, however, is pregnant and miserable. When she confronts Gerald, he tells her that he loves Ruth. Lillian's mother, worried about her mental health, sends Ruth's father, Dr. Richard Stevens, to see her, and he inadvertently discovers her condition and learns about Gerald. To protect Ruth, Lillian refuses to name Gerald, who refuses Dr. Stevens' request that he break his engagement to Ruth. Because of medical ethics, Dr. Stevens is unable to interfere. Lillian's mother overhears Dr. Stevens argue with Lillian, and when she tries to make Lillian name the man, Lillian runs into her room and drinks poison. Dr. Stevens attempts to save her, but Lillian dies. When Gerald's involvement is revealed, Ruth breaks their engagement and Lillian's father attempts to strangle him. Broken in spirit, Gerald leaves, and David, who had grown fond of Lillian, follows him. As the family mourns and Lillian's parents condemn themselves in thought for their neglect, David returns and announces that he has killed Gerald.
Director
John Varley
Cast
Herbert Rawlinson
Beth Barton
Charles Eaton
Claire Whitney
Edmund Macdonald
Russell Hicks
Ara Gerald
Miriam Battista
Jack Arnold
Eunice Reed
Wesley Barry
Audrey Maple
Lillian Walker
Robert Emmett Keane
Ruth Denning
Bob Lively
Crew
Ivan Abramson
Harry D. Belock
Anthony Continer
Bob Gerow
Lou Herscher
Lou Herscher
Arthur Hoerl
Betty Laidlaw
Betty Laidlaw
Bob Lively
Bob Lively
James Mattee
William E. Miller
Robert Mintz
Charles Nasca
Nick Rogalli
Patricia Rooney
Armand Schettini
Moret Shea
Allen Taub
Paul Vincent And His New Yorkers
Louis Weiss
Louis Weiss
Lyman J. Wiggin
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Miriam Battista and Wesley Barry were both child stars in silent films. Lillian Walker, who had been a star of the Vitagraph Co. of America in the 1910s, ended her retirement with this film, her first "talkie." Claire Whitney and Robert Emmett Keane were married; this was their first film together. According to the film's pressbook, the stage show in the film included several singing and dancing numbers from "Trini's," which was known as one of Greenwich Village's most popular clubs. According to a Film Daily news item, dated August 25, 1932, filming was scheduled to begin on September 8, 1932. The filming, done in Westchester County, New York at the Photocolor Studios at Irvington-on-the-Hudson, attracted some of Westchester's "smartest debs" and their boyfriends, who accepted the invitation to be in the cabaret and party scenes, according to the pressbook, on the condition that their names not appear on the film. This film was a remake of the 1917 film of the same name produced by Ivan Film Productions, Inc., directed and written by Ivan Abramson and starring Zena Keefe (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.1172).
