Normand stars as a small-town girl who wants to be an actress. Through a trick, she wins a contest and goes to Hollywood to be a star. When the studio realizes the pictures sent in was not her, she's put in the wardrobe department. Choppy plot and rough transitions (heavy cutting?) don't help the story, but Normand is a winner. She's a cross between Harry Langdon and Giulietta Masina (especially in La Strada). Several very funny bits involving a lion and some gum. Her screen test is very funny. Ralph Graves is surprisingly good as a boy friend her follows her west. Graves didn't make it in talkies and usually played the stuffy best friend. But he's loose and funny here. Vernon Dent (from many Three Stooges shorts) is the jilted lover. The imposing Louise Carver is the wardrobe boss. George Nichols and Anna Hernandez play the parents. Normand remains a tragic Hollywood figure despite her huge stardom in the teens and early 20s and her work with Chaplin and Arbuckle. Her association with the still-unsolved murder of director, William Desmond Taylor, killed her career. She died in 1930 at 36 or 37. She made only a handful of films after this little gem. With Marie Dressler, Normand was one of the first cinema comediennes, and she is quite good in The Extra (as in screen extra) Girl. It sure looks like Normand in there with the lion and doing stunts off the back of a train. Remarkable. But Normand will be remembered by buffs for The Extra Girl and for the first comedy feature, Tillie's Punctured Romance.
Note: the grass widow, Belle Brown, was listed in the film credits as being played by Mary Mason. The IMDb lists her as played by Charlotte Mineau. Did Mineau use this other name?
Note: the grass widow, Belle Brown, was listed in the film credits as being played by Mary Mason. The IMDb lists her as played by Charlotte Mineau. Did Mineau use this other name?