Stephen Steps Out
1923 film by Joseph Henabery
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."
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."
01Plot
As described in a film magazine review, 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.
02Cast
- 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
03Preservation
With no prints of Stephen Steps Out located in any film archives, it is a lost film.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Stephen Steps Out”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Stephen Steps Out lobby card.jpg by Paramount Pictures, Public domain
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