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Trouping with Ellen
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| After visiting her mother for Sunday dinner, Ellen Llewellyn, a chorus girl, is late for the rehearsal of a Boston musical, but she is spared the wrath of the stage manager when the orchestra leader, Andy Owens, diverts his attention until she is in place. Andy has often proposed to Ellen but has always refused, for she feels that marriage to him would mean an uncertain and marginal existence. Ellen meets aristocratic, wealthy Tony Winterslip, who soon proposes to her; she turns him down also, knowing him to be unambitious and dependent upon his name and fortune. When Ellen catches pneumonia, Tony provides her with a nurse and then persuades her to convalesce at the family mansion. Ellen is bored by the dull routine of life in the Winterslip home, and Tony's grandmother, realizing that Ellen would never be happy with Tony, reunites her with Andy. They are now married, on the promise of a rewarding career for Andy, who has just sold a musical to Broadway. |
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 Helene Chadwick and Basil Rathbone |
Production started at Biograph Studios, New York City, around June 28, 1924. Rathbone was cast as the millionaire who proposed to Ellen, the chorus girl. The back stage scenes were filmed at Keith's Royal Theater in the Bronx (New York).
Released on October 5, 1924, Trouping with Ellen was the second picture produced by Eastern Productions.
"T. Hayes Hunter, the director, believes in real atmosphere when it comes to getting theatrical effects in the pictures, and he obtained a theater where just such chorus girls as the one played by Miss Chadwick appear. Added atmosphere was given by the employment of thirty chorus girls appearing in current New York revues. Half a dozen of them were from Ziegfeld Follies." —The Washington (DC) Daily News, December 20, 1924
| Fascinating Tale of Theatrical Life Should Please All Patrons Ellen Llewellyn, chorus girl, finds an ardent admirer in wealthy Tony Winterslip, of aristocratic family. Andy Owen, orchestra leader, proposes to her but is refused. Ellen is stricken with pneumonia and Tony provides a nurse and other comforts for her. He persuades her to go to his folk's home to recuperate. Ellen is well received but finds life at the Winterslips frightfully dull. Tony's grandmother, who realizes that the girl would never be happy as his wife, gets Andy on the phone and arranges a meeting between him and Ellen. The result is that she marries her faithful lover. This picture possesses universal appeal and should do satisfactory business wherever it is shown. A peep behind the scenes in theatrical life always has a certain amount of fascination for the average person and Trouping With Ellen offers one of the best back stage views the writer has ever seen, as well as developing a story replete with human interest and uncommonly well sustained suspense. As a general thing the chorus girl of the screen is represented as a distinctly jazzy type with an extremely artificial personality, so much so that it comes as quite a surprise when one of the profession is exploited as something entirely different. And Ellen, heroine of this tale, wins sympathy and admiration just because, although "of the stage," she is far from being "stagey" and impresses you as delightfully natural. The picture swings right into a lively gait in the opening reel, no time being lost in getting the real story started. Ellen pays a visit to her home town and mother, stays over for a Sunday dinner and consequently lands in Boston late for rehearsal. She is saved from the stage manager's wrath by her devoted swain, Andy Owens, the orchestra conductor, who delay the game in indulging in an argument with the boss, which lasts until Ellen is safely in place, a very neat touch which gets Andy in right with the audience and makes everyone hope he will win the girl in the end. The rehearsal shots are wonderfully true to life and bound to make a great impression on the fans. Other interesting situations are those in which Ellen walks through a rainstorm when Tony's auto stalls, catches pneumonia and is nursed back to health, finally going to her wealthy admirer's home to recuperate. Her aristocratic surroundings prove unbearably dull, but despite this, events are so cunningly shaped that one is never sure that honest Andy will be the successful over, until the finale. Helen Chadwick gives a fine performance and looks extremely attractive as Ellen, Mary Thurman contributing a clever characterization of her chum, Lil, and Gaston Glass adding fresh lustre to his laurels by a clean-cut, appealing portrayal of Andy. —George T. Pardy, Exhibitors Trade Review, December 6, 1924 |
Variety reported that Andy Owens's "wealthy rival is well-played by Basil Rathbone."
"The story is clever, the cast good and production everything to inspire genuine enjoyment." —Buffalo Courier, December 29, 1924
"Trouping with Ellen is a tale of the chorus girl as she really is, not as she is usually drawn; a Cinderella who is wise enough to know that long winter evenings at the palace would bore her and so, when the prince proffers matrimony, she declines, even in the face of his seventeen millions. Miss Chadwick's supporting cast is the most brilliant seen in many months. It includes Gaston Glass, as leading man, Basil Rathbone, Mary Thurman, Tyrone Power, Zena Keefe, Ernest Hilliard, Kate Blanke, Esther Banks and others of equal note." —The Independent Record, December 23, 1924
The following photos are from Trouping with Ellen, but Basil Rathbone does not appear in any of these photos.
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"This picture will please the average audience." —Photoplay, February 1925
"T. Hayes Hunter, who directed the photoplay, has given it an authentic theatrical atmosphere, and it is as different from the ordinary run of pictures dealing with this subject as the heroine is different from the accepted type of chorus girl." —Evening Vanguard (Venice, CA), November 24, 1924
"Helene Chadwick is a delight to the eye in Trouping with Ellen, the screen version of Earl Derr Biggers' Saturday Evening Post story. Never did she seem more beautiful and never has she had a better acting part. But Helene is only one of the many reasons why you should see this picture. The story, the cast, the clever titles, the beauty of the production are others." —Blackwell Journal-Tribune, December 14, 1924
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 two-page spread in magazine |
"A fascinating story on the life of an American stage girl with high ideals who, in desperate need, nearly makes a fatal mistake in marriage and who is saved through a trick inspired by an older woman's intuition. Trouping with Ellen is perhaps the most unusual photodrama dealing with theatrical life ever presented. It is as different from the ordinary run of screen plays dealing with this subject as Ellen Llewyellyn, the heroine, is different from the accepted type of chorus girl. Realistic in the presentation of the back stage and theatrical restaurant scenes, brilliant in its comedy, this photoplay handles the heart problems of a stage girl in a masterly manner." —The Daily News Leader, October 19, 1924
"A notable cast appears in support of Miss Chadwick in this picture, including Gaston Glass, Mary Thurman, Zeena Keefe, Tyrone Power, Riley Hatch, Basil Rathbone and John Tanzy." —Moving Picture World, August 1924
"Rathbone received good reviews for his performance." —Michael Druxman, Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films (1975)
 Biograph Studios, New York (where Eastern Productions were made) |
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"You can chalk this one up as a decidedly entertaining picture, one with numerous points of appeal for every member of the family." —Motion Picture News, October 11, 1924
"A chorus-girl comedy, which gives a new point to an ancient plot. Excellent sub-titles and a good cast. Bright entertainment." —Pictures and Picturegoer, March 1925
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Trouping with Ellen is not available on DVD, Blu-Ray or videotape. It appears to be a lost film.
