Lights of Old Broadway

THE LIGHTS OF OLD Broadway stars the great Marion Davies in a dual role. She plays a set of twins separated at birth. One becomes Anne, a society girl in New York; the other is Fely, an Irish toughie who somehow lands on the musical stage. She meets the suave Dirk (Conrad Nagel) who is Anne's half brother. Anne's family also owns the slum in which the Irish families live.

As with Davies' terrific LITTLE OLD NEW YORK, this story is also set against an historical background, involving the story of the coming of electricity to the city. So along with show biz figures like Tony Pastor, Weber and Fields, etc we also see Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Edison. Anne's family has a lot of money in gas, but somehow Fely's father has stock in electricity. The snooty family tries to keep Nagel away from the low-born Fely.

Davies is terrific playing the blonde Fely (she does a few stage numbers) and the dark-haired Anne. Davies make a solid comic entrance as Fely (minus a tooth) balancing herself on a stack of tables and chairs and defying the mob the city kids.

Nagel is fine as the hero. Both Karl Dane and George K. Arthur show up in small parts.