Young debutante Tommie Lou is unpopular. At her coming-out party, she turns to jazz antics to liven things up. After drinking punch spiked with alcohol (illegal at the time, as the film was made during Prohibition), she gets drunk and runs off to a road house with the husband of a friend. Nothing happens between them, but the action provokes a split between the husband and his wife. She contrives to get the couple back together, falling for the wife's divorce lawyer, and in the end everyone lives happily.
The film was made in the wake of the tremendous hit Flaming Youth. Originally intended to reunite the cast and crew of Flaming Youth, not everyone was available. The film was made as a comedy with dramatic undertones, while Flaming Youth had been a drama with comic aspects. To cash in on the popularity of Colleen's "flapper" character, the word "flapper" made it into the title. An additional draw was that the film showed a lot of skin.[2]Sydney Chaplin was, of course, Charlie's older half-brother.
Reception
The film was generally well-received as good light entertainment: "...you have been entertained and not caused to think too much.”[3] The film did not match the popularity of Flaming Youth: an accounting of the earnings of Colleen's pictures dated December 31, 1928 lists total earnings of Flaming Youth at $798,777 by 1928; The Perfect Flapper earned $531,008.56.[4]
Preservation
A print of The Perfect Flapper is preserved at the Library of Congress along with a trailer.[5]
^“Modern Girl Craves More Attention,” by Alma Whitaker, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1924, page B22.
^“Why a Flapper Flaps Herein Is Explained,” by Mae Tinee, Chicago Daily Tribune, June 10, 1924, page 21.
^Legal File 13100A, Warner Bros. Archives, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California.
^Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, published by The American Film Institute, c.1978
