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The Skyrocket
The Skyrocket
	Film poster
Directed by	Marshall Neilan
Written by	Benjamin Glazer (adaptation and scenario)
Based on	The Skyrocket; by Adela Rogers St. Johns
Starring	Peggy Hopkins Joyce
Cinematography	David Kesson
Production; company	Celebrity Pictures
Distributed by	Associated Exhibitors
Release date	February 14, 1926;
Running time	80 min. (8 reels, 7350 ft.)
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Skyrocket is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by Marshall Neilan and starring Peggy Hopkins Joyce. The film was based on the 1925 novel of the same name by Adela Rogers St. Johns and scripted by Benjamin Glazer.^[1]

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[2] young Sharon Kimm and Mickey live in the tenements and are childhood chums until they are separated. A few years later, Sharon becomes one of the bathing beauties on a comedy film lot, but because she attracts the director, the female star becomes jealous and causes her to be discharged. Dark days follow for her and Mickey, who is endeavoring to become a scenario writer. The young woman attracts the attention of a world-famed director and her career rises like a skyrocket to fame and position. Her love for her childhood chum Mickey is given a shock from the effects of flattery upon her as she acts like a star. At the height of her luxurious and exotic life, the skyrocket bursts and her film career comes to a sudden end. Through her suffering the real woman in her is reborn and true love bursts forth. There is a happy ending for Sharon, who has learned her lesson.

Cast

Gladys Brockwell as Rose Kimm (prologue)
Charles West as Edward Kimm (prologue)
Muriel McCormac as Sharon Kimm as a girl (prologue)
Junior Coghlan as Mickey as a boy (prologue)
Peggy Hopkins Joyce as Sharon Kimm
Owen Moore as Mickey Reid
Gladys Hulette as Lucia Morgan
Paulette Duval as Mildred Rideout
Lilyan Tashman as Ruby Wright
Earle Williams as William Dvorak
Bernard Randall as Sam Hertzfelt
Sammy Cohen as Morris Pincus
Bull Montana as Film Comedian
Arnold Gray as Stanley Craig
Ben Hall as Peter Stanton
Nick Dandau as Vladmir Strogin
Hank Mann as Comedy Producer
Joan Standing as Sharon's Secretary
Eugenie Besserer as Wardrobe Mistress
Edward Dillon as the Comedy Director
Hank Mann as the Comedy Producer

Production

Director Marshall Neilan was announced by Photoplay as the director in July, 1925.^[3] Peggy Hopkins Joyce was a one-time Ziegfeld Follies showgirl who became a media figure in the late 1910s and early 1920s for dating, marrying, and divorcing wealthy men, acquiring a sizable collection of expensive jewelry and furs and wearing fashionable clothes.^[4] The Skyrocket was Joyce's first full-length feature and was intended as a vehicle to launch her acting career as she was largely known only for her colorful personal life. The film's distributor, Associated Exhibitors, launched a massive publicity campaign to promote the film.^[5] While Joyce earned mainly positive reviews for her performance, the film barely earned back its budget in box office returns.^[6] She would appear in only one more film, International House (1933), before fading into obscurity.^[7]

Reception

Photoplay magazine called Joyce one of the six best performances of the month for its January, 1926 edition. They further noted that she was "the surprise of the picture".^[8]

Preservation

No prints of The Skyrocket are located in any film archives,^[9] making it a lost film.

Gallery of stills

References

^ The Skyrocket at silentera.com
^ "New Pictures: The Skyrocket". Exhibitors Herald. 25 (08). Chicago, Illinois: Exhibitors Herald Company: 128. May 8, 1926. Retrieved April 11, 2024. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Advertising Section". Photoplay. July 1925. p. 107. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
^ Freudenheim, Milt (June 23, 1957). "The Legend of Peggy Hopkins Joyce: She Collected Men, Chinchilla, Diamonds". The Toledo Blade. p. 2. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
^ Rosenblum, Constance (2000). Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life and Times of Peggy Hopkins Joyce. Metropolitan Books. pp. 148–149. ISBN 0-805-05089-2.
^ Rosenblum 2000 p. 151
^ Gabler, Neal (2011). Life: The Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality. Random House LLC. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-307-77325-8.
^ "The Six Best Pictures of the Month". Photoplay. January 1926. p. 47. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
^ The Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Skyrocket