Tip Toes

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Herbert Wilcox, 1928

Three penniless music hall artistes take a suite at a fancy hotel, where the girl pretends to be an heiress in pursuit of an English Lord.

Tip Toes (Dorothy Gish) flanked by Uncle Hen (Will Rogers) and Al (Nelson Keys)

Credits

Director Production Company Producer Original Play Photography	Herbert Wilcox British National Pictures Herbert Wilcox Guy Bolton Roy Overbaugh
Cast: Dorothy Gish (Tip Toes Kaye), Will Rogers (Uncle Hen Kaye), Nelson Keys (Al Kaye), Miles Mander (Rollo Stevens), Dennis Hoey (Hotelier).
6,286 feet, silent, black & white.

Why are we so keen to find it?

Mainly to see if its possible to challenge the negative reactions of contemporary critics - even the usually sales-oriented Bioscope calls it 'feeble'. It probably isn't a classic, but the film features has a very respected director, Herbert Wilcox, and top-class performers such as Dorothy Gish and Will Rogers. A competent crew and a reasonable budget should have guaranteed a reasonable effort - what went wrong? Or were the critics - as they could be - too harsh?

What's it about?

Tip Toes (Dorothy Gish) and her two male partners do an audition for a music hall manager. The men are turned down, but Tip Toes is offered a chance. But she sticks loyally by her friends and in desparation they take a suite at a fancy hotel while they try to turn their fortunes around. As cover, Tip Toes is anounced to be an heiress and as such she engages the interest of a young peer while her two companions try to keep out of trouble.

Last seen?

Not since original release.

What else do we know about it?

This was last release in a four-picture deal between Herbert Wilcox and Paramount to star the great American actress, Dorothy Gish. As her sister Lillian went from strength to strength in classic pictures such as Victor Sjöstrom's The Scarlet Letter (1926) and The Wind (1928), Dorothy was sent off to London. At first all was well, and her first picture for Wilcox, Nell Gwyn (1925), pretty and meaningless, exactly fitted the American vision of England and did unexpectedly well at the box office. The American entrepreneur producer J.D. Williams arranged for three more pictures starring Gish - he may really have been sounding out British product to enable Paramount to fill its quota requirements with the imminent passing of the Cinematograph Films Act. The next three films were more hit and miss, although no one could fault Miss Gish. This is certainly borne out by the two surviving pictures, Nell Gwyn and Madame Pompadour (1927), in both of which she is delightful. Sandwiched between those two was London (1926, also featured in the BFI's Most Wanted list), which had some critical support, unlike Tip Toes. No writer is listed for either of the missing films.

Does anything survive?

There are a handful of stills, a shooting script with annotations, a music cue sheet and a programme from the New Gaiety Cinema, plus a couple of contemporary reviews - see below.

Reviews

Even The Bioscope (24 May 1928) was tepid about it - it was clearly felt that the deception of the hotel management by the main character was not the behaviour expected of a heroine. Variety (8 June 1928), meanwhile, was excoriating: "This picture is not only a libel on Americans, but on American vaudeville and its artists... the American can forever throw 'Tip Toes' back in the faces of any foreigner who may say that American pictures furnish illusions." The reviewer added that "Miss Gish looks nice at times and the other times maybe blamed on the English" - well no, actually: all four Gish vehicles were shot by legendary American cinematographer Roy Overbaugh. So there!

Bryony Dixon, Curator (Silent Film), BFI National Archive

You can find more about British films of the late 1920s, including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.