Dorothy Mackaill Dishes the Dirt

Mostly forgotten Precode actress, Dorothy Mackaill, was an excellent source of witty quotes and ponderings on the wonders and eccentricities of her generation during the early 1930’s. If you flip through old movie magazines – mostly ones published in 1930 and 1931 – you will surly find at least one insightful remark from Mackaill. Despite her young age and lack of schooling, she was surprising succinct, perceptive and clever. Below is a few of her best bits:

“The modern girl is like the Lindbergh, built for speed. We have tremendous vitality of body and complete emancipation of mind. None of the old taboos…mean a damn to us. We don’t care.”

“Give the modern girl a job and she’ll all set and all right. Give her nothing to do but smoke cigarettes, loll about the house, play bridge, and think about sex – and no one would dare answer for the results.”  

“In order to be sophisticated, fledgings turn to their primer, the movies. Who has the good times, the swell clothes, the boyfriends, the jewels, the excitements, all the breaks? Why who but the Connie Bennets…the Crawfords, even the Mackaills. And why?...Not because we are portrayed as “nice girls” sitting at home with the old folks or practising the piano. No, because…we are smoking, drinking, dancing, being made love to, getting into and usually out of…passionate situations.”

                              “…to be called a nice girl is to be blasphemed and socially undone.”