From The Scoop: Ella Cinders

From the June 9 issue of Gemstone Publishing's The Scoop:
Though the fairy tale of Cinderella has been reworked ad infinitum over the years, the early 20th century saw one of the most unique tellings ever to emerge in 1925 comic strip Ella Cinders. Creators Charles Plumb and Bill Conselman created an eccentric stepchild with dark, short-cropped hair and wide set eyes in Ella. Her stepmother and stepsisters are, of course, evil (Lotta and Prissy Pill). And readers tend to empathize with the sprightly heroine immediately.

She became so popular that in just one year, producer John McCormick and director Alfred E. Green, decided to bring her story to the big screen.

The quirky and incomparable Colleen Moore was cast in the role--perhaps for her impeccable comic timing and quite possibly for her bankability (In 1926, Moore was voted America's number one box office attraction in a poll of motion picture theatre owners).

But what made this Cinderella so different than the ones before her and the ones who followed? First, she isn't beautiful--and yet, she wins a contest judging beauty. She is clumsy, awkward and flawed, yet she wins her "Prince Charming" (a local ice delivery man named Waite Lifter--who turns out to be a famous college football star and heir to a fortune).

Not only are the plot twists more down-to-earth than the lofty fairy tale with which most are familiar, but the Ella Cinders film interprets the successful strip silently. The silent film era, like no other screen epoch since, allows for its characters' personalities to emerge solely through the power of expression. Moore is masterful in breathing life and energy into Cinderella. Here, she isn't a passive participant, assisted by a fairy godmother. She's a plain jane who proactively pursues her own fate.

Though the film's plot was critically panned, the perception of "Cinderella" was forever altered by the emergence of Ella Cinders.

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