New Brooms

{{short description|1925 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox film | name = New Brooms | image = New Brooms advertisement.jpg | alt = Illustrated advertisement of a woman in a red dress sweeping as tiny men float and fall around her | caption = Advertisement for the film | director = [[William C. deMille]] | producer = {{Plainlist| * [[Adolph Zukor]] * [[Jesse Lasky]] }} | writer = [[Clara Beranger]] (scenario) | based_on = {{Based on|''New Brooms: a Comedy in Three Acts'' (play)|[[Frank Craven]]}}<ref name="aficat" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Craven |first=Frank |title=New Brooms: a Comedy in Three Acts |location=New York, NY |publisher=[[Samuel French, Inc.]] |date=1925 |oclc=3209381}}</ref> | starring = {{Plainlist| * [[Bessie Love]] * [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]] * [[Phyllis Haver]] }} | cinematography = [[L. Guy Wilky]] | studio = [[Famous Players–Lasky]] | distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1925|10|12|U.S.}} | runtime = 6 [[reel#Motion picture terminology|reels]]; 5,443 feet<ref name="motionpicturenew00moti_9" /> | country = United States | language = [[Silent film|Silent]] (English [[intertitle]]s) }} '''''New Brooms''''' is a 1925 American [[silent film|silent]] [[romantic comedy]]<ref name="motionpicturenew00moti_9" /> directed by [[William C. deMille]] and starring [[Bessie Love]], [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]], and [[Phyllis Haver]]. It was produced by [[Famous Players–Lasky]] and distributed by [[Paramount Pictures]]. It is based on [[Frank Craven]]'s 1924 Broadway play of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Carl |title=Progressive Silent Film List: ''New Brooms'' |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/N/NewBrooms1925.html |website=Silent Era |date=June 20, 2011 |access-date=November 30, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=''New Brooms'' as Produced on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre, November 17, 1924, 88 Performances |url=http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=6479 |website=IBDb.com |access-date=November 30, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Paramount Pictures 1925–29 |url=http://www.silentsaregolden.com/arneparamountpictures.html |website=Arne Andersen's Lost Film Files |access-date=February 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611052907/http://silentsaregolden.com/arneparamountpictures.html |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Plot== The wealthy Bates family owns a profitable broom factory, but father Thomas Sr. is criticized by his son, Thomas Jr., for his outdated business practices. Thomas Sr. agrees to let his son run the business for a year.

The family also takes in Geraldine Marsh, the daughter of a family friend who has fallen on hard times. Thomas Jr. falls for Geraldine and breaks off his engagement to Florence Levering, but then suspects that his father is also in love with Geraldine and sends his father and Geraldine away.

After his year of managing the company ended, he had been proven an unsuccessful businessman. His father and Geraldine are allowed to return, and when he sees that they were never in love, he marries Geraldine and returns control of the factory to his father.<ref name="aficat">{{Cite book |editor-last=Munden |editor-first=Kenneth W. |title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilminst00amer |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=[[R.R. Bowker|R.R. Bowker Company]] |date=1971 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanfilminst00amer/page/540 540] |oclc=664500075}}</ref><ref name="motionpicturenew00moti_9">{{Cite magazine |title=Pre-Release Reviews of Features |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew00moti_9/page/n879 |magazine=Motion Picture News |date=October 24, 1925 |page=1946}}</ref>

==Cast== {{Cast listing| * [[Bessie Love]] as Geraldine Marsh * [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]] as Thomas Bates Jr. * [[Phyllis Haver]] as Florence Levering * [[Robert McWade]] as Thomas Bates Sr. * [[Fred Walton (actor)|Fred Walton]] as Williams * [[Josephine Crowell]] as Margaret * [[Larry Steers]] as George Morrow * [[James Neill (actor)|James Neill]] as Kneeland }}

==Release and reception== Given the film's title, theaters reported some difficulty attracting audiences without incorporating broom-themed displays.<ref name="movpicwor77movi-n415" /> Such displays did seem to prove successful.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Newest Brooms |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n229 |magazine=Moving Picture World |date=November 21, 1925 |page=256}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Rodney Bush Used Compo Bord for His New Brooms |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n623 |magazine=Moving Picture World |date=December 19, 1925 |page=666}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Making a Clean Sweep with New Brooms for New Brooms |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n755 |magazine=Moving Picture World |date=December 26, 1925 |page=803}}</ref>

The film received positive reviews.<ref name="movpicwor77movi-n415">{{Cite magazine |editor-last=Van Buren Powell |editor-first=A. |title=Straight from the Shoulder Reports |url=https://archive.org/details/movpicwor77movi/page/n415 |magazine=Moving Picture World |date=December 5, 1925 |page=446}}</ref>

==Preservation== With no prints of ''New Brooms'' located in any film archives, it is considered a [[lost film]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Silent Feature Film Database: ''New Brooms'' |url=https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7831/ |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=March 21, 2024}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb title|0016151}} * {{AFI film|10948}} * {{TCMDb title|495933}} * [http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/new-brooms-1925-silent-comedy-herald-bessie Poster] at WorthPoint

[[Category:1925 lost films]] [[Category:1925 romantic comedy films]] [[Category:1925 films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American films based on plays]] [[Category:American silent feature films]] [[Category:Films directed by William C. deMille]] [[Category:1925 American films]] [[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]] [[Category:1925 English-language films]] [[Category:Lost American silent romantic comedy films]]