Gloria Swanson is "Manhandled"

Glamorous Gloria Swanson as a gum chewing New York showgirl sporting a bobbed hairstyle? That was her character in Paramount's "Manhandled" (1924), a breezy romance directed by Allan Dwan. Swanson chose this career departure and delivered an excellent performance as Tessie McGuire, a young woman yearning for more out of life than the basement of Thorndyke's Department Store. Tessie is so counter to Swanson's typical glamour roles that it is surprising to see the star looking frumpy, furiously chewing gum and crudely sticking it wherever.

Dwan opens "Manhandled" with a striking visual sequence. It is quitting time at the department store. A title card states "Tired feet" and the camera shows the march of workers' legs descending a stairway. The next title card reads "Tired hands" and those hands are punching time cards. Tessie is introduced traveling home on the subway and this is a long scene with Tessie crushed in a sea of humanity. Her feet are stomped on, her purse drops and spills open, her hat crushed and ruined and a fresh guy winks at her. When exiting, Tessie struggles against the incoming wave and is bounced like a pinball. In preparing for this scene, Dwan ordered Swanson to experience the subway (she had never ridden on one) and she got stuck making four roundtrips before escaping. Dwan filmed most of the sequence at the studio.

After a hard day's work, Tessie wants a night out but boyfriend Jimmy (Tom Moore) has to work. He is a mechanic by day, taxi driver by night and inventor of a gas saving device he hopes will make a fortune for them. When Jimmy mentions marriage, Tessie replies "Marriage isn't for people like us." Then she glances out the window into other tenements and witnesses depressing scenes of unhappy marriages. The next day at the store, the shopgirl is spotted by the store owner's son Chip and his friend, a famous writer who comments "There's a little rebel I'd like to cultivate."