Public Domain
The Extra Girl
1923 · Mack Sennett Comedies · Dir. F. Richard Jones
Sue Graham is a small town girl who wants to be a motion picture star. She wins a contract when a picture of a very pretty girl is sent to a studio instead of her picture. When she arrives in Hollywood, the mistake is discovered and she starts working in the props department of the studio instead. Her parents then come out to California and invest some money with a very shifty individual.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The Extra Girl, starring Mabel Normand, was released in the United States on October 28, 1923. According to the current US copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 304), all works published or registered before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain.
Because this film was published in 1923, its maximum possible term of 95 years expired no later than the end of 2018. As of January 1, 2019, the film became part of the public domain regardless of whether the copyright was originally renewed or not. This is an automatic transition based purely on the date of publication under the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and subsequent public domain day entries.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf
- https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/8936
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939)
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2019/
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.