The Global Archive For Devotees of A Pair of Sexes: Cult Guide

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Trail of the Rails perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

Mary Murdock, forced by circumstances to choose between the streets and theft, is caught breaking into the home of Robert Howard. He is inclined to listen to her plea for leniency, but, urged by his cruel and selfish wife, lets the law take its course. After serving her term she is unable to secure employment, due to her prison record, and seeks the two who are responsible for her plight. She finds Howard despondent over his wife's running away with another man and about to commit suicide. To the man who wanted to die the girl who wanted to live makes a proposition, to use his fortune to better prison conditions and lending those with a prison record a helping hand. She offers her own knowledge as her half of the partnership. He accepts and the plan proves so successful that Howard is appointed warden of a large prison. But matters sail along too smoothly and cleanly to suit the corrupt political ring and they start a blackmailing scheme against Howard. Mary's intuition senses a solution to Howard's vindication and she matches her brains against the political boss and his henchmen and clears the name of the man she loves and reaps her first real happiness as her reward.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

A married man suddenly inherits a fortune and finally has enough money to live his dream of becoming an artist. He moves his wife and daughter to a big expensive house and starts living the life of a "bohemian" artist. When he begins an affair with another woman, his wife leaves him and his daughter Alicia breaks off her engagement to a wealthy doctor and becomes involved in the "free love" movement espoused by one Herbert Rawlins. Rawlins, however, has his own plans for Alicia, and they don't involve "sharing" her with anyone else. Complications ensue.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Her Life and His perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

Unable to agree on the man responsible for the plays commonly attributed to William Shakespeare, Miss Gray, who favors Francis Bacon, and Lieutenant Stanton, who accepts Shakespeare as the author, break off their engagement. Stanton then arranges to be transferred to the Mexican border, and while fighting there is badly wounded. When she hears the news about Stanton's condition, Miss Gray faints, and then dreams that she has been transported to Elizabethan times. Then, after Bacon falls in love with her, she discovers his obsessive jealousy of Shakespeare, and learns that he has bribed a courtier to accuse him of stealing Bacon's plays. As a result, when Miss Gray wakes up, she realizes that she has championed the wrong poet, and so she immediately is reconciled with Stanton, who soon recovers from his wound.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Divorce and the Daughter perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

A young girl is kept ignorant of her mother by her aunt. After her aunt dies, the girl is used by crooks and arrested. In prison she meets a kindly woman, who is married to a judge. The woman, unbeknownst to the girl, is her mother, and adopts her. The companion of the deceased aunt, in the midst of a ball, denounces the mother and reveals her secret to the judge and guests. The judge will not forgive his wife, so the mother and daughter leave and work among the slums to benefit humanity. Eventually, the judge relents, and seeks his wife for forgiveness, but he is too late.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

Margery Carew and her widowed sister, Anna Prentice, find work in a brokerage firm, James Gray, the junior partner, soon falls in love with Margery, while his boss, William Cleves, does his best to seduce Anna. In fighting off William's advances, Anna kills him, but Margery, hoping to protect Anna's child, takes the blame and then escapes to the West, after which she gets married and begins a new life. Following a lengthy search, the police manage to track her down, but Margery still refuses to save herself by telling the truth about the murder, even though Anna and her child died several years before in a car crash. Finally, however, because he still loves her and because he has been stricken by a deadly disease that will kill him in a few months, James confesses to the murder, thereby freeing Margery to return to her husband.

Dir: Frederick Sullivan

After learning that his daughter Eleanor has been stricken blind, artist John Grayson dies of grief before he can complete his masterpiece, leaving her in their housekeeper's care. Artist Burton Lester rents Grayson's studio and a close friendship grows between him and Eleanor. Companionship ripens into love and when Burton learns that Eleanor's sight can be restored through an operation, he arranges for it. Upon recovering her sight, Eleanor learns that Burton has been married. Embittered by his deception, Eleanor leaves at once for New York where she finishes her father's masterpiece, winning renown as an artist. Meanwhile, Frank Hargreave, a young man with high morals, falls in love with her. When Hargreave's frivolous sister Vera loses her necklace while visiting a cabaret, she turns to Burton for help. Burton's reappearance forces Eleanor to confess all to Frank who then shuns her. Furious at both men, Eleanor is about to leave by train when she meets Vera with Burton. She stops to warn her of Burton's capriciousness in love, but learns that he is only trying to help Vera retrieve her necklace. A reconciliation is effected and all ends well as Eleanor and Burton announce their engagement.