Underground Favorites Parallel to the Artistry of A Soul Without Wi...

Dir: Travers Vale

On the promise of marriage, Sylvia Smith, a simple girl from Lone Meadows, follows her lover to the city only to discover that he already has a wife. While wandering along the docks, Sylvia stumbles onto a suicide note written by Fitzhugh Castleton, a wealthy gentleman who has planted the note to avoid a loveless marriage. Rather than go back to Lone Meadows humiliated, Sylvia pays Crosby, a convicted forger, to impersonate Castleton, forge his name in a marriage ceremony, then disappear. Once Sylvia installs herself in the Castleton mansion, Castleton returns from a sea voyage and, disguised by a long beard, hires on as the gardener. Castleton soon becomes enamored of the impostor widow and she falls in love with him, but neither one will admit his deception to the other. When Crosby shows up and demands blackmail money, Sylvia slips away to the country. Through the jealous interference of Crosby's wife, Castleton discovers the truth about Sylvia and goes to Lone Meadows to marry her.

Dir: Travers Vale

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Sally in Our Alley perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Sally McGill, a little Irish girl, brought up in a particularly sordid section, is compelled to work to support her entire family. Ben Blaney, the young foreman where she works, loves little Sally. Mrs. Rockwell, wealthy and childless, finds joy in taking a limited number of the poorest children to her country home each summer, and she selects those whom she will take. While visiting the lower East Side, which is distinguished by the name of "Pigtail Alley," she meets Sally and impulsively asks her to go along to earn her board and keep by caring for and helping with the children. Sally is overjoyed. Ben Blaney, however, proposes to Sally and is rejected. Mrs. Rockwell's niece, Isabelle, is jealous of Sally and takes a violent dislike to her. Sally's ambition is to become a refined lady like those about her, and she is attracted to Paul Taylor, but knows she is inferior to him. Isabelle succeeds in having Sally discharged. She then goes to work in a millinery store where she has opportunities to learn the refined ways she so admires, and joins a library to study on this subject. Mrs. Rockwell, in need of a maid, seeks little Sally out and offers her the position, and she again meets Paul, who proposes to her on her way home one evening, but she, realizing the great social gulf between them, does not consent and tells him he must never see her again. She leaves Mrs. Rockwell's employment to become an artist's model and because she pledged Mrs. Rockwell to secrecy about her new address, Paul goes to her mother, who, believing there is a possibility of a rich marriage, gives him Sally's address. Paul waits for Sally and escorts her home, standing in the doorway for a chat. Ben sees them just as Paul is embracing Sally and in a rage strikes Paul down. Later, when Ben learns that Paul has asked for Sally in marriage, he tells Sally that they are not made of the same clay, and that she has outgrown "Pigtail Alley," and he hopes that she will be happy with Paul. She goes to Paul and he holds her in his arms and finishes the sentence he started in the hallway, which Ben interrupted, "When do we start for South America?"

Dir: Travers Vale

During a raid on a gambling establishment run by her father, Cosmo Lester, Diana Lester rescues Hugh Carton, a member of the English Parliament and a candidate for the Cabinet. Hugh gratefully offers Diana a position as his sister's companion, and soon, the two fall desperately in love. Diana's happiness is threatened, however, when she learns that Hugh is married to a woman who will neither live with him nor divorce him. Diana becomes Hugh's mistress for a time, but his afternoon visits with her cause him to neglect his work. To save Hugh's career, his sister urges Diana to leave him, whereupon the unhappy girl returns to her father. She eventually accepts the marriage proposal of her old friend, Phil Duran, but before the wedding, she suffers a breakdown. When Hugh visits her with the news that his wife has granted him a divorce, however, she regains her health and good spirits, and is joined to the man she loves.

Dir: Travers Vale

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

When a Southern belle chooses one suitor over another, the loser plots revenge on his rival by causing him to desert the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Dir: Travers Vale

After John Cuddlestone, an officer in the Queen's regiment, is accused by his brother Andrew of cheating at cards, he leaves England in humiliation. In India, he marries a Hindu woman, but shortly after their son is born, John is killed in a tiger hunt. Young Lorin is placed in the care of Buddhist priests, and on his twenty-first birthday, he is released from the temple and given his father's papers. Learning of John's disgrace, Lorin is filled with the desire for revenge and immediately sets out for England. Nan, a girl whom he saved from slavery, resolves to follow the man she loves and steals the sacred eye of Buddha, a precious gem, to pay for her passage. In England, Lorin earns renown in society circles as a swami. One of his clients is Andrew's ward, Lady Elsie Drillingcourt, whose fortune Andrew is rapidly squandering. Lorin catches his uncle cheating at cards, and when the old man realizes the swami's identity, he dies of shock. Lady Elsie recovers her money, while Nan, who has been pursued by angry Buddhist priests, returns the sacred gem and then journeys back to India as Lorin's wife.

Dir: Travers Vale

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Girl of the Sunny South perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Ilda Barosky, a Jewess whose father was killed by Russian soldiers, is a violin student in love with Alexis Nazimoff, a son of the Russian aristocracy. When Alexis' father arranges a marriage of convenience between his son and Olga Karischeff, the daughter of the ambitious minister of police, Ilda, asked to play "God Save the Czar" at the betrothal celebration, refuses, and is whipped before the entire assembly. Alexis rushes in and rescues her from his father's wrath and then writes a letter to the Karischeffs, terminating his engagement to their daughter. In retaliation, the minister of police, who is being forced to resign, sentences both Ilda and Alexis to ten years in Siberia as his last official act. In Siberia, the couple attempt to escape, but are caught and are facing a firing squad when Count Nazimoff, who has assumed Karischeff's position as minister of police, arrives with a pardon. Ilda and Alexis return home, and the count, penitent, finally grants them his blessings.

Dir: Travers Vale

Twin sisters Fanny and Evelyn Craig are unaware that their stepfather, Micah Parrish, is a fake spiritualist until his lack of money forces them to return home from boarding school. Evelyn eagerly assists Parrish and his even more unscrupulous partner, Esau Brand, while Fanny, disgusted, leaves home to become lawyer Bruce Taunton's secretary. Following the death of his mother at a séance, Bruce vows to place the city's fake clairvoyants behind bars, but when Fanny is killed on the day she was to marry Bruce, he becomes unbalanced. Seeing an opportunity to stop the lawyer's crusade, Brand forces the reluctant Evelyn to appear to Bruce each evening as Fanny's spirit, but his threat of shooting himself so that he might join her causes her to reveal the deception. Brand finally is released, while Bruce finds consolation in Evelyn's love.

Dir: Travers Vale

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

Told by her aunt Annabelle that she will be disinherited unless she earns her own living for a year, party going Sybil Drew sets out for New York, armed only with $125 and a sincere determination to succeed. Relaxing in the Plaza Hotel lobby, Dr. Ross Alger catches sight of Sybil at the registration desk and is strongly attracted to her, but because of her faltering manner, he begins to suspect that she is a crook. Following a difficult search for work, Sybil becomes a companion to the eccentric Oleander Berwick, who lives in the apartment above Ross's quarters. Although Ross's attraction has turned into love, circumstantial evidence convinces him that Sybil is a thief, and the situation becomes even worse for her when Miss Berwick's nephew Paul tries to seduce her. Miss Berwick dismisses Sybil, who soon afterwards is hit by a taxi. Mistaking her identity, a nurse has the girl taken to the home of Mrs. Alva Penfield, who operates a disreputable gambling establishment. Following several more adventures, Ross rescues Sybil and finally, realizing that she is not a crook, proposes to her.

Dir: Travers Vale

The Grand Duke Alexis has been happy with his wife, Lola, formerly the queen of the St. Petersburg ballet, and their baby daughter, Vasta. But the lowering cloud that has always hung over them through the refusal of the Russian Court to recognize their marriage breaks when the Duke learns there is an intrigue against his wife's life. She makes her escape at midnight and, powerless to do anything, Alexis is forced to see his wife pass out of his life. The baby is given to Marta Antonovitch, in charge of the girls at the Imperial Ballet School. Years later Vasta is the most apt pupil at the school. Her father comes to see her often and is deeply affected by her resemblance to her mother. The relationship is kept secret, but when he is ordered to the south for his health he gives last instructions that she be well cared for. Michael Pavloff, the impresario for the Russian Ballet, who has discovered the duke's secret, goes to the school to choose the dancers to be sent by the government to Paris. He takes a liking to Vasta, but Marta refuses to allow the girl to go when he chooses her for deportation. The girl frets over the refusal, disguises herself as a boy and changes places with a youth who had not wanted to go. In Paris Lola, despite the sorrow of the changing years, holds sway over men's hearts. Pavloff is an ardent admirer of hers, but lately he has been thinking more of Vasta. Richard Moraino, a young artist commissioned to paint the portraits of the Russian Ballet, is attracted by Vasta. Their courtship progresses and one afternoon while they are having tea together, Lola and Pavloff are seated at the next table. Both women feel an interest in the other and Lola is startled when Pavloff tells her he has discovered she is the daughter of the Grand Duke Alexis and that he intends to get her for his own. One night during the performance the electrician is killed and the stage darkened. When the lights are turned on again they discover Vasta has disappeared. Pavloff has taken the girl and locks her in his apartment. To divert suspicion he gives a dinner party. During the revelry Lola, who is a member of the party hears a half-smothered cry and, guided by it cornea to the locked door behind which Vasta is concealed. She stays until the last guest has departed and then appeals to the liquor-dazed Pavloff, She secures the key to the room and hurries back, cautioning Vasta to make haste, but Pavloff comes upon them and seizes Vasta in his arms. Lola then shoots him. Then Lola reveals her identity. Alexis, who is passing through Paris, stops to see Pavloff. He discovers Lola and the dead man and accuses her of having been his mistress, but when Vasta comes forward and tells all, Alexis begs her forgiveness. He says he will take the responsibility of the killing knowing he will be vindicated when he says it was to save the honor of his wife. Richard and Vasta are once more brought together and Alexis asks his wife if she is willing to brave the Russian Court with him after all these years. Her happy smile is sufficient answer.

Dir: Travers Vale

Violet Galloway, in charge of her grandfather's home, was accustomed to bossing things. But when she married Roger Kendall she was petted and pampered and had hardly anything to do outside of looking pretty and being well dressed. So she became discontented. At this time George W. Graham, a former lover, made violent love to her. Graham was district attorney and Kendall was Graham's assistant. Kendall was prosecuting the gamblers, but Graham tried to call him off when political pressure was brought to bear. The gamblers decided to "get" Kendall. Graham knew of the secret and a man who had been befriended by Violet found this out. The man sent a note to Violet. She risked everything by getting Graham to come to her home and was learning the secret from him when the murderer hired by the gamblers shot and killed Graham, thinking he was Kendall. Kendall, being told what his wife had done for him, turns out his maiden aunts, who created much of the trouble, and he and his wife are happy once more.