Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of A Wife by Proxy: Cult...

Dir: John H. Collins

When she was a baby, Patsy Smith's father quarreled with his wife and kidnapped Patsy. After her father died at sea, Captain Barnaby took Patsy to Mrs. Duff's boardinghouse for seafarers. Dissatisfied with drudgery, Patsy, inspired by Barnaby's tales of Aladdin, searches for her father's Oriental lamp which Mrs. Duff sold to a junk peddler. Patsy buys the lamp and after rubbing it, the Genie Jehaunarara appears. He beautifies her room, restores Barnaby's leg, and turns Mrs. Duff into a rag doll. Because love is beyond his magic, however, the Genie cannot reunite Patsy with her mother. At a masquerade ball, when the Genie's costume wins first prize, Patsy's applause unwittingly causes him to disappear. Clad only in her underwear, Patsy runs to her mother, and awakens from a dream. Disheartened, she throws the lamp out the window, and it nearly strikes her friend Harry, a grocer's boy who wants to become a lawyer, and then, like Lincoln, president. From letters found in the lamp, they locate Patsy's mother, who arrives with her brother, a distinguished judge. Taken under his wing, Harry now imagines himself president with Patsy as his first lady.

Dir: John H. Collins

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Rosie O'Grady perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: John H. Collins

Jimmy Carter, a millionaire, leading an idle, indulgent life, gets an urgent message from his friend, Reginald Travers. Travers, who is dying, has been ruined in the stock market by Mortimer Reynolds, and penniless, he leaves his little daughter in care of Carter, who promises faithfully to look after her. After the death of Travers, Carter takes Ruth to his luxurious home and gives her to the motherly care of Mrs. Jenkins, his housekeeper, Mortimer Reynolds, anxious to add Ruth to his list of unfortunates, instructs his mistress, Edna Morris, to make her acquaintance and to gain her confidence. Carter and Reynolds become bitter enemies because of Reynold's sarcastic reflections on the relationship between Carter and Ruth. As time passes, Ruth, by her winsomeness and innocence gradually changes Carter's mode of life. He no longer feels an interest in the gay life of former days, and even loses his taste for the morning nip. Unconsciously, Ruth is transforming his sympathetic dutiful interest in her to love. In a moment of ecstasy he crushes her in his arms. At the Charity Ball, where Ruth is taking part in a tableau, she meets Edna Morris. Fearful of Reynold's wrath should she fail, the unhappy girl works her way into the graces of Ruth. Carter sees this and immediately takes Ruth home, refusing to explain his conduct to her. Meeting Ruth in the park the following day, Edna denounces Carter for his action of the previous evening, "Why should he object to me, pray? Everybody knows that your father didn't leave you a penny, and that you are living on the, shall I say, generosity, of Mr. Carter." Stunned by the revelation that she is looked upon as Carter's mistress, the impetuous little girl rushes to the house, and in a burst of fury, screams her hatred of Carter. In the still of the night, she makes her way out of the house to Edna's apartment. It is here that Reynolds finds her. Impelled by a fiendish lust, he forces her to partake of his wines, and slowly they begin to work their effect. Carter, who, in desperation, has been searching for her, finds her in the apartment, stupefied and disheveled. Disgusted and heartsore, he looks upon her contemptuously and leaves, feeling that she has gone the way of Edna. Mrs. Morris, Edna's mother, prompted by a subconscious feeling that all is not well with her child, comes to the house from her little cottage in the country. She takes both penitents back home with her, hoping that they may forget and begin life anew. Meanwhile, Reynolds, whose financial affairs have taken a turn for the worse, and who is being sought by the police for forgery, attempts to make his escape. He is caught by the police and so made to pay for the misery and misfortune which he has brought upon others. Miserable and despairing because Carter has mistaken her, Ruth can find no peace. But Edna, she who has dragged her to darkness and degradation, succeeds in lifting her once more to the light of hope. The once impetuous Ruth is again folded in the arms of Carter, knowing that there only will she find eternal happiness and peace of soul.

Dir: John H. Collins

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

The story of two young sisters: one a demure musician in love with a scoundrel who's no good for her; the other a wild free spirit who is the object of a shy young carpenter's affections.

Dir: John H. Collins

"On Dangerous Paths" Is the story of a foolish young girl who insisted upon learning the lesson of life through experience rather than take the advice of those who had already gone through the mill. It's only saving grace is that it is a story taken out of life, a story that nearly every young girl has to learn. Viola Dana in the leading role is winsomely pretty. As an unsophisticated young girl with the whole world before her, Miss Dana was eminently pleasing. Pat O'Malley playing opposite gave his usual finished performance, and the balance of the cast was good. Though the recipient of the love of a very desirable young man and though she returns this affection. Eleanor Thurston feels that she must be independent and earn her own living. She leaves for the city and obtains a position as nurse in one of the large hospitals, where one of the young doctors with a reputation as a lady killer becomes infatuated with her fresh young beauty and pays ardent attention to her. She is carried off her feet and not realizing that his intentions are not honorable, is placed in a compromising situation from which she is rescued by her country lover.

Dir: John H. Collins

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Girl Without a Soul perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Feodor Turov, chief of the Russian Czar's secret police, orders his Cossacks to attack a village he believes to be infested with rebels. The Cossacks attack the village and massacre almost everyone, and the young Katerina is whipped to death. Before escaping to England, her sister Darya swears to avenge her sister's death. Years later--now one of the world's most famous prima ballerinas--she returns to Russia. Turov falls in love with her and manages to secure a meeting. She coyly asks him to take her to see a prison first. As it turns out, what he has planned for her is nothing compared to what she has planned for him.

Dir: John H. Collins

In order to avenge the disgrace and subsequent death of her sister, New York theatrical star Audrey Graham joins an 1870's caravan bound for the Western town of Silver Bar, where Alvin Steele, the man who betrayed Audrey's sister, now lives. The homesteaders run out of supplies and are dying of thirst on the parched Western plains when they reach the hideout of an outlaw named Zachary Wando. Zachary at first refuses them water, but Audrey, disguised as a child, melts his heart and he relents. After learning of Audrey's deception, however, he threatens to hold her captive unless she brings Steele, with whom his wife Lou is having an affair, to his camp. Audrey locates Steele, captivates him with her beauty, and then leads him to Zachary, who gives Lou a gun and orders her to choose between them. Lou shoots Steele and is then reconciled to her husband, while Audrey returns to New York, her desire for vengeance satisfied.

Dir: John H. Collins

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

Although she has a strong friendship with Abner, a hand on her father's farm, saucy Gladiola Bain loves only her father, until she meets vacationing Ned Williams, a self-described "idler" from the city. When their seemingly harmless flirtation develops into love, Gladiola refuses to obey her father's wishes that she give Williams up, and when Williams, after some hesitation, offers her a beautiful home and clothes, they elope to the city, where Williams arranges a mock marriage. After a few months of happiness, Williams' real wife appears. Gladiola tells Williams that she despises him and returns to her welcoming father. Amid much gossip in the town, Gladiola gives birth to a child, while Williams, whose wife has refused to divorce him, has gone abroad. When he learns that his wife has died, he returns repentantly to Gladiola's farm, but although she is touched by his concern, her love has died, and she refuses his entreaties. At the end, Gladiola and her child stroll in the gladiola fields with the faithful Abner.

Dir: John H. Collins

Echo, the orphaned "flower of no man's land," has been raised by an Indian foster father, Kahoma. Then, when opera singer Roy Talbot goes West to recover his health, Echo falls instantly in love and forgets all about Big Bill, her cowboy sweetheart. Roy marries Echo and takes her back East, but soon after returning to his adoring public, he loses all interest in her. Finally, Echo leaves Roy and goes back to the wilderness, where she discovers that Roy had already been married when they met and had deserted his wife years before. For so deceiving his adopted daughter, Kahoma tracks Roy down and kills him, while Echo forgets about her big-city unhappiness and returns to Big Bill, with whom she makes plans to marry.

Dir: John H. Collins

When Henry Clay Willard refuses to allow his athletically inclined daughter Mary to attend a prizefight, she goes to the bout dressed in her brother's clothes. Next to her sits wealthy businessman Anthony Fry, who, believing that opportunity knocks only once, decides to give the "boy" his big chance. Anthony takes Mary to his apartment, where the house detective, troubled by the "boy's" strange appearance, begins an investigation. A series of misunderstandings follows, during which Anthony's visiting friend, Johnson Bowler, nearly loses his new wife Beatrice, who arrives unexpectedly to discover a woman in the apartment, and finally, Mary's father is called. Upon his arrival, all is explained, and Anthony and Mary decide to take advantage of the strange opportunity that brought them together.