Underground Favorites Parallel to the Artistry of Broadway Love: Cult Guide

Dir: Ida May Park

A naïve country girl ventures to New York to become a star, but faces poverty and disillusionment when a lecherous theatre manager attempts to take advantage of her.

Dir: Ida May Park

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

Dick Evans is the corrupt boss of a rough-and-tumble munitions town called Powderville. He hires his friend, Jack Ripley, to establish a newspaper, intending merely to further his own financial ambitions; however, Jack envisions The Trumpet as an instrument of good and soon persuades Dick to clean up Powderville. Both men fall in love with Viola Argos, and both rush to her rescue when she is abducted by Red Pete and locked in a brothel run by Boston Kate. With the help of Mackey, Dick and Jack remove Viola to the print shop, but Red Pete's followers soon overpower them. With most of the town on fire, Dick urges Jack and Viola to escape. Viola, realizing her love for Dick, returns, and he dies in her arms.

Dir: Ida May Park

An important customer at Armande's, where Iva Seldon works as a model, is Billy Ravensworth, who purchases expensive gowns for a heartless vampire named Rita Challoner. When Billy pays for a number of gowns with a bad check, Iva is sent to Rita's home to collect the finery, and there she meets Bertrand Seldon, whom she recognizes as her own father, a society man who had deserted his wife years earlier and never acknowledged Iva. Rita learns that Billy is poor and breaks off their affair, after which Iva persuades him to pose as her fiancé so that she might enter society. Billy is content to maintain the masquerade in exchange for Iva's money, but soon finds himself jealous over her apparent romance with Bertrand. Iva agrees to accompany Bertrand on a drive, but the car plunges down a cliff, whereupon she reveals her identity. Before his death, Bertrand at last recognizes his daughter, and with his fortune, she and Billy begin a new life.

Dir: Ida May Park

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Model's Confession perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A candidate for governor, eager Gerald Harperpersuades his equally ambitious wife Carol to enlist the aid of her friend Diana Casper, whose influence with political boss Jarvis Flint could help him win the election. Carol agrees to speak to Diana on condition that Gerald temporarily assume her work in the city's tenements. There he meets the poor but beautiful Marna Royal, and the two form a friendship that soon grows into love. Diana learns of the affair, and although the romance is innocent, she threatens to ruin Gerald unless his best friend, Drew Garrett, marries her. When Drew refuses, Diana tells Carol of the affair, but later, in a struggle with Flint, Diana is killed. To avoid a scandal, Carol adopts young Marna, but soon afterwards, the disillusioned girl leaves the house with Drew. Narrowly prevented from killing himself, Gerald decides to begin a new life with Carol.

Dir: Ida May Park

Despite her literary ambitions, country girl Elinor Crawford has advanced no further than a reporter for a New York scandal sheet. During one of her assignments, she meets Evan Kilvert, a lawyer from her home town who is shocked at her Bohemian mode of existence. Elinor has nothing but scorn for him and turns her attentions to Bertie Vawtry, the editor of a racey weekly. He professes to love her, but when Vawtry suddenly marries a wealthy widow, Elinor, disheartened, disappears and it is assumed that she has gone away with Vawtry. Kilvert finds her poverty-stricken in the slums and they are wed. Soon after, married life palls upon her, and Elinor pays a visit to one of her old haunts where she meets Vawtry, whose wife has died. Elinor spurns him, but her husband suspects the worst and as a result she leaves him. Kilvert, learning that his wife has been faithful, finds her in the street depressed and dazed and brings her home. He then administers a beating to her would-be seducer.

Dir: Ida May Park

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

Through a chance meeting, stenographer Marjorie Helmer becomes acquainted with Melville Kingston, a millionaire whose cynical views of love and marriage have been influenced strongly by his brother Miles's unhappy marriage. When Melville offers to support Marjorie, she realizes that his intentions are not honorable and stoutly refuses. Later, however, she loses her job, and at her wits' end, agrees to accept Melville's gifts provided that he treats her with respect. Marjorie interprets reports of a "Mrs. Kingston," actually Melville's brother's wife, as evidence that Melville is a cad and sends for her old sweetheart, Robert Grant, in despair. When Robert visits the lavishly attired Marjorie in her expensive apartment, however, he assumes the worst and attacks her. In the end, Melville confesses that he loves Marjorie and wishes to marry her.

Dir: Ida May Park

After divorcing her husband Kent, actress Anne Wetherall returns to the stage. Upon receiving a plea for help from childhood chum Nell Jerrold begging Anne to save Nell's daughter Betty from marrying Kent, the ex-Mrs. Wetherall decides to journey to the Jerrold's home in the town of Wheaton to investigate. Finding Betty defiantly determined to marry Kent, Anne decides that the only way to save the girl is to enslave her ex-husband with her charms and therefore win him back. The two women then enter into competition for Kent, Betty matching her freshness and beauty against Anne's mature accomplishments of grace and artfulness. Kent finally falls under Anne's spell, expressing repentance for previous shortcomings and proposing marriage. Anne accepts to save Betty, only to discover that she is still in love with her husband.

Dir: Ida May Park

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

Cicely Osborne marries laborer John Ashton to help provide for her mother. At their wedding dinner in a cabaret, John flirts with a woman and her enraged escort slays him. At home, Cicely finds her mother dead. While contemplating suicide, Cicely notices that a lieutenant having the same name as her husband died in the war. She tells the lieutenant's aristocratic parents that she and John were secretly wed, and soon ingratiates herself. Only John's crippled cousin Philip suspects her. John returns, having been only wounded, and seeing that his mother loves Cicely, he continues the masquerade. Philip, thinking that Cicely is giving John sexual favors to keep from being exposed, threatens to blackmail her himself. John falls in love with Cicely and jealously follows her to meet Philip. They fight and John's war wound is reopened. Thinking that he is dying, John summons a priest, who solemnizes his union with Cicely. John later recovers and the two resume their life together.

Dir: Ida May Park

Dreading the drab and loveless factory life that she sees all around her, Madge Garvey refuses the marriage proposal of factory foreman John Blake, a rough but honest man, fearing that he will degenerate into the brutal drunk that her father Joe has become. Instead, Madge takes stenographer Cora Hayes' advice and seeks work in the big city. Arriving in the city, Madge accepts a job as a model for women's underwear but is shocked at the brevity of the garments as well as the duties expected of her beyond those of posing. Only Blake's timely arrival preserves her innocence, and after the foreman proves that he can be loving, Madge agrees to loving him.

Dir: Ida May Park

Jack Lane, a young nature photographer, goes to the mountains to experiment with his new flashlight process that will automatically photograph the passage of any bird or wild animal. While asleep one night, Jack is awakened by gunshots and soon after discovers that his camera has registered a picture of a woman fleeing carrying a shotgun. Curious, he visits the cabin of Porter Brixton, the murdered man, and is arrested for the crime. Managing to escape, Jack meets Delice Brixton, the woman whose likeness developed from the plate. They both suspect each other of the crime, but Jack is recaptured and brought to trial. At the hearing, when the dead man's half brother, Henry Norton, appears and admits killing Brixton in self-defense, Jack is acquitted.