Underground Favorites Parallel to the Artistry of Cecilia of the Pink Roses: Cult Guide

Dir: Julius Steger

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

Dave Bray, who is devoted to his mother, and Ruth Godwin, the daughter of Howard Godwin, his employer, fall in love, thus incurring the chagrin of Dave's jealous superintendent, Warren Flint. Flint's rejected lover, Edna Holmes, on overhearing Flint tell Dave that he intends to marry Ruth, shoots Flint during his struggle with Dave, at the same moment that Flint's own revolver fires. Thinking that he shot Flint, Dave leaves home and has friends break the news to his heartbroken mother. Flint lives, but he accuses Dave even though he knows that Edna shot him. A year later Ruth is about to marry Flint on the condition that he not press charges if Dave returns. Meanwhile, Dave, a war hero in Europe, and sick with pneumonia, is told by his doctor, a friend from home, that Flint did not die. Edna finally tells Ruth the truth and the wedding is canceled. After the armistice, Dave returns to his mother, Ruth's love, and the honor of his village.

Dir: Julius Steger

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

Helen Merrill sings and dances in the rough Western mining town of Nugget City, where she befriends Myrtle Cadby, whose husband Jake cruelly abuses her. After a particularly vicious beating, Myrtle, seriously injured, shoots Jake. As she lies dying, she gives Helen a letter of introduction to a man she was to have married in the East, urging her to leave Nugget City. Before she leaves, Helen overhears Bill Sheridan and "Snipe" Roach scheming to sell Charles Taylor, a wealthy New Yorker, a salted mine, with the assistance of George Reed, Taylor's mining agent. Helen goes East and learns that Taylor is the man whom Myrtle was to have married, but because she immediately falls in love with him, she conceals her own identity and masquerades as Myrtle. Reed returns East and discloses her identity to Taylor, who denounces her, but when she prevents him from being swindled, he begs her forgiveness and asks her for her hand in marriage.

Dir: Julius Steger

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

Anna Ward struggles to help her husband Jim, a laborer in a Pittsburgh steel mill, to improve his lot in life. When Jim's friend invents an improved rail-making device, Anna convinces her husband to invest his savings in the machine's promotion and marketing. This proves so successful that Jim is made a director of the steel company, but because of his strong stand on workingmen's rights, the company officials conspire to ruin him. Under the influence of a co-director, Jim resumes his old drinking habit and becomes involved in an affair with a beautiful woman, who induces him to sue Anna for divorce on a false charge of infidelity. Anna refuses to defend herself until the court threatens to take away her son, whereupon she claims that Jim is not the boy's father. Deeply ashamed, Jim confesses everything to the court and is sentenced to prison. After his release, he returns to Anna, just as their son departs to fight in World War I.

Dir: Julius Steger

An old inventor is robbed of his inventions by an unscrupulous rich man. When the inventor dies, his daughter Violet goes to New York and joins the "Follies," where she is advertised as "The Belle of New York."

Dir: Julius Steger

The heroine is a country girl who marries a city chap and finds herself neglected after the novelty of the honeymoon has worn off. Ralph Van Court is lost while hunting in the Adirondacks, and is found by Rose Hale. The young man had been in love with Viola Shepard, but discovered that she intended to marry his uncle, Stephen Van Court, for his money. After the two weddings, Ralph starts a flirtation with Viola, and spends most of his time away from home. When his son is about 5, Ralph's attentions to his uncle's wife become so marked that everyone is talking of the affair. The big situation comes when Viola meets Ralph at a roadhouse after consenting to run away with him. Stephen Van Court learns of the affair, and so does Rose. She reaches the private supper room before Stephen, and manages to make him believe that he has been misled about his wife's duplicity. Rose does this to shield her son's father, and Ralph is awakened to his wife's true worth.