Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of Even As You and I: Cult Guide

Dir: Lois Weber

Babe Scott, a cabaret dancer who is constantly searching for sensational material to shock her customers, thinks up burlesquing a Salvation Army girl and attends mission meetings on the East Side for atmosphere. There she meets Jerry Wilson, an honest truck driver and friend of the Army captain. Although the act is a success, Babe is disillusioned to find Lonnie, a fellow worker who has been romancing her, stealing her money and making overtures to Big Bertha, the hard-boiled club hostess.

Dir: Lois Weber

A young woman grows tired of providing for her family.

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

Dir: Lois Weber

Hi Judd, poet, postmaster and philosopher, is the sunshine of the village, a veritable doctor of happiness. His right arm the little world of the village leans on, the kind words he scatters broadcast reap their harvest of love for the old postmaster and the verses he writes (sometimes when he should be working) proclaims him the wit of the village. And because of the verse writing Mrs. Judd is often discouraged. Hi confides in his daughter, Bess, that he often stands in awe of Mrs. Judd when she catches him pencil in hand, with the woodpile untouched and the chores not done. But Bess is consoling and when Hi is not around she makes a collection of the verses and sends them on to a great newspaper. Theirs is a peaceful life that must have its dramatic climax and it all descends upon them at once. Jim Skinner, an unscrupulous, grasping old miser, holds the mortgage on the house and also has designs upon Hi's position as postmaster. Then the bank fails and shadows hang low. In the meantime drama is stirring within their home. Bess who had thought she cared for Hal, the station master is under the spell of Sam who has come from the city to be the new ticket agent. Hi, dubious of his character and regretting his daughter's change of heart, before it is too late, finds a picture of Sam, his wife and their baby. Hi recognizes in the wife, Belle, the long-missing daughter of Mother Wilkins, a widow of the village whose home has burned and who would have suffered privation had it not been for the generosity of Hi. He sends for Belle, making her believe the money and message come from Sam and when Sam is confronted with the wife and baby he sees there is nothing to be done but face the unexpected situation. The mortgage is due. Heartbroken, they are preparing to leave the little home when word comes from the newspaper: "Verses accepted, send them as fast as you can write them." Thus ends the story. Hi, with his $500 check from the newspaper pays off the mortgage, the future holds its promise; Mother Wilkins is happy with her daughter and the little baby, and Hal and Bess are engaged to be married.

Dir: Lois Weber

Envious of the wealth of her classmates at the fashionable boarding school to which her parents struggled to send her, Millicent Rankin hides the fact that her father is a plumber. She invites her friend Beatrice Deering to her home, which she describes as lavish, for the vacation, but thinks that Beatrice will refuse. The embarrassment Millicent feels when she receives a wire that Beatrice is coming causes her mother pain, but when Millicent's sister becomes ill with scarlet fever, Millicent goes instead to Beatrice's country residence where she hopes to meet a rich husband. At the Deerings', Millicent is soon disappointed with society's mores. After almost succumbing to the advances of Elmer Lacy, who secretly is carrying on an affair with Beatrice's stepmother, Millicent protects Mrs. Deering's reputation by humiliating herself. When she learns that her mother is ill, Millicent rushes home and discovers happiness with her family and her old sweetheart.

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of It's No Laughing Matter perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Dir: Lois Weber

Ray Sturgis, leader of the fashionable Long Island jazz set, is engaged to "Egypt" Hagen, an up-to-date girl in every respect. Egypt is arrested at a roadhouse raid, and at her mother's bidding, the Reverend Norman Lodge arranges for her freedom. At a fancy-dress ball, when Ray wears a costume made of newspaper headlines concerning her arrest, Egypt is offended. Seen constantly in the company of Reverend Lodge, her reputation causes church people to take up the matter with the bishop. Leaving the country club, Egypt goes to the Lodge home and hides behind the door when the bishop arrives; Reverend Lodge wants to marry her, and they admit their love; but humiliation causes her to leave with Sturgis that night. Their yacht is wrecked, but Lodge and the bishop follow and rescue Egypt, though Sturgis is drowned. The bishop, realizing the depth of their love, consents to marry them.

Dir: Lois Weber

Jewel stays with her grizzled, angry grandfather while her parents are overseas on business. Family squabbling is brought to heel through love and understanding from Jewel's pure love for others and trust in Divine Love

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

Dir: Lois Weber

A Broadway actress becomes a star due to the guidance of her director. The two fall in love, but are prevented from marrying due to a clause put into her contract by her producer.

Dir: Lois Weber

The parallel stories of a modern preacher and a medieval monk, Gabriel the Ascetic, who is killed by an ignorant mob for making a nude statue representing Truth, which is also represented by a ghostly naked girl who flits throughout the film.

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

Dir: Lois Weber

Marie, a hotel maid, falls in love with millionaire's son Roger, but Roger cannot marry her because of her inferior station and his unwillingness to make his family unhappy thereby. They separate. When next they meet, Roger discovers that Marie is actually a princess. Now their renewed romance cannot continue because Roger is a mere commoner. But the Bolshevik revolution provides complication and at last resolution to their dilemma.

Dir: Lois Weber

An insecure wife fears her husband may be straying back to an old flame.