The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of Half a Rogue: Cul...

Dir: Henry Otto

When oil magnate Thomas Waring receives a letter from his old friend, Mrs. Juliet Smith, suggesting that his beloved daughter Maida spend her vacation at Mrs. Smith's island home, Waring encourages Maida to accept as he has to go East on business. After Mrs. Smith supposedly gets Maida, Waring receives a call from the real Mrs. Smith, who says that Maida has left with an impostor. On the island, Maida lives luxuriously, unaware that her hosts are sending her father ransom notes. She meets Gilbert Spear, camping out, and they fall in love. After receiving no response from Waring, the kidnappers reveal their scheme to Maida and demand that she write to her father. They lock her in when she refuses, but she escapes and leaves the island with Gilbert. Although they are overtaken by the criminals, Waring and the police pull up and the gang is taken into custody, leaving Gilbert and Maida free to pursue their romance.

Dir: Henry Otto

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

Happy O'Brien, called "The Microbe," or "Mike" for short, a female street urchin who sells newspapers dressed as a boy to avoid harassment, is saved from arrest for fighting other newsboys in Chinatown by wealthy author DeWitt Spense. DeWitt, there to purchase drugs, is so moved by Mike's pugnacity, that he takes her to his mansion for literary inspiration. When DeWitt learns that Mike is a girl, he resolves to educate her. As Mike blossoms, DeWitt's attentions turn to love, to the dismay of Judith Winthrope, who wants to marry him, and his friend Robert Breton, who, with Judith, convinces Mike that DeWitt's writing is suffering because of her. After Mike leaves and gets a job making artificial flowers, she writes DeWitt daily letters, signing them "Bianca," which inspire him to write a best selling novel of replies. Although DeWitt nearly marries Judith when she claims authorship of the letters, he weds Mike when he learns that she penned them.

Dir: Henry Otto

After her mother dies, a young girl is sent with her little sister to live with their aunt and uncle, who treat her terribly. The aunt and uncle run a show at the Panama exposition and turn her into a human butterfly.

Dir: Henry Otto

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

In the South Seas lives Lorelei, who decides to act out her fantasies and poses on the rocks as she sings. From his yacht, Dorian, hears Lorelei's song and goes to investigate. His boat is destroyed on the rocks, and Lorelei cares for him.

Dir: Henry Otto

The story begins in the realm of Queen Unda, mistress of the under-seas, surrounded by her nymphs, sylphs and mermaids, who disport themselves on the sands and in the waters of the deep. Berthelda, daughter of a fisherman and his devoted wife, has been stolen by the mermaids one day when the child is playing on the sands. Queen Unda rules that little Berthelda shall be left to roam in the Enchanted Forest, because her parents have taken fishes from the ocean, greatly to the annoyance of Unda and Neptune. Undine's mother has committed sin with a mortal and to atone for this her little baby, Undine, is taken to the shore near the fisherman's cottage, to be discovered by the fisherman and his wife. It is Undine's mission on earth to marry a mortal, and thus atone for the sins committed by her mother in loving a handsome young huntsman, whose untimely death likewise robs Undine's mother of her own life. Undine is welcomed by the fisherman and his wife, who consider she has been sent by the gods to take the place of their little Berthelda. Fifteen years pass. Berthelda has been adopted by the Duke and Duchess and among those who pay her court at the Castle is Huldbrand, the bravest of knights. To test his love, Berthelda sends Huldbrand into the Enchanted Forest and bids him return with proof that he had explored its wonders. Coming to the fisherman's cottage, Huldbrand meets Undine, immediately falls in love with her and they are married by a shipwrecked priest, whom Undine has rescued from the sea. Going with his bride to the Castle, there is great rejoicing. At the celebration in honor of Huldbrand's marriage there appears a messenger from Queen Unda who tells Undine her earthly mission is fulfilled and she returns to the waters under the sea. Huldbrand is reconciled to Lady Berthelda and the story ends.

Dir: Henry Otto

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

Jack and Blanny Wheeler live in the apartment above Laura and Billy Bartlett. Jack likes to stay out late and play poker, but covers by telling his wife that he attends meetings of the Mystic Shrine society. Laura is carrying on a dalliance with Philip Evans. One night Jack goes to play poker and leaves Blanny with the Bartletts. Laura goes out with Philip. Blanny and Billy commiserate about their loneliness, and concoct a scheme to arouse their spouses' jealousies. They taste various liquors, become intoxicated, and fall asleep. Jack, Laura, and Philip return. Jack and Laura both threaten divorce until the explanations are made, and the couples are reunited.

Dir: Henry Otto

Bess Belwyn, daughter of a criminal who reforms in prison, becomes engaged to District Attorney John Mobley. To save her father from being denounced by his erstwhile accomplice, Bess, unaware of the consequences, becomes involved in a jewelry theft. She then tries in vain to confess and break the engagement. After she marries Mobley, the crook attempts to blackmail Bess, but she confesses everything to Mobley and in the subsequent fracas the crook is killed.

Dir: Henry Otto

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

British aristocrat Iris must choose between the poor Laurence and the rich Frederick. She decides to go for the money and agrees to marry Frederick, but at the last minute she changes her mind and runs off to Italy with Laurence. However, things don't work out quite the way she planned.

Dir: Henry Otto

Rosalind Chalmers, a New York society girl, goes on an unannounced visit to her friends, the Witherbees, at the Thousand Islands, primarily for the purpose of escaping the unwelcome attention of Reginald Williams. She misses the last boat to their island, and is taken over in the decrepit motorboat of an interesting young man known as Sam. Sam is really William Kellogg, heir to the Davidson millions. During the absence of his uncle, Henry Davidson, Kellogg has broken a handsome vase, and decides to earn the money himself to pay for it. So as One-Cylinder Sam he begins to carry passengers between the islands. On the way to the Witherbee island Kellogg's motor goes dead. Rosalind's hobby is motors, and she puts the engine in working order in no time. When they reach the island the family has retired for the night. Rosalind tries to climb in a window, but sets off a burglar alarm, and runs to escape the people who come to investigate. Startled by shots, she takes a small boat, and goes out into the river. She hears more shots, this time for Davidson Island. From angry voices she learns that the supposed burglars are there, too. Two motorboats set out. Soon the engine of one goes dead, and Rosalind goes to help. Kellogg, whom she knows as Sam, and whom she things is a burglar, is in the boat. But in spite of this she starts his engine for him, on account of the strange attraction he has for her, and aids his escape from the pursuing boat. Rosalind and Kellogg thereafter see a great deal of each other in the simple life of the islands. At a hotel dance he appears in his evening clothes, and after getting Rosalind to dance with him, induces her to go for a short walk in the moonlight. He tells her he is madly in love with her, and that he is going to marry her, with her consent or without it. She still thinks he is a burglar, and is frightened. He picks her up and carries her to his boat, but in mid-stream the boat strikes a submerged rock and sinks. Kellogg swims ashore with Rosalind to his uncle's island. He offers to break into the house and get some dry clothes for her and though still thinking he is a burglar she consents. Kellogg arrays himself in fresh clothes, and is greeted joyfully by his uncle. Kellogg hands him a purse containing the money for the vase, earned by his efforts as "One-Cylinder Sam," and introduces him to Rosalind, who is relieved to know that the man she is going to marry is not a burglar.

Dir: Henry Otto

John spies his girlfriend embracing his brother. Stunned, John deposits the family's money and leaves the country. Years later he returns to find his brother dead, the plantation in ruins, and that he is suspected of stealing the money.