Deep Archive Finds in the Vein of Josselyn's Wife: Cult Guide

Dir: Howard Hickman

Richard Emerson and Mary Ashby undertake a marriage of convenience: she marries him for his wealth, and he marries her both for her social standing and to quash rumors of an affair with his brilliant secretary, Eleanor Lathrop. After the ceremony, the couple separates. Mary returns to their elegant country home, while Emerson, accompanied by Eleanor, travels West to work in his railroad construction camp. Time passes and Mary, despite her luxuries, discovers that only her husband can make her happy, while Emerson realizes that his opportunism has only brought him loneliness. Successful beyond his wildest expectations, Emerson returns to New York with Eleanor on the eve of his third anniversary. Visiting Mary, he discovers an anniversary dinner awaiting him, and a reconciliation seems possible. However, later that evening, Eleanor arrives and confesses her love for Emerson. The two women duel for his possession, with Mary emerging victorious.

Dir: Howard Hickman

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

Gordon Kingsley lives happily with his wife Dorothy and little daughter Mary Jane. However, when he visits the home of San Francisco architect Frank Mason, he is stunned to find a portrait of his own wife and daughter. Suspecting the worst of Dorothy, he hires a private detective. Soon after, Gordon asks Frank to design his new house, and Dorothy, fearing that he knows of her association with Frank, slips the latter a note arranging a private visit in his apartment. Frank, a reformed thief, refuses to stage a robbery with his old accomplices, and when they are arrested, one of the gang accuses Frank of informing the police and kills him. Arriving at his apartment, Dorothy assumes that Gordon killed him and is hiding the body when a detective enters. Unaware that Gordon is in the next room, Dorothy confesses that, unable to have a child, she had secretly adopted Frank's baby in Gordon's absence. Relieved, Gordon forgives his wife, while the real murderer is caught and arrested.

Dir: Howard Hickman

Ranch owner Jack Kennedy is in need of some cowhands. Young Betty Craig, a friend of Jack's sister Florence, bets her that she can disguise herself as a man and get a job at the ranch, fooling all the cowboys As "Bob Craig", she gets hired, but although Jack and the cowboys aren't fooled by her "disguise", they decide to have some fun with "Bob" and put her through a series of practical jokes to test "Bob's" mettle. However, things don't turn out quite the way the boys expected--and Betty has an even bigger surprise in store for them.

Dir: Howard Hickman

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Two-Gun Betty perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Nancy is a scrub girl in a fashionable residence, remains honest and law-abiding despite being raised by Mother Hawkins, the fence for many of the city's criminals. She befriends wealthy John Lewis, who argues with his neighbor, Southern gentleman Andrew Calvert, that a lady is made, not born. After Mother Hawkins takes $100 from visiting crook, Gentleman Chi, for Nancy's help in robbing a safe, Nancy leaves her look-out post and Chi, arrested, vows revenge. For protection, Nancy goes to Lewis who sees an opportunity to prove his theory. Five years of wealth and education turn Nancy, now introduced as Lewis' niece, into a woman of refinement and grace. After she befriends Calvert's daughter Virginia, Chi returns. He pursues Virginia, planning to elope with her after she has stolen the family jewels, but Nancy, drawing on her upbringing, steals them back. When Nancy is caught, Virginia confesses, and Lewis, in love with Nancy, proposes to her.

Dir: Howard Hickman

Following her parents' deaths, Mary Cary is placed in an orphanage, as her grandfather rejects her because of the circumstances of her parents' marriage. At the orphanage Mary is mistreated and humiliated, and when a matron catches her outside the grounds playing ball with a youthful admirer, she gets flogged. Later she learns that her grandfather is a well-known judge and that her father was a British aristocrat. A letter to her uncle brings prompt aid, and after she's rescued from the orphanage, she remains faithful to a young admirer.

Dir: Howard Hickman

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

When Marquita Shay, the adopted daughter of Canadian farmer John Grayson, reaches womanhood, Grayson enrolls her in a St. Louis boarding school where she meets and marries Humphrey Wells, the son of a wealthy financier. Treated like a servant by her in-laws, Marquita leaves the Humphrey's home to return to Grayson. She discovers that Grayson has committed suicide after falling victim to a phony stock deal perpetrated by Wells senior. Time passes and Marquita travels to New York where she becomes secretary to Baron Brinker who, with Wells, swindled Grayson. She brings Wells and Brinker to their financial ruin and reunites with her husband who renounces his father.

Dir: Howard Hickman

Professor Lampton's work of excavating the tomb of Akhnaton (Ikhnaton) is held up by lack of funds, and Prince Dagmar, scion of a Balkan royal family, finances him with the ulterior motive of robbing the tomb of its treasures. Michael Amory, an artist assisting Lampton, loves Margaret, but believing her to be in love with the prince he departs with Gondo Koro, a Bedouin prophet who knows the location of the tomb. Dagmar sends Millicent, an adventuress, to obtain the information from Michael, and when Dagmar enters the tomb at night Michael surprises him. The thieves wound Michael, but they are captured and he and Margaret are reconciled.

Dir: Howard Hickman

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Nobody's Kid perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Rachael marries Clarence Breckenridge, whose daughter Billy is only a few years younger than she. Clarence, an alcoholic, is devoted to Billy, but because both father and daughter are indifferent to Rachael, she finally divorces Clarence to wed her old friend, Dr. Warren Gregory. Soon afterward, Rachael learns to her distress that Warren is no longer the home-loving man she had befriended but a social "high-stepper," much like her first husband. Several years pass, during which Billy elopes with worthless pleasure-seeker Joe Pickering, which leads Clarence to kill himself. Meanwhile, Warren develops an attachment to actress Magsie Clay. Magsie admits to Rachael that she loves Warren, and the young wife agrees to a divorce, but Warren, unwilling to leave Rachael and his children permanently, departs for Europe. When their little son Jim is severely injured, Rachael begs Warren to save him, and through this ordeal the couple's love is renewed.

Dir: Howard Hickman

Norma Brisbane has a taste for the finer things in life, but learns after her father's suicide that she is penniless. Resolved to recover her fortune in the easiest manner possible, Norma poses as the wife of her silly but wealthy suitor, Cuthbert Van Zelt, and soon she is invited to a number of lavish social affairs. At one such party, Norma steals the Duke of Duffield's family jewels but replaces them upon learning that they are made of paste. Next, she bets the duke that his jewels are fake and thereby wins a large sum of money. The duke persuades Norma to secure some old love letters from the man who is blackmailing him, Emerson Trent. After accomplishing this task, Norma discovers that Trent is not only the man who ruined her father, but the uncle of the man she loves, Oliver Garrett. Impressed by her courage, Trent promises to make amends, and Norma, her financial worries ended, marries Oliver.

Dir: Howard Hickman

Bob Lang, the superintendent at the Western mining town of Fracas, convenes a meeting to procure a doctor for the community. After a letter is sent to a leading university, Kitty Kelly, a recent medical school graduate, accepts their offer. When the town learns that a woman doctor is coming, they plan to send her right back, but after they see pretty Kitty, all the miners fill her waiting room with ailments linked to mysterious epidemics. Although Kitty is attracted to Bob, she castigates him for drinking. After he seizes her and threatens to hold her in his arms until she forgives him, Kitty, not displeased, makes Bob promise to stop drinking for ninety days. Jerry Williams, a saloon keeper who lives with Lola, a squaw, and their child, lures Kitty to a secluded shack and assaults her. Lola tells Bob, who rescues Kitty and thrashes Williams. When Williams is found dead the next day, Bob is arrested. After Kitty investigates and gets Lola to confess, Kitty and Bob resume their romance.