The Recommended Vault Parallel to the Artistry of Just for Tonight:...

Dir: Charles Giblyn

After an idyllic mountain life in Russia, Berna goes to live with her uncle in the Jewish section of Kiev, arriving just as Cossacks massacre most of the Jews in the city. Berna escapes to New York and works at a sweatshop controlled by Boss Jim McManus, but he seduces her, then throws her out on the street, and she becomes a prostitute. Berna later marries Nicolay Turgenev, a young musician, and they soon have a child, but McManus' daughter Ellen falls in love with Nicolay after seeing him perform and convinces him to leave Berna. To make the separation legal, McManus, now a judge, grants Nicolay a divorce and also gives him custody of the child. Almost insane, Berna goes to McManus, denounces him at gunpoint and then kills him.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of A Perfect 36 perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Mabel waits on the residents of a local boardinghouse, but her fondness for pranks finally leads to her dismissal. By a strange turn of fortune, Mabel finds herself in the possession of a traveling corset saleswoman's suitcase, whereupon she adopts the profession herself. While passing through a small town, Mabel decides to take a swim in the ocean, but as she frolics, her suitcase, which contains all of her clothing, is stolen. Forced to wear only her bathing suit, Mabel sets off in search of her clothing and learns that the police, having identified the suitcase as belonging to a jewel thief, are in search of her. Following several adventures, she discovers that the jewel robbery, which involved her friend Lena, was only a publicity stunt.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Minnie Penelope Peck, the village scamp of Yaptank, accompanies her father to the bank to demand the $9 owed him for his work as a night watchman. When the bank president refuses to pay Peck, Minnie posts a sign which states that the bank is insolvent, so all of the depositors immediately demand their money. The fire department is called in to quell the mob, but things get worse when Minnie accidentally turns on the fire hose. Minnie is saved from reform school by a new woman in town, Hortense Martinot, who hires the tomboy to model clothing in her shop. After falling in love with jewelry-store proprietor Dick, Minnie discovers that Hortense, in league with two gentlemen from the city, is planning to rob the bank. With the help of Dick, who is actually a detective, Minnie captures the crooks, then accepts a wedding ring from her jewelry salesman.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

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

Bored by the slow pace of life in her little home town, Helen Drayton rebels when her friends and relatives assume that she will marry her friend and escort, Chet Vernon. Helen is so anxious to experience life in the big city that she falls in love with visiting New York architect John Galvin almost immediately after his arrival. Several weeks later, the two marry and move to New York, where, after a series of painful experiences, Helen finally realizes John's selfishness. In the end, she gratefully returns home and becomes Chet's wife.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Marie Chaumontel, a spy for the Germans during World War I, vamps her way through the French high command, accumulating state secrets as she discards lovers. Captain Henry Ravignac commits suicide because of her, after which his brother, Lieutenant Charles Ravignac, vows revenge. As a result, he pretends to be a German spy and then becomes an assistant to Marie, all the while gathering evidence against her. Finally, he accumulates enough to hand her over to French authorities, after which he is hailed as a hero for so damaging German espionage operations.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

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

Irresponsible young heiress Beatrix Vanderdyke creates a scandal with her indiscreet visits to artist Sutherland Yorke. To extricate herself, Beatrix claims that she was actually visiting Pelham Franklyn, who has an apartment in the same building and to whom, she states, she is secretly married. Pelham, an old friend, is dumbfounded by the news but continues the ruse for Beatrix's sake. That night, he accompanies his new bride to her bedroom, but after alarming her, announces that she is quite safe and retreats. After the marriage announcement is published in the paper, the couple is compelled to continue their deception, finally taking an enforced honeymoon cruise on Pelham's yacht. Meanwhile, Yorke has been sending anonymous letters to the family which cast doubt upon the marriage. Upon returning from his honeymoon, Pelham, who has fallen in love with his bride, discovers this and goes to Yorke's apartment, arriving just as the scoundrel has been shot by a jealous husband. Before dying, Yorke writes an apology to Beatrix. Pelham then kidnaps Beatrix, and the two are married at sea.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

At the death of John Gower, his widow and daughter, Mildred, find themselves with only a few thousand dollars, as the family lived almost up to the limit of Cower's income. Mildred's mother tells her it is necessary that she marry money. Mildred is fond of Stanley Baird, but her hopes in this direction are shattered by the announcement of his engagement to another woman. Mrs. Gower marries Presbury, an elderly man who thinks she is wealthy, and when he learns the truth he begins taunting Mildred until she is willing to do anything to escape from her humiliating position. Presbury arranges a marriage between Mildred and a multimillionaire, General Siddall. The bride soon discovers that while her husband will buy anything for her she wants, so that he can make an impression upon the world with her beauty, he will not give her any money. This forces her to realize that she is barely more than a piece of furniture in the General's establishment. She leaves him, and meeting Baird learns that he and his wife have separated. He undertakes to furnish her with funds for the cultivation of her voice for an operatic career, with the hope that one day they will be free to marry. Mildred makes slow progress. Her voice is good but uncertain. She meets a young lawyer, Donald Keith, who tells her that she will never succeed because she is too fond of luxury and ease. Meanwhile she discovers through Keith's investigation that she was not legally married to General Siddall, as his first wife was still living, confined in an insane asylum. The General has made many attempts to get her to come back to him, but she refuses. Finally she declines to take any more money from Baird, and by economy, self-denial and hard work succeeds in her musical ambition. Having achieved her independence she is now free to choose between Stanley Baird and Donald Keith, to both of whom she owes a debt of gratitude. Her choice is a happy one, and leaves the story of the life of this typical American girl perfectly rounded out.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

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

Alice Chesterton (Olive Thomas) is described as a "Baby Vamp" by the social set and engaged to boring Tom Carey. She flirts with many of the male guests idling at the Ives' Long Island house party, then encourages Terence O'Keefe, a playboy polo player from Ireland in New York to purchase horses for the British army, to rendezvous with her in the city, they are seen together at the "Midnight Frolic." Because of this, Mrs. Ives convinces Alice's newly-arrived sister Betty to look after Alice. Betty arranges for Terence to find her in an auto wreck where he revives her with a kiss. Genuinely in love with each other, they plan to marry, until the jealous Alice tells Betty that Terence "ruined" her. When Betty accuses Terence, he makes Alice confess her to her lies. Tom, encouraged by Terence's advice, overwhelms Alice with his "caveman" tactics. At the end, the servants, who have observed the upstairs activities, emulate their masters' flirting mannerisms.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

A young woman's sweetheart fights for the Union, while her brother fights for the Confederates, in the pivotal 1863 battle of the U.S. Civil War.

Dir: Charles Giblyn

Nance Molloy's cheerful disposition, in sharp contrast to the slum near the cathedral where she and her parents make their home, earns her the nickname "Sunshine Nan." However, her fights with the cathedral choirboys, led by MacPherson Clark, gets her into trouble. For interfering in a family squabble, she and her pal, Dan Lewis, are sent to reform school for five years, and upon her release, she becomes a stenographer in the elder Clark's shoe factory. Dan meanwhile has taken a job in the factory's chemical department, where he invents a dye process that promises to make him rich. In trouble over a woman, MacPherson decides to steal the formula and present it to his father as his own. Nan enters the lab just as MacPherson is copying Dan's formula, and the two old enemies begin to fight. Dan joins in the scuffle, but when some chemicals spill, the lab is enveloped in fire. Dan rescues Nan, and MacPherson, awakening in the hospital, remorsefully confesses his crime. Nan and Dan soon marry and the alley's name is changed to "Cathedral Court."