Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of Little Italy: Cult Guide

Dir: George Terwilliger

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

Episode 1: "The Jade Necklace" Dorothy Desmond, an inexperienced Kentucky girl whose father, an editor, had been shot at his desk by a political opponent, and whose mother had dropped dead of shock, found herself left virtually penniless. She believed she had a gift for writing and came to New York to seek a position on a newspaper. She was assigned to Chinatown to get an opium den story. She missed her escort and bravely and foolishly went to Chinatown alone. She yielded to the invitation of a Chinaman to enter his shop and inspect some beads, and he was at the point of attacking her when a storm of revolver shots broke, and a tong war was on. At the crack of the first pistol the Chinese shopkeeper desisted from his evil designs and shoved Dorothy into a secret room, the door of which he closed and locked on the outside. The girl was mad with fear. To her through the deadening walls came the sounds of the shooting. Then the shots ceased as suddenly as they had begun, and she heard faintly the gongs of police ambulances and patrols. Had she been liberated she would have seen white-jacketed emergency surgeons and orderlies picking up dead and wounded Chinamen and putting them into the wagons, while blue-coated officers with busy clubs rounded up other Chinamen, dragging them from all sorts of odd holes and corners and packing them into patrol wagons. "Worst tong fight in years," a sergeant observed pleasantly to a newspaper man. "Seven dead already, and some of the wounded sure to die. These Chinks shoot mighty straight for heathen. In the dark, too. What always puzzled me was how one tong could spot the other tong when they get mixed up in one of these nasty little wars. All Chinks look pretty much alike to me. You can never find out what started one of those shooting festivals. They won't tell a white man a thing. We can take our fill of guessing, though. Maybe it was a woman taken away from a member of one tong by a member of another. Maybe it was opium, maybe, you can think up a whole lot of maybes if you try, but what's the use"?

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

Following a prologue which shows that animals frequently desert their young, a jilted prehistoric suitor murders the child of the woman he loves. During the age of the Roman Empire, a soldier has a brief affair with a shepherdess, and long after he has left, she has their child. The shepherdess looks for the father, but returns brokenhearted after finding him with another woman, and then dies while saving her child from a poisonous snake. During the Elizabethan era, a wayward son seeks spiritual redemption through war, and is killed in battle. In modern times, a young, impoverished husband refuses to start a family, despite the pleadings of his wife. Then, when he finally starts earning enough money to consider children, his wife has an accident that makes it impossible for her to become pregnant.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A father flirts with an actress in order to teach his son a lesson and himself falls in love with her.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A jealous leading lady does herself out of money and honor, while the object of her jealousy steps in, carries the show and wins the love of the play's author.

Dir: George Terwilliger

Myra Fielding, a young country schoolteacher, becomes dissatisfied with the narrow outlook of her home, and goes to the city, despite the protests of her half-accepted sweetheart, Bert Temple. There she obtains work in a cabaret, hoping to attract the attention of some theatrical manager. She becomes acquainted with Al Wayne, a flashy "sport" who, although he is married, insists on paying attention to her. She learns that her father is in urgent need of medical attention, and having no money of her own to defray the necessary expenses, is forced to borrow from Wayne. He gives her $500, securing an I.O.U. for the money, thinking in this way to obtain a hold over the girl. Wayne has taken the money from funds belonging to his wife, Edith, who, when she discovers her loss, accuses him of the theft. Wayne leaves her in anger, and going to Myra, demands that she leave the town with him. Myra refuses, and as they are arguing, Bert Temple enters the room. Temple thrashes Wayne, but scorning the life he thinks Myra is lending, leaves her. Wayne leaves for Chicago, but is robbed of his wallet on the train by a pick-pocket, who is later killed while jumping off a car. The thief is identified as Wayne by the papers in the wallet, Wayne does not correct the error, preferring to start life again under a new name. Arriving in Chicago, he embarks upon a "political career" in a tough quarter of the city. All of his old associates think him dead. Edith, meanwhile, has discovered Myra's I.O.U., and writes her, reproaching her for not only stealing her money, but her husband also. Myra calls on Edith, and tells her that she never knew that Wayne was married, and promises to repay the money. In the course of time, Myra succeeds in her ambition, and becomes a musical comedy star. By a strange coincidence, Temple, her old sweetheart, meets Edith, and falls in love with her. She, thinking Wayne dead, marries Temple, and they go to Chicago to live. Temple eventually becomes District Attorney. He starts to wipe out the political gang that has been grafting on the city. Wayne, who is one of the gang that Temple is after, recognizes him, and learns that Edith is his wife. Wayne goes to Temple's home, and revealing himself to Edith, tells her that she is still his wife, but offers to remain silent if Temple will stop his prosecution of the gang. Edith, half-crazed by the situation, meets Wayne at his apartment to see if he will relent. Myra, playing in a Chicago theater, sees Wayne, and marvels at his being alive. Investigating, she learns the true state of affairs and discovers that Edith is to meet her former husband at his apartment. She remembers the wrong she unwittingly did Edith, and desiring to do what she can to help her follows her. There, from a place of concealment, she sees Edith, attacked by Wayne, shoot and apparently kill him. She leaps out from her hiding place and hurries the other woman out of the room through the fire-escape. Then she returns, in time to be caught by the police, who have arrived, attracted by the noise of the shot. Edith goes to her home all unnerved, and confesses everything to her husband. He loves her well enough to stand by her, and conducts an investigation into the entire affair. The search reveals the fact that, instead of having been killed by Edith, Wayne was shot by a man who had lain in wait for him for that purpose. Myra's sacrifice was therefore made unnecessary and she is released, bearing with her, nonetheless, the blessings of her former sweetheart and his wife.