The Essential Watchlist that Capture the Essence of Little Miss Opt...

Dir: Robert Thornby

Jill Cummings and her sisters Marguerite and Jane are left penniless when their father dies. To provide for the family, Jill accepts a sales position in a department store, where she attracts the attention of her unhappily-married boss, George Hemingway. Desperate to escape her difficult circumstances, Jill accepts Hemingway's proposal that she live as his mistress and subsequently is kept in high style in a large, beautiful house. Some years later, Hemingway dies, and with the fortune he leaves her, Jill tours Europe. There she becomes engaged to Harry Adams, but when George Hemingway, Jr. appears to act as best man in the wedding, Jill is forced to confess her past to Harry. The two separate for a year to think things over, and when Harry returns, he suggests to Jill that they live together "in a happy way." Jill leaves him and continues her life alone.

Dir: Robert Thornby

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

Joseph Stagg is a lonely, grouchy middle-aged man living with his housekeeper, "Aunt Rose", in a New England village. A prominent merchant in town, one day he gets a letter notifying him that his sister and brother-in-law have been lost in a shipwreck. He takes in his sister's daughter Carolyn and her dog, Prince. Carolyn meets Amanda Parlow, a local woman, and discovers that Amanda and her Uncle Joe had an affair years ago, and its breakup left Joe hurt and bitter. Carolyn resolves to get them back together, but a forest fire that breaks out in the mountains where Amanda and Carolyn are staying puts her plans, and her life, in danger.

Dir: Robert Thornby

Young American John Maude is forced to find a job when he falls in love with society girl Betty Keith. He accepts a sudden offer to go to Mervo, a tiny island country, where he is hired by Benjamin Scobell to pose as the lost prince of Mervo as an attraction to bolster the Mervo casino as a rival of Monte Carlo. Scobell also wants John to marry his stepdaughter, who turns out to be Betty. When Betty accuses John of being simply a shill for a gambling house, John closes the casino and tries to stage a revolution to make Mervo a republic. The natives resist, but the President of Mervo returns to run the casino himself, and Betty and John escape to America together.

Dir: Robert Thornby

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

Rose, a pretty young country girl,gets engaged to Steve, a handsome young lumberman whom she loves, but Claude, a city slicker who wants Rose, cons her into believing that Steve's obsessive love for her is ruining his life and that she should leave him for his own good. Steve, however, mistakenly thinks that Rose and Claude are having an affair, and breaks off the engagement. Complications ensue.

Dir: Robert Thornby

As Nan Lorimer's mother lies dying, she makes Nan promise to take care of her younger sister Masie. Unfortunately, Masie falls for the shady Dr. Thornton and travels secretly around New York City to meet him. One night she is rescued during a subway accident by wealthy John Harwood, a miner, who falls in love with her and marries her. Although the two are deeply in love, John begins to neglect his wife for his mining business, and soon Masie begins to see Dr. Thornton again. Complications ensue.

Dir: Robert Thornby

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Rose o' the River perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

An Englishman who has made his fortune in America decides to return to England. He takes his daughter Octavia to pay a visit to her relatives, especially Miss Belinda Bassett, an aunt whom she has never seen. An important business cable calls the father to America, and Octavia goes on alone to her aunt. The aunt's home, Slowbridge, is a sleepy little English village whose snobbish small-town aristocracy is headed by pompous Lady Theobald, who has everyone under her thumb, including Miss Bassett and her own granddaughter Lucia, a sweet, shy English girl. Octavia has the effect of a dynamite bomb in Slowbridge. Her dresses, her breezy ways, her unconventional conduct, all infuriate Lady Theobald, and at first terrify her aunt. Little by little, however, Octavia becomes a general favorite. She enjoys engineering a love affair between bashful Lucia and a fine young man who has no social standing in Slowbridge just because he is a mere manufacturer and not a "gentleman of leisure." The worst blow to Lady Theobald comes when her nephew Captain Barold becomes exceedingly fond of Octavia. His manner of demonstrating his affection does not please Octavia; he seems to feel that he is doing her a tremendous favor in bestowing his affection upon her. She decides to teach him a lesson. Lady Theobald wants Captain Barold to marry her niece Lucia, who is actually in love with the manufacturer. Lady Theobald is horrified when she sees Octavia snatching this wonderful catch away from Lucia. Just when Slowbridge is about to blow up with agitation, Captain Barold puts his fortune to the test. He asks Octavia to marry him. She refuses, thereby succeeding in injuring his bump of conceit. Octavia's father arrives with the news that he is more than a millionaire; that his mining stock has recently doubled in value. With him comes Jack Belsays, an energetic American youth who is a type as foreign to Slowbridge as Octavia. What is the surprise of the small township to learn that Octavia has been engaged to Jack all the time, and never at all anxious to fasten herself upon English small town society or to intrude into their affairs. A marriage ceremony follows in Miss Bassett's little villa with young Poppleton, the curate officiating. Through Octavia's good offices, another wedding follows later, that of Lucia and the young manufacturer, whom even Lady Theobald has come to realize is fully worthy of respect, and of the hand of her granddaughter Lucia.

Dir: Robert Thornby

According to old Mr. Barry's will, if his son Jim fails to marry, the vast Barry estate will revert to the O'Maras. When one night Jim, an irresponsible drunk, falls down the stairs and is given until morning to live, Mrs. Barry, in order to protect the property from the O'Maras, pleads with Molly Shawn to marry her son. Molly, although in love with Barney Malone, agrees out of a sense of indebtedness to the Barry family, and the two are married. Much to everyone's surprise, Jim recovers and Molly pines for her sweetheart Barney until it is discovered that the priest who performed the ceremony was really a criminal who, to escape the law, had disguised himself in priests' robes. Overjoyed, Molly is disentangled and now free to marry Barney, the man she loves.

Dir: Robert Thornby

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

Vaudeville artist LaBelle Geraldine and her dancing partner Freddie Montgomery are stranded in Arizona when their troupe breaks up. In order to raise money, Geraldine orders Freddie to impersonate masked bandit Black Jim so that she may turn him in and collect the $2,000 reward. When the real Black Jim holds up her coach, Geraldine, believing that he is Freddie, boldly pulls out her gun, and the bandit shoots her in the wrist and takes her to his cabin. Later Freddie is captured too, but when members of the gang insult Geraldine, he refuses to protect her. Gradually Black Jim falls in love with her, and she comes to admire him so deeply that instead of seizing a chance to escape one night, she returns to warn him of the gang's plot to kill him. Together they hold the gang off until their cabin is set on fire. Dashing through the flames, they leap onto their horses and escape to safety.

Dir: Robert Thornby

Young playwright Harold Montague travels to the Kentucky mountains to seek the local color that his manager has complained is lacking in his new play. There he falls in love with Kate Kendall, a mountain girl, and tries to befriend a group of moonshiners, who regard him with suspicion because of their fear of revenue officers. Looney Lige, jealous of Harold's success with Kate, alerts the officials to the location of the still, and the mountaineers, led by Big Hank, decide that the outsider whom they assume has betrayed them must hang. Kate saves Harold at the last moment, and, badly shaken, he catches the next train back to New York. At the rehearsal of his play, his manager introduces him to his leading lady--Kate Kendall, who had also been sent to the mountains for local color.

Dir: Robert Thornby

Young Celeste Janvier ( Bessie Love ) lives in an East Side tenement with her immigrant grandfather, a humanitarian and socialist. Like her kindly grandfather, Celeste also has a kindhearted soul, and her friendly nature has earned her the nickname, " the little sister of everybody." When several unpleasant men try to court her, Celeste turns them down. Meanwhile, Hugh Tavers Jr., ( George Fisher ) whose father owns a factory, has died suddenly. The young Tavers poses as a laborer in order to understand why the workers want to strike. He meets and falls in love with Celeste, who works at the factory, and he secures a better job for her. Celeste learns that anarchist Ivan Marask ( Hector Sarno ) plans to kill Travers, she hurries to warn her employer and is shocked to learn that he is the poor laborer whom she loves. Marask comes to respect Travers, who agrees to improve working conditions for the factory workers, and finds lasting contentment with the lovely Celeste.