Masterpiece Selection that Capture the Essence of Should Husbands P...

Dir: F. Richard Jones

This short was a promo piece for Mack Sennett's Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919), with many of the same characters in addition to the Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties.

Dir: Lloyd Ingraham

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

While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.

Dir: F. Richard Jones

Charlie, as the proprietor of a delicatessen, finds it impossible to resist the attractions of a pretty little manicurist next door and equally impossible to carry on his flirtation without getting into trouble with his wife.

Dir: F. Richard Jones

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Never Too Old perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Mickey, an orphan who has been brought up in a mining settlement, is sent to New York to live with her aunt.

Dir: F. Richard Jones

A foolish husband attempts to make a date with a fair and frivolous charmer whose card has come into his possession, and is arranging all the details while his wife stands listening. He tries to explain that it is a business matter, but is forced to go to the bathroom to think it over. While thus engaged he has a horrible dream of his adventures with the frivolous lady who puts him through the exciting adventures of a badger game. That he finally escapes and wakes to find himself safe at home determines him that it shall be his last false step.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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

Carver Endicott, a young sophisticate, is rejected by his fiancée for being too foppish and dull. When she feigns an interest in his father, Carver attempts to disgrace his family name by working as a farmhand and later as a busboy in a hotel. However, the newspapers only praise him for his self-sacrificing principles; and finding that he cannot bring shame to the family through menial labor, he takes up with a notorious actress. But when this maneuver also fails, he returns to his former fiancée, who has no further complaint about his being an inexperienced dullard.

Dir: Edgar Jones

A mail-order bride arrives at a Maine lumber camp but doesn't like her prospective husband.

Dir: F. Richard Jones

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of His Last False Step perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: F. Richard Jones

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.