Hand-Picked Alternatives for Fans of Society Dogs: Cult Guide

Dir: Reggie Morris

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Hibbard

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The Good Ship Rock 'n' Rye perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

We'll call the lady Milt for short because she impersonates a young sailor lad. Milt's captain was a baseball fiend and had to have his ball games on board. For a target he used an ebony head, but the target was held in place by the first mate who had a whip in hand. Milt was a regular jazz baby. He shimmied and jazzed and played his ukulele all day long. Landing Day arrives and Milt is as signed to tie up the ship at the dock. The captain, as all sailors do, had a sweetheart in every town. In this particular town, Edith Roberts was his sweety. But she had more than one suitor. There were three, four and five hanging around her door at all times, and dad kept his shotgun busy chasing them. She falls in love with a dude and they elope; but little do they know they escape on an enemy's ship. Her sweetheart's rival was no one else but the captain and when he discovers who is on board, the fun begins. The sweetheart is thrown into prison, and the girl is put on K. P. Milt was the chief chef and Edith was made his assistant. While Milt has his back turned, Edith puts some gun-powder in the cake dough, and blows poor Milt to smithereens. She helps her lover to escape and they both jump overboard. They are picked up by a cruiser and the guns are trained on the pirate ship. The boat sinks with all the bad men, but Milt manages to escape in a rowboat. He takes off his civvy clothes and swears never to leave the jungle again.

Dir: Fred Hibbard

Chocolate Drop was out of work and when he sees a sign on one of the circus tents reading "'Lion Feeder" wanted - he applies. He is given the job, but when he sees the lions, and they playfully try to snap his hand off, chew his hat up, and a few other pranks, he hot foots it to the nearest river and in he goes. Jimmy, the Village Peeper, is caught flirting with the Queen of the circus, through the tent flaps. The watcher of the circus wallops him and sends him spinning. He lands in front of the manager of the circus. The manager asks him if he is looking for a job, to which he answers in the affirmative. He is given the job of a clown and all around helper. He waters the elephants, feeds the lions, imitates a rope walker and everything that's possible he is, and does. A little side show takes place when the peanut man gets in the way of the angry mob when the gates are opened. A three cornered jealousy springs up between the manager, the lion tamer and Jimmy. They all are madly in love with the Queen of the Circus. To get even with the lion tamer, Jimmy lets the lions out of their cages. Then the fun begins. The lions are starved and make one bee line for the audiences. Several of the lions go into the various tents, where the freaks are having their show. One [man]'s eyes go back on him when he sees the lions and refuse to turn back, they become crossed. His feet, however, are his friends, and they sure do make some speed in getting away from the lions. The lion tamer, Jimmy and the Queen try to wrap themselves up in one of the tents to escape the lions, but leave it to the Hons to get into anything. We see the lion emerge from the tent with all kinds of clothing draped around hint, and when all is quiet, the lion having gone further looking for trouble, we see the three "chicken " hearts come up out of the ground.

Dir: Charley Chase

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

A young married couple volunteer to take charge of several orphans after the asylum has burned down. Of course they find their hands full with their troublesome charges.

Dir: Unknown Director

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Kids Is Kids 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: Ralph Ince

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Fred Hibbard

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

A burglar constantly gets the "papers" when he is after the pearls, and a spy endlessly gets the pearls while he is after the "papers," and the jealous husband of a flighty wife lives in what he calls a "house full of lovers," consisting of the spy, the burglar, and some detectives, all in hiding, all trying to avoid him and one another.

Dir: Edgar Jones

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

Dir: Jerome Storm

Ne'er-do-well Homer Cavender ventures to the city from Mainsville in an effort to find fame and fortune. Both elude him, and after clerking for two years, Homer returns home for a vacation. Impressed by his flashy clothes, the townspeople assume that Homer has achieved success. Attempting to win Rachel Prouty from his rival, Arthur Machim, Homer continues the deception by announcing that his employer, Kort and Bailly, has dispatched him to enroll stockholders for a proposed new plant to be built in Mainsville. Machim discovers the sham and denounces Homer as a crook. Meanwhile, Homer returns to New York, convinces his employers of the merits of his plan and comes home triumphant, with a proposal for both the new plant and for Rachel's hand in marriage.