Underground Favorites Mirroring the Impact of Sylvia on a Spree: Cult Guide

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

Because her mother wishes it, Kate Leigh marries Basil Kildare, the wealthy owner of a Southern plantation called Storm. His servant Mahaly, the mother of his illegitimate son, protests his infidelity so bitterly that Basil takes the child away from her. Kate soon finds that her new husband is a coarse and brutal alcoholic and seeks comfort in the friendship of Dr. Jacques Benoix and his mother. When Basil obtains a note written from his wife to Jacques, he finds the doctor and engages him in a brutal fight. After Basil is found dead, Jacques is sentenced to life in prison, but some years later, owing to Kate's unceasing efforts on his behalf, he is granted a pardon. On her deathbed, Mahaly confesses that she killed Basil, leaving Kate and Jacques to begin a new life together.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of After His Own Heart perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Socialite Thomas Wentworth Duncan reunites with his former lover, Sally Reeves, after a trustee absconds with his fortune. Realizing he cannot afford to support Sally in the manner to which she is accustomed, Duncan impulsively accepts an offer of $250,000, then discovers that he has sold his heart to Dr. Spleen, a surgeon who plans to exchange the organ with that of Sally's uncle, Judah P. Corpus, believing it will restore the old man's youth. Duncan learns that the surgery has only been attempted twice before with a pair of dogs, neither of which survived. He tries to renege on the deal, but a huge attendant prevents him from leaving the doctor's island sanitarium. Spleen dies from excitement before he can begin the operation, leaving Duncan unscathed with his newfound wealth. Duncan and Sally marry, while Uncle Judah believes the operation to have been a success.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

Good-natured Marcellus Starr, the proprietor of a small town men's furnishing store, answers "That's good" to everything. A group of city crooks decide to fleece him of his life's savings, and send beautiful Josephine Pollock and Barrett Prentice to call on him. They find him an easy target, and Marcellus is so smitten with Josephine that he willingly accompanies her to Chicago. The scheme is to convince him he could make a fortune enlarging his business when actually he is backing a fake horse race. When Marcellus goes home with Josephine to get the money, she meets his orphaned niece Alice, whose money is also to be used. Josephine realizes what a fine man she is swindling and that she is falling in love with him. Marcellus admits that he was on to her all the time, but he was determined to reform her and make her his wife. Both are happy that he has succeeded.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

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

Lionel and Daniel Houston both love a Southern beauty named Virginia, and when she finally chooses Daniel, Lionel angrily moves North and turns his full attention to the acquisition of wealth. Virginia dies in childbirth, leaving Daniel to rear little Virginia alone. A rich aunt promises to leave Daniel a fortune provided he resume contact with his brother, whereupon Virginia, determined to effect a reconciliation between the two men, answers Lionel's ad for a cook and settles into his luxurious estate. There Virginia meets and falls in love with Lionel's adopted son Perry Arnold, but faces stiff competition in Rose Mason, in reality a crook who hopes to obtain Lionel's secret stock market papers. In the end, Virginia not only unmasks Rose's plot and wins Perry, but reunites her long-estranged father and uncle.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

When Texas ranch owner Ellen inherits the estate of her long-lost uncle, the Duke of Wilshire, her unscrupulous attorney, Wesley Saunders, who has been plotting to seize control of her ranch, decides to capitalize on the opportunity. Confiscating Ellen's identification papers, Saunders journeys to England, accompanied by a chorus girl who is impersonating Ellen. When Ellen appears at the estate, her British relatives are appalled by her rough-and-tumble manners, and with the subsequent arrival of Saunders and his protégé, Ellen is treated as an impostor. Now stranded, Ellen is forced to sell Saunders an option on her ranch in return for a ticket back to Texas. Lady Harriet and Sir Gerald, two of her English relatives, discover Saunders' treachery and follow Ellen back West. Thus, Ellen is finally accorded her ranch and her British estate, and she happily marries her foreman, Slim Higgins.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

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

Weary of being poor, Rebecca Butler takes a job in a Broadway chorus line and determines to marry a millionaire. She refuses dancing partner Tom Rushworth's offer of marriage in hopes of ensnaring millionaire Carter Willis. At first Willis offers to make Becky his mistress but later he capitulates and asks her to be his wife. When Rushworth is arrested for the murder of Dodo, a chorus girl, Becky provides him with an alibi by testifying that she spent the night of the murder with the dancer. The resulting scandal forces her to forfeit Willis' offer of marriage, but she realizes that her heart lies with Rushworth and that love is more important than money.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

Lon Withers, a bored clerk for an exporter, annoys his sweetheart, Suzanne Brooks, his employer's daughter, with his get-rich-quick schemes. To teach him a lesson, Suzanne has South American millionaire importer Señor Romez cable Lon that he will be arriving soon to look for an American representative. Lon attempts to bluff his way into Romez's good graces by entertaining him lavishly on the life savings he cajoles from bookkeeper Ford and by impressing Romez with his phony company, F. F., Inc., or Four Flusher, Inc., located in a ritzy hotel. After two weeks of spending at cabarets, boxing matches, and horse races, Lon is broke. When he convinces members of the hotel staff to contribute to his company, the hotel detective arrests him. Suzanne and Romez straighten things out, and Romez, impressed by Lon's hustling, hires him as his American representative, which leaves him and Suzanne happy.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Her Five-Foot Highness perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Twins Nelson and J. Barrington Drake return home for the celebration of their parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Barrington is a wealthy oilman, but Nelson is a pastor in a small rural church, who is struggling to increase his ever-shrinking flock, Barrington tells him that his problem could be solved with the right type of salesmanship, and proceeds to map out a plan to do just that. However, a case of mistaken identity--and a scheme by two of the church's deacons to take over all of the church property--throws a wrench into his plans.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

Audacious Jeanne works in a book bindery, is given a diary written by one Thomas Dodd to bind. The diary portrays Dodd as a scoundrel who fathered a girl by a woman he never married, and Dodd's family as a nest of vipers. Jeanne decides it is her duty to save this corrupt family and presents herself to Dodd as his illegitimate daughter. In fact, Dodd is a meek old man whose scandalous diary was pure fantasy, and the only hostile member of the family is Dodd's greedy brother Jerry, who was the only sympathetic character in Dodd's diary. Jeanne falls in love with Dodd's nephew Kent, though she dutifully urges him to marry Hazel Jenkins, a woman whom Jeanne believes Kent has wronged. Finally Sarah Ross, the alleged mother of Dodd's child, ends Jeanne's suspicions by denying that she had ever had a daughter. After foiling Jerry's plan to usurp the family fortune, Jeanne confesses her charade and accepts Kent's love. Dodd likewise admits that his diary is a fake and proposes to Sarah.

Dir: Harry L. Franklin

Returning from a selling trip, Jimmy Baxter, the fastest salesman at his father's munitions company, notices a pretty girl smiling at him in the station. Since her train soon leaves, all Jimmy learns about her is information on her luggage: her initials and destination, the Central American republic Santo Dinero. When Jimmy's father wants a delivery of munitions to be taken secretly to the president of Santo Dinero, so that they are not appropriated by the many revolutionaries there, Jimmy volunteers, and under the cover of selling patent medicine called "Pep," in reality, whiskey, he finds that the president is the father of the girl in the station, Felicia Bocaz. After Felicia's suitor, General Lopanzo, who secretly leads the revolutionary forces, discovers Jimmy's real purpose, he calls for an uprising. Jimmy, having earlier endeared himself to the natives when he first sold, then gave away "Pep," now tries it on the soldiers. He wins their favor and also Felicia's love, as her father returns to power.