Hidden Genre Gems In Alignment with the style of The Auction Block:...

Dir: Charley Chase

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: Hobart Henley

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Too Fat to Fight perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A fat man tries to enlist in the Army, but is told he is too large for service. So he joins the YMCA and ultimately proves his heroic mettle anyway.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Susie organizes plays to benefit the Red Cross. She marries her hero, Robert, but finds out he did it to avoid the draft. She begs to be taken in his place and is soon captured by the enemy. Will Robert become the hero she believed he was?

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Two baby boys are born in Owentown. One is the unwanted offspring of an avaricious grasping father. He grows to an evil manhood, and loses his one chance of real happiness to the play-fellow whose parents have met their responsibilities.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Hard working Jimmy Dodd, the main support for his widowed mother and three unwed, bickering sisters, promises his mother on her death bed that he will not marry before his sisters. When Jimmy and his fiancée Emily Harrison fail to find husbands for the sisters, Jimmy lets Emily go and she marries another. After many years of complaints, two of the sisters marry and the third goes to work at a settlement house. Because of the war, Jimmy's leather business becomes very profitable. When he is courting flashy young women, his sisters condemn him for being a "gay old dog," but Jimmy realizes that his romantic efforts are pitiful and unfulfilling. He is deeply moved when he sees Emily's boy going off to war in a parade. When his sisters reproach him again, he tells them to leave and not return, blaming them for the loss of Emily and the child that might have been his.

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Sylvia Martin runs away from her abusive father and almost succumbs to the cold on the doorstep of Louis Gordon, a crook. They marry, but later when faced with capture, Gordon kills himself. Gordon's gang accuses Sylvia of murder, and although she is acquitted for lack of evidence, her name is included in the Police Index. Years later, upon finding the Index on the shelf of her second husband, Washington diplomat David Maber, Sylvia fears exposure. Her fears heighten when her arresting officer, John Alden, now chief of the Secret Service, tries to induce her to entrap a Bolshevik agent, Hugo Declasse, who is attracted to her. When Alden appeals to patriotism, she acquiesces. Declasse finds the Index and threatens to expose her unless she cooperates in getting plans for an uprising to London agents, but Declasse is foiled when his trusted Japanese butler turns out to be a Secret Service agent. Maber, learning of Sylvia's past, forgives her.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Mrs. Sherwood hates her life with her husband, who is drinking increasingly as a result of his own unhappiness in the marriage. Mrs. Sherwood is in love with Le Roy Scott, who encounters a woman of astonishingly identical features to Mrs. Sherwood. He contrives to substitute the other woman, Marion Roche, in Mrs. Sherwood's place while he and Mrs. Sherwood escape for a tryst. But Marion is much more the wife that Sherwood dreamed of, and he falls in love "anew" with his "wife," and she with him. She determines to find some way to permanently replace the real Mrs. Sherwood.

Dir: Hobart Henley

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

Carey Wethersbee and her aunt Lucretia live in an old Southern mansion, which through their quaint manners and outmoded costumes, they imbue with an atmosphere of the antebellum South. After her aunt's death, Carey decides to "go visiting" in the North, journeys to a small town and announces her intention to install herself in the home of wealthy mill owner Hiram Ward. The young bachelor is shocked at first, but his friends convince him to allow her to stay. Carey visits Hiram's mill, where she is shocked and saddened by the miserable conditions under which the employees labor. Her distribution of money among the workers fails to avert a strike, but when the mill is blown up, she staunchly defends the accused man. Through her influence, Hiram's attitude towards his employees softens, and he agrees to improve conditions. He grows to love the unspoiled girl, and she eventually returns his affections.

Dir: Hobart Henley

Carlotta lives with Giuseppe a violinist, in "Little Italy." the Italian quarter of a great city. With Rags, a monkey, they earn a livelihood playing on the streets. One day Tom, a wealthy chap, is attracted to the girl and asks her to dance at a charity ball, giving her his card and the date. But Giuseppe drags the girl away. Tom and his friend follow them home, but they are seen by Giuseppe, who tells Michael Gavotti, a leader of Black Handers, and his master. Gavotti threatens Giuseppe if he allows Tom to see the girl again. He also tells two of his men to watch the place. While Giuseppe is absent, Tom appears and persuades Carlotta to come to the charity dance. He is seen by Tony, a fruit vendor. In love with Carlotta, and jealous of her, Gavotti's men also see him and are ordered to abduct the girl. Giuseppe returns, finds her gone, and informs Tony. The two are heart-broken. Tony learns that Carlotta is not Giuseppe's daughter. Giuseppe happens to see the monkey, "Rags," near a building and with the aid of Tony he manages to rescue the girl. It is the night of the Charity Ball and Carlotta pleads to be allowed to go and finally Giuseppe consents, if Tony accompanies her. Judge Andrews and his wife have received word from the Black Handers that their granddaughter, held in custody, would be returned upon receipt of a sum of money. Their daughter ran away with an Italian count, and, dying, had left the granddaughter in care of an Italian friend, the father having died some time before. On the night of the charity dance the Black Hand promised to return the girl. Andrews attends the ball, intending to slip away at the appointed time. When Gavotti cannot find the girl, he goes with his men to Giuseppe's room, where they find the old man packing. Not until after they have tortured him does he reveal that Carlotta has gone to the charity ball, where the Judge and his wife are startled by her resemblance to their daughter. Carlotta goes into the garden and is abducted by Gavotti. Tom, Tony and the Judge take up the chase, which ends in Gavotti's quarters. Most of the gang, including Gavotti, are killed. The Judge and Tom take the girl home. Mrs. Andrews is overjoyed at having Carlotta safe. She marries Tom. On her return from the honeymoon she seeks out Giuseppe and Tony, who rejoice with her.

Dir: Richard Smith

Two female candidates for Chief of Police live across the hall from each other, and their political rivalry follows them home, leading to plenty of hi-jinks.