Hidden Genre Gems In Alignment with the style of The Beauty Shop: C...

Dir: Edward Dillon

A young girl, Rose Eastmen ( Besie Love ) lives with her lazy Uncle, who works as a janitor in a publishing house. Lacking education, both Rose and her Uncle are susceptible to the socialist ideas of writer Rudolph Creig. One day Rose encounters Jack Stevens the wealthy son of the owner of a publishing house, working on his car. She believes he is a common laborer, and she begins courting him. Through her exposure to Jack, Rose begins to realize the rich are not such an abominable people. Rudolph has also reached this conclusion after learning Stevens has published his book. Now bolstered by success and armed with a hefty royalty check, Rudolph is able to marry Rose.

Dir: Edward Dillon

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

Traveling on a Pullman train are two strangers who, except for a difference in hair color, bear a striking resemblance to each other. Horace Barney, the heir to a fortune, is on his way to a mental sanitarium, accompanied by his unscrupulous guardian Maurice Claypool and Claypool's accomplices, Dr. Wallace and Thomas Farrel. Jack Trevor, an automobile salesman, is substituted for Barney when the train crashes and Barney is killed. When Trevor awakens from his unconscious state, he finds himself in a mansion and addressed as Barney. He falls in love with Helen Townsend, Barney's cousin who is next in line for the inheritance. Trevor realizes the fraud and sets out to save the estate for Helen. Claypool, who wants to marry Helen, tries to declare Trevor insane and commit him to an institution. A series of fights, chases, and misunderstandings ensue, but Trevor finally forces a confession from Claypool and wins both Helen and the fortune.

Dir: Edward Dillon

Through the death of a relative, New York sweatshop worker Lizzie Holt is transformed into Miss Elizabeth Holt, heiress. Elizabeth soon tires, however, of the shallowness of society life and occupies herself by working in a settlement house on the lower East Side. There she falls in love with John Russell, an idealist who despises the rich, and to escape his scorn, she identifies herself as Miss Holt's secretary. John's efforts to close up ward boss Ted Phelan's gambling house next door prove successful when the place is raided, but when several of Elizabeth's acquaintances on a "slumming party" seek her aid in escaping arrest, John discovers her true identity. He is about to change his mind about marrying her, when Elizabeth convinces him that her love and her character are true, and the two are united.

Dir: Edward Dillon

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

Professional thief Joe Grim is killing time in New York City's Central Park before he robs the Wall Street subtreasury. He spots pretty young Laura White on a runaway horse. He manages to rescue her. Falling for her, he tries to steal a photo of her but is discovered and held at gunpoint by Laura's friend Countess Briand--who, unbeknownst to Laura, is actually the head of a German spy ring, among whose members if Laura's fiance Karl Richter. The countess convinces Joe to steal plane for a new airplane by telling Joe that they're papers that are being used to blackmail Laura. But things don't go exactly as planned.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

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: Richard Smith

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

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.

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: Lloyd Ingraham

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of An Amateur Devil 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: Edward Dillon

Her education in a French convent school completed, plain Justine Spencer returns to New York. There she is shocked to discover that her mother Dodo is a flamboyant musical comedy actress with many male admirers. Dodo, on the other hand, is dismayed to find Justine priggish and dowdy. One of Dodo's suitors is Billy Ferris, who, in a fit of jealousy, murders her and slays himself. Out of pity, Cosmo Spotiswood, another admirer of Dodo, marries Justine, but soon tires of his platonic marriage and leaves for Europe. Upon his return, Cosmo finds Justine transformed. Under the tutelage of Dodo's maid Loti, she has bobbed her hair and donned fashionable apparel. Thus changed, Justine is surrounded by suitors. Stung by jealousy, Cosmo falls in love with his sophisticated wife.

Dir: Edward Dillon

While vacationing with his father Edward at a Palm Beach hotel, George Welston becomes smitten with Eve Pendleton, the daughter of Edward's business rival Judson. After George prevents Pendleton from getting an option on a deal by racing in his car with his father's $100,000 deposit, Pendleton favors Eve's other suitor, Arthur Trask, whose gentlemanly manner conceals his intent to rob Eve and her wealthy friends. When George sees Trask climb into Eve's window, he follows and is apprehended by a detective, who reluctantly releases George in response to Eve's pleas. Later, Trask binds, gags and robs society belle Marian Trevor. After Trask's dropped cigarette starts a fire, George rescues Marian, who upon reviving, accuses him of theft, arson and abduction. George's father puts up $100,000 needed for an important deal for George's bail, then George chases Trask, who has stolen the $600,000 which Pendleton put up for the same deal. After a fight, George apprehends Trask and races to court before the bail money is forfeited. Pendleton and Welston become partners, while George and Eve marry.