Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of The Madonna of the Slums: Cult Guide

Dir: George Terwilliger

Matthew and Reginald Crosby, two brothers, and their cousin, James Thedford, manage an industrial conglomerate. Reginald marries an actress and gives so many lavish and ostentatious parties that one of them leads to a strike after being reported by labor editor Oscar Lackett. The strike leaders are fiery orator Jem Burress, German immigrant Louis Stolbeck, and Stolbeck's feisty daughter Louise, who is also Jem's girlfriend. John Stedman, a labor lawyer, lends moderation to the cause and thus impresses Matthew and Reginald's sister, Grace Crosby, who joins the workers. When Jem, jealous of Louise's infatuation with John, attempts to discredit him with the union members, Louise goes to John's apartment to warn him, but Grace arrives at the same time to accept John's marriage proposal. To prove her devotion to John and the cause, Grace summons her brothers to John's apartment, and when everyone converges, they finally resolve the strike.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

Myra Fielding, a young country schoolteacher, becomes dissatisfied with the narrow outlook of her home, and goes to the city, despite the protests of her half-accepted sweetheart, Bert Temple. There she obtains work in a cabaret, hoping to attract the attention of some theatrical manager. She becomes acquainted with Al Wayne, a flashy "sport" who, although he is married, insists on paying attention to her. She learns that her father is in urgent need of medical attention, and having no money of her own to defray the necessary expenses, is forced to borrow from Wayne. He gives her $500, securing an I.O.U. for the money, thinking in this way to obtain a hold over the girl. Wayne has taken the money from funds belonging to his wife, Edith, who, when she discovers her loss, accuses him of the theft. Wayne leaves her in anger, and going to Myra, demands that she leave the town with him. Myra refuses, and as they are arguing, Bert Temple enters the room. Temple thrashes Wayne, but scorning the life he thinks Myra is lending, leaves her. Wayne leaves for Chicago, but is robbed of his wallet on the train by a pick-pocket, who is later killed while jumping off a car. The thief is identified as Wayne by the papers in the wallet, Wayne does not correct the error, preferring to start life again under a new name. Arriving in Chicago, he embarks upon a "political career" in a tough quarter of the city. All of his old associates think him dead. Edith, meanwhile, has discovered Myra's I.O.U., and writes her, reproaching her for not only stealing her money, but her husband also. Myra calls on Edith, and tells her that she never knew that Wayne was married, and promises to repay the money. In the course of time, Myra succeeds in her ambition, and becomes a musical comedy star. By a strange coincidence, Temple, her old sweetheart, meets Edith, and falls in love with her. She, thinking Wayne dead, marries Temple, and they go to Chicago to live. Temple eventually becomes District Attorney. He starts to wipe out the political gang that has been grafting on the city. Wayne, who is one of the gang that Temple is after, recognizes him, and learns that Edith is his wife. Wayne goes to Temple's home, and revealing himself to Edith, tells her that she is still his wife, but offers to remain silent if Temple will stop his prosecution of the gang. Edith, half-crazed by the situation, meets Wayne at his apartment to see if he will relent. Myra, playing in a Chicago theater, sees Wayne, and marvels at his being alive. Investigating, she learns the true state of affairs and discovers that Edith is to meet her former husband at his apartment. She remembers the wrong she unwittingly did Edith, and desiring to do what she can to help her follows her. There, from a place of concealment, she sees Edith, attacked by Wayne, shoot and apparently kill him. She leaps out from her hiding place and hurries the other woman out of the room through the fire-escape. Then she returns, in time to be caught by the police, who have arrived, attracted by the noise of the shot. Edith goes to her home all unnerved, and confesses everything to her husband. He loves her well enough to stand by her, and conducts an investigation into the entire affair. The search reveals the fact that, instead of having been killed by Edith, Wayne was shot by a man who had lain in wait for him for that purpose. Myra's sacrifice was therefore made unnecessary and she is released, bearing with her, nonetheless, the blessings of her former sweetheart and his wife.

Dir: George Terwilliger

John Carter is a good fellow. In fact, his good fellowship is Carter's one great fault, for the highballs and cocktails which go with it too frequently make him forget his more serious obligations and are cause for anxiety on the part of his charming fiancée Marybelle. Marybelle's little brother, Billie asks Carter what is making Marybelle so sad. Carter replies evasively, "It's a Ringtailed Rhinoceros." Billie vows to kill the rhino. When Carter fails to appear on time at a dinner which was planned to announce his engagement to Marybelle, and finally arrives intoxicated, her parents in anger force her to break the engagement and forbid Carter the house. Marybelle's rejection of Carter hits him hard. When he returns to his rooms, he finds little Billie, who has come to seek his assistance in his hunt for the rhino. Taking Billie on his knee, Carter tells him they will kill the rhino, and they begin to plan how to do it. Billie falls asleep. So does Carter. And Carter dreams. In his dream Carter has become what a harsh creditor predicted, a bum. Then he is shanghaied by pirates and made to scrub decks. Then the ringtailed rhinoceros appears to him and leads him to the captain's rum. The pirates chase him around the ship and finally make him walk the plank. Carter floats and floats and finally crawls out on an island. A guard appears and chases him. Dozens of soldiers appear by magic and all chase him until he falls at the feet of a little prince and begs to be saved. The prince saves him from the soldiers and takes him to see his sister, "The Weeping Princess." She must always weep until the ringtailed rhinoceros has been slain. Carter promises to kill the rhino, so, although the frowning king and queen trust him not, the prince gives him an eight-legged horse, "Resolution," and Carter starts on his hunt. He meets the rhino, but, instead of a killing, they have quite a party together in the king's wine cellar. This continues night after night for some time, Carter deceiving the royal family into believing he is after the rhino, until the Counsellor Bird, failing to make Carter ashamed of himself, "squeals" to the prince about it. They want to cut Carter's head off, but the little prince once more intercedes for him and at Carter's pleading, sets out with him to kill the rhino. The rhino and his "cronies" plead, threaten and cajole with Carter, but the prince's influence is stronger. Through the rhino's domain they plunge, firing at their tempters and not even stopping to "wet up" at the "River of Drinks," which is so inviting to Carter. Seeing that Carter is at last in earnest, the rhino calls his crowd together and they attack the castle. Carter and the prince hasten back to the rescue. On the way Carter finds a bottle of wine. Just as he is about to put it to his lips, the prince commands: "The rhino is here. Kill him!" and as the dreaded beast plunges into the throne room, Carter sends the bottle hurtling at its head. The Rhino falls dead. The princess stops crying, and throws herself gladly upon Carter's manly bosom. The king, queen and all the court hail Carter as a hero. And although this prophecy is made in a dream, it is fulfilled in real life, for Carter comes out of his dream a saner and sober man and tells Billie and Marybelle that he has killed the ringtailed rhinoceros.

Dir: George Terwilliger

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

Following a prologue which shows that animals frequently desert their young, a jilted prehistoric suitor murders the child of the woman he loves. During the age of the Roman Empire, a soldier has a brief affair with a shepherdess, and long after he has left, she has their child. The shepherdess looks for the father, but returns brokenhearted after finding him with another woman, and then dies while saving her child from a poisonous snake. During the Elizabethan era, a wayward son seeks spiritual redemption through war, and is killed in battle. In modern times, a young, impoverished husband refuses to start a family, despite the pleadings of his wife. Then, when he finally starts earning enough money to consider children, his wife has an accident that makes it impossible for her to become pregnant.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A father flirts with an actress in order to teach his son a lesson and himself falls in love with her.

Dir: George Terwilliger

A nervous business man is pursued by what he thinks are visions of the same girl in many places. The latter turns out to be an authoress who changes jobs frequently in order to get literary material.