Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of The Taxi Dancer: Cult Guide

Dir: Unknown Director

The Judge needs a present for his wife's birthday, so Harry suggests a new corset. They go to the shop, but he's so embarrassed to ask the saleslady he hides in a phone booth.Harry goes in, but finds a GUY wearing one, and runs out.They both dress as women to get back in, but Mrs. Rummy gets there and chases him out.

Dir: Richard Smith

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Lunatics in Politics 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: Harry F. Millarde

Society girl Priscilla Kane relishes excitement, escapes from her boarding school and then rejects the man her father has selected for her. While visiting a mending shop, Langdon Trevor, a journalist who has exposed Priscilla's father as a food profiteer, mistakes Priscilla for a seamstress and asks her to call on him. Priscilla, attracted to Trevor, plays along, visiting Trevor and doing his mending. On one such visit, the photographer hired by Kane to frame Trevor snaps the young man in bed with Priscilla as his nurse. The two escape through a window and are married.

Dir: Reggie Morris

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

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Bonnie is the object of a brutish bully who likes to spend his time at her foster father's saloon. Arthur, a playwright has come to town after the woman he loves, has married another man for his money. Arthur marries Bonnie to protect her from the bully, meanwhile, the other woman has become a widow and now wants Arthur back. She arranges to put Bonnie in a compromising position with another man; her plan almost succeeds, but Arthur and Bonnie's strong bond of love cannot be broken.

Dir: Maurice Campbell

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Striking Models 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: Harry F. Millarde

Rudolph King becomes engaged to Martha Thorne, the niece of John Chandler, when he and Chandler form a pork-and-bean producing partnership. The two hold a house party for Pell Kingston, who buys pork and beans for the United States Army, to negotiate a contract. To convince Martha of the merits of kissing, the shy Rudolph asks Pell to kiss her in the dark, and when she responds favorably, Rudolph claims the credit. Martha discovers that Pell, to whom she is attracted, actually kissed her, but things become confused when Mrs. Irene Chandler also demonstrates an interest in Pell. After several amatory mix-ups, everything is cleared up, and Pell and Martha leave the party together.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Little Miss Nobody perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A marital misunderstanding between iron manufacturer Perry Risdon and his wife Olive occurs when her extravagant spending forces him to devote all of his time to business, which she interprets as neglect. Millionaire Ned Beckwith, Olive's former suitor, sees the developing breech and attempts to use it to his advantage by secretly forcing a bank to make Perry repay an $80,000 loan within 24 hours. When Beckwith agrees to Perry's loan request on the condition that he divorce Olive, Perry knocks him down. Olive, vacationing alone in Pasadena, gets word of her husband's straits and sells her jewelry to raise $30,000. Beckwith replies to her request for the rest by inviting her to his apartment that night. Deeply troubled, Olive goes and is saved from Beckwith's seduction when Beckwith's mistress, Marta Holmes, calls Perry, who arrives and fights Beckwith. Marta then kills Beckwith and drowns herself, while the Risdons are reconciled.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

Gretchen, an abandoned child, is raised by Frau Van Lom, the nastiest woman in the little Dutch village of Olenburg. As she grows up, Gretcen's few moments of happiness are those she spends with Carl, who is also an abandoned child, but who is raised by a poor family. When Gretchen refuses to marry a wealthy old man in exchange for his paying off Frau von Lom's mortgage, she is framed for theft and jailed. On top of that, Carl is taken away from the village and sent to the palace of the king. Complications ensue.

Dir: Harry F. Millarde

When her son has married beneath the family, Mrs. Van Twiller Du Bois disowns him and decides to leave her fortune to her nephew, Cecil Harrington. She does, however, agree to educate her granddaughter Mary, who comes to live with Mrs. Du Bois in hopes of reconciling her father and the old woman. Cecil, actually a local robber whose identity has just been discovered by the police, plans to rob his aunt and leave town. Just as he is emptying the safe, Mary enters the room, and when Mrs. Du Bois comes in, Cecil tries to blame Mary for the robbery. The police soon arrive to clear Mary's name and arrest Cecil, and Mrs. Du Bois is reconciled to her family.