Masterpiece Selection Resonating with the Themes of The Trouble Bus...

Dir: Frank Reicher

Wealthy American widow Elizabeth Carter plans to marry the Earl of Dettminster when lawyer Augustus Tucker informs her of a codicil in her late husband's will. The Carter fortune will go to nephew Pitney Carter, who is in love with Elizabeth, if her second husband is not an American. Elizabeth therefore pays penniless playwright Jasper Mallory $50,000 to marry her and schemes with actress Mme. Albani to provide grounds for divorce so that she may then make the earl her third husband. The plan backfires when Jasper's play is a success and Elizabeth finds herself falling in love with him. Tucker admits to forging the codicil to enhance Pitney's chances with Elizabeth. As Jasper and Elizabeth announce their plans to remain married, a telegram arrives with news that Mme. Albani and the earl have wed.

Dir: Frank Reicher

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

Patricia O'Brien, known as "Pat" the "Chorus Lady,' is a keen-witted, clean-lived young girl easily holding her own amid the temptations incident to her profession. She is engaged to marry "Danny" Mallory, a young detective, whose great ambition is to own a farm, marry Pat and leave the bright lights forever. Pat has a younger sister, Nora, whose yielding and idealistic natures Pat knows and she keeps her working in a country store "a million miles from Broadway," under the guardianship of a strict old woman. Nora, stage-struck and envious of Pat, leaves the store and turns up at the theater when Pat is rehearsing. Nora announces that she is going on the stage in spite of Pat's protests. Crawford, a young man-about-town, who is backing the show, struck by Nora's beauty and youth, gives her a position in the company. Crawford plies Nora with attention until she falls in love with him and Pat in her efforts to open Nora's eyes as to Crawford's true character, only succeeds in antagonizing her. Realizing that she cannot convince Nora or control her for long Pat begins a flirtation with Crawford. Nora fights bitterly to hold him. Danny becomes jealous and refuses to believe Pat when she explains that she is flirting with Crawford in an effort to disillusion Nora. At the dress rehearsal of the play in which Pat and Nora are to appear the star sends word that she is ill. Pat is given the chance to play the part. Knowing that Pat cannot leave the theater, Nora leaves a note that she is going to Crawford and slips home to pack. Pat, half-dressed to go on, finds the note, gives up her great opportunity, wraps herself in a cloak and in a cab hurries to Crawford's apartment. She arrives at Crawford's apartment first and leads Crawford into a declaration of love just as Nora appears. Pat demands that Crawford choose between them. Crawford chooses Pat. In the meantime Danny has been sent to get divorce evidence for Crawford's wife. They break into Crawford's rooms and Danny finds the woman to be his own girl. In the stormy scene that follows Pat's borrowed cloak slips from her shoulders revealing her in her underwear. With all evidence against her Pat is unable to establish her innocence. Danny cannot believe her innocent, but makes up his mind never to appear against her. Nora and the detective go, leaving Pat alone with Crawford. She promptly tells Crawford what she really thinks of him and he dismisses her from the company and orders her out of his rooms. Danny resigns his job rather than appear against Pat and the divorce suit never comes to court. Pat, out of a job, is unable to find another engagement and is about to be turned out of her boarding house when Nora, convinced of Pat's loyalty, telephones Danny and tells him the truth. Danny gets his farm and they all go to it, taking along as helper, "Bobs," the young assistant stage-manager, who cherishes an honest passion for Nora.

Dir: Frank Reicher

To help their unemployed father make ends meet, Edith and her twin sister Grace work as seamstresses . An invalid, Grace falls prey to the temptations of Chinatown opium and becomes an addict, a condition worsened by a misguided physician who prescribes morphine to ease her pain. When their father strikes oil, the family enjoys a new prosperity and the sisters meet the eligible Jack Herron, a fellow oil prospector. To Grace's shock, Jack falls in love with Edith and in her jealousy, Grace tells Jack that Edith, not she, has a drug problem. Hinting that her sister will soon need more morphine, Grace arranges for a dinner in Chinatown with the couple. While her sister and Jack dance, Grace slips away to an opium den. Edith follows her, but ends up in the wrong den and is arrested in an ensuing drug raid. After he bails her out of jail, Edith takes an angry Jack to search for Grace and stumbles across her half-conscious body lying in the street. The truth about the sisters is revealed, and after sending Grace to a sanitarium in the country, Jack and Edith are married.

Dir: Frank Reicher

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

Maris, having married Lynch, a worthless man who deserts her, taking their daughter Felice with him, marries mill owner Dwight Alden after receiving notification that her husband and child are dead. Discovering that Alden employs child labor, Maris, assisted by the village minister, tries to persuade him that this is wrong, but he will tolerate no interference in his business. After violently denouncing Alden from the pulpit, the minister dies and Maris becomes interested in a child who has been injured while working overtime at the mill, only to discover that the child is her daughter and her first husband is still alive. She leaves, taking Felice, and Alden, after having a fight with the first husband, discovers that Lynch had secured a divorce. Alden seeks out Maris, tells her that he has abolished child labor and made other improvements affecting the welfare of his workers, and a reconciliation occurs.

Dir: Frank Reicher

When a young girl is placed under hypnotism, it's discovered that she has a split personality.

Dir: Frank Reicher

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

Bad woman turns good, but as a recent widow finds her past a roadblock in terms of accepting remarriage.

Dir: Frank Reicher

The sound of merry voices and the clinking of wine glasses came through the closed door of a child's room in an apartment situated in a quarter of Paris where night life predominates and where revelers know they may come and go as they please. It was late at night. The child had been asleep, but awakening, frightened, she stepped to the door a moment to listen and then fearlessly, having heard the musical laugh of her mother, she opened the door and entered a large room. It was filled with men and women, whose gaiety may have had some inspiration from the bottles which poked their heads above the rim of ice buckets, which formed an outer fortification around the banquet table. At the sight of the child the conversation ceased for a moment, then burst forth at some indiscreet remark. A woman arising from the head of the table hurried across the room, caught the child in her arms and carried her back into her room. The woman was Cora May, the child her daughter Diane, age four. Cora May was one of the stirs of the Parisian demimonde. The next morning Cora took the child to a convent, bade her a tearful farewell, and returned, sorrowful, to Paris. In her ears there still rang relentlessly the words spoken by a friend the previous evening when he saw the child, "She has the devil in her eyes, Cora, just like you." The little girl, Diane, grew up in the convent, learned to love the sisters and their sweet ways, blossomed into lovely girlhood and at 19 she left the convent to pass a vacation at a friend's home by the seashore at Narbonne. "Monsieur le Chevalier" saw her one day. Her beauty attracted him, her innocence kept him at a distance, but her eyes, those eyes wherein the "devil" was lurking, baffled and confused him. There followed a flirtation, innocent enough, a few words between them, a declaration of love and Diane had fallen a victim to the worldly wiles of "Monsieur le Chevalier," who was, in fact none other than the Duke of Cluny. Meanwhile Cora May, Diane's mother, had died, never having seen her child from the day she had taken her to the convent. Deserted by her care-free friends she found sympathy in a woman of rank, Duchess of Cluny, who sat at her bedside and watched an unhappy life ebb swiftly away. The Duchess made one promise: she would seek out the child, Diane, and take her into her home and guard her from temptation. Diane, still stunned by the experience of her betrayal, dedicates her life to the friendship for the kind Duchess, never associating her with "Monsieur le Chevalier." Subsequently Diane and the Duke, filled with remorse because of his indiscretion, recognize each other yet spare the Duchess, whom each loves from their secret. The past would have remained untold had Diane and not Lieutenant Dodd, U.S.N. fallen in love. The young woman refuses marriage but withholds her reasons, but the young American is obdurate and in time the truth dawns upon him. In a duel he kills the Duke of Cluny who by death atones for his sin, and we are left with the reasonable conclusion that in time Diane and Lieutenant Dodd find happiness together.

Dir: Frank Reicher

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

During the California gold rush, four unsuccessful miners assume that a woman prospector will give in without a fight, so they jump the claim of Kate Kenner and take her gold away from her. Afterward, although she is Sheriff Dan Deering's sweetheart, Kate decides to take the law into her own hands. Donning the trademark black mask of Silver Spurs, the noted bandit, Kate holds up the saloon where the crooks have stored the gold. As she makes her getaway, however, Dan catches her, and after unmasking her, is astonished to discover Silver Spur's true identity. The town puts Kate on trial immediately and a guilty verdict seems assured until the real Silver Spurs, who had greatly admired the masquerade, himself steals the gold and leaves a note exonerating Kate. Then, taking time out from his sheriff's duty, Dan, instead of pursuing Silver Spurs, starts making plans with Kate for their wedding.

Dir: Frank Reicher

Louis, Count de Tavannes, and his companion, Dimitri, lead a gay life in Paris. On the return trip of a motor tour, they stop at an inn and discover Rosette, the daughter of the innkeeper, who dances for the guests, not from choice, but necessity. Dimitri suggests they take her to Paris. The patrons of the inn, jealous of the fashionably-attired young men and the attention paid them, raise a riot. During the uproar Rosette is taken to the motor and to Paris, where she goes to a hotel with Louis, her favorite of the two young men. During their breakfast the next morning, she learns from Louis' lips that he will not marry her. Remy, the faithful servant of the inn, has sought her out, grasps the situation, strikes Louis in the face and a fight ensues between the two men. Louis is discovered, bleeding and unconscious, and taken to the home of a young priest. Through the influence of the good men whom he has thus accidentally met, he enters the priesthood. Rosette secures a position as dancer in a café of the underworld in Paris, patronized by the rough element, and occasionally by the wealthy class in search of excitement. Dimitri is at this café, trying to induce Rosette to drink and dance, as Father Louis enters in search of a man whose wife is ill. The recognition is mutual, and none is so surprised as Dimitri. The latter plans an elaborate supper for himself and Rosette, and Louis interrupts them. As Louis uses his good influence for the girl, Dimitri is exerting a conflicting power, and Rosette bids them fight it out, "for God and my soul, or the devil and my body." With only their hands for weapons, the men go to battle, Louis with a righteous determination to win, and he does. He takes the girl to a convent, where she realizes her great love for Louis and a desire to live a pure life. Father Louis has won the love of the patrons of the café, and when the war is on and France calls for her men, he with his followers tries to defend the convent where Sister Rose Marie is. Mortally wounded, Sister Rose Marie falls across the dead body of the man she loves, and they are united in spirit, although their lives have been sacrificed in an attempt to save other souls, endeared to them.

Dir: Frank Reicher

Two playboys stumble drunkenly home, where the owner falls asleep and the other attacks the maid. The butler intervenes and a fight results in the death of the assailant. A French girl, escaping from a pimp who kidnapped her, witnesses the crime. The butler convinces his master he is the killer, and must flee. He joins the girl but is caught. She helps police expose the real killer by going undercover as another maid.