The Global Archive For Devotees of The Truthful Liar: Cult Guide

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

American heiress Jennie Leslie, the Honorable Cecil Winthrope, and the alcoholic Thomas Blake are washed ashore on a deserted island after a shipwreck. At first, Jennie sticks close to Cecil, preferring his upper-class British breeding to Thomas' man-of-the-people approach. Cecil, however, turns out to be completely ineffective when it comes to survival, and so both he and Jennie depend on Thomas for food, clothing, and protection. The surroundings bring out the "caveman" in Cecil in one respect, however; he tries to rape Jennie. During the attempt, which takes place during a storm, Cecil is crushed by a falling tree, and just before he dies, he reveals that he was merely a valet posing as an aristocrat. Then, Jennie and Thomas realize that they are in love with each other, and when a rescue ship picks them up, they begin making plans for their marriage.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

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

Mrs. Black, formerly a plump, good-natured widow, tells Professor Black, her new husband whom she adores and fears, that she is 29 instead of 36, neatly knocking off 7 years. To further convince him of her youth, she also tells him that her son "Little Johnny," whom he has never met, is 10--in reality, John is a husky 17-year-old fellow in school in England, fully 6 feet tall, broad-shouldered, and quite up-to-date, even to his Irish valet Larry McManus. Not being able to tell the Professor this, Mrs. Black invents a mythical "Aunt Prue," living in New England, with whom Johnny is supposed to be staying. The professor must curb his impatience to see his new son, for whom he has, with great care, been buying toys. So does the Professor's class of gushing young girls, who look forward with equal eagerness to seeing "Professor's Little Johnny." To regain the slimness of her youth, Mrs. Black takes reducing exercises from physical-culture teacher Tom Larkey, but loses more money and patience than flesh. As John writes that he needs money and wants to come home, she takes the $400 due Larkey and sends it to her beloved offspring, telling him he must stay in England and finish his college course. His professor decides that he needs building-up and sends for an instructor to teach him the proper exercises. The instructor proves to be Larkey, who adds to Mrs. Black's troubles by hounding her for the debt due him. Meanwhile her son has promptly lost the money sent him in poker, and gives a Spaniard an I.O.U. for $400 on the back of an envelope addressed to his mother, Mrs. Black. Pedro, the Spaniard, is going to America and decides to look up Mrs. Black; finding her, he demands the $400 her son owes him, so all her ingenuity is taxed to dodge the two creditors and keep her husband away from them until she shall find some means of obtaining the money due. John falls in love with a pretty girl in England and follows her to America, telegraphing his mother on his arrival in New York that he will soon be with her. And Mrs. Black has just learned from her dignified husband that he never forgives a liar. Then things begin to happen, with Mrs. Black as the prime factor. Jack and his valet arrive; the valet is presented as "Aunt Prue's" husband; and Jack masquerades first as the gas man and finally as Lizzie, the new cook. Of course the fatal truth at last comes out, and the penitent Mrs. Black leaps into an auto, about which she understands nothing, and runs away. Her frantic husband sees the machine smash, and when, after believing her gone from him forever, he learns that she escaped injury, he is so glad to find "Mrs. Black is Back," that he readily forgives her deception and welcomes son John.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of The House of a Thousand Candles perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Frank Perry's wife Helen is away visiting her mother, and he uses this "free time" for a night of drinking at a nightclub. Unfortunately, when he tries to return home, he enters the wrong house and is nearly arrested When Helen comes back he tells her that the "incident" was actually an initiation rite of the Masons, knowing that his wife has always wanted him to join the group. She excitedly tells her father about Frank's becoming a Mason, since her father is also a Mason. What neither she nor Frank know is that her father has actually been doing the same thing Frank is--pretending to be a Mason when he actually isn't. Complications ensue.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

Although Tom Hartwell is the town drunk of Matherville, his son Bill, a blacksmith, loves him and batters down the jail door when the old man is arrested. In an effort to drive them both out of the village, the narrow-minded townspeople attack Bill, but the Rev. David Lane defends him and then invites him to dinner. Bill falls in love with the reverend's daughter, Mary Lane, but she becomes infatuated with Edward Jones and marries him. Edward robs Mary and flees to Chico, Arizona, and when Mary follows him, she learns that he has a wife there. Following his father's death, Bill travels to Chico, where he and Mary become entangled in several adventures. Finally Bill is accused of stealing a horse, and after Mary rescues him just as he is about to be hanged, the two return to Matherville as man and wife.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Are You a Mason? perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

To the town of Tombstone, in which Goodrich Mudd is known as the "Blacksheep," comes a burlesque company headed by Lida, a captivating woman. Mudd, the sheriff and Underdog, who works a mining claim in Tombstone and who is the boon companion of Mudd, compete to win the charmer, and in order to raise money with which to entertain Lida, Mudd, whose daily occupation is that of lolling in a hammock, plays a game of cards with the sheriff. During the game the manager of the theatrical company also takes a hand, but loses considerably. The money the manager takes from the company's cash box which is fastened to the treasurer of the company, who is handcuffed to the bedstead. Mudd takes Lida to dinner, and when he is far under the influence of wine, the burlesque queen hoists the $19 worth of fried chicken and other delicacies in a basket to the girls in the room above who have not eaten a thing for several days. But Tombstone's omnipresent bad man is always on the job, and when he sees the basket full of eats going up, he empties the contents into the cash box, which he had previously discovered and from which he had abstracted the balance of the company's receipts, lowers the box into its original place and "beats it." The theatrical manager cannot pay the hotel bill, so the proprietor attaches the wardrobe of the players, leaving them nothing but their stage costumes. Subsequently a lawyer arrives from Chicago, who tells Mudd that he has been left $2,000,000 by his aunt who recently died, and that he may obtain the fortune if he complies with the provisions in the will which are: (1) he must live in the Mudd mansion in Chicago; (2) must acquire culture; (3) must place a wreath on his grandfather's grave; (4) must get married to his cousin, Ada Steele, within 99 days; (5) if Ada refuses to marry him, he must marry someone else in 99 days; (6) to decline the terms the money will revert to his other cousin, Percy Vere. Great is the consternation of all present at the reading of the will when Mudd refuses to abide by the terms, and it is only when the crowd threatens to kill him that he finally agrees. He goes to the Mudd mansion in Chicago and takes all his friends with him. The lawyer informs Percy and Ada of the terms of the will, and as these two young people are engaged to be married, Ada contrives to get the fortune by "stringing" Mudd along until the last day when she will flatly refuse to marry him. It will then be too late for Mudd to get a wife, and the millions will go to Percy. Then he and Ada will get married. Percy and Ada go to the Mudd mansion, and Mudd tries to make love to Ada. She blows a whistle, which is the cue for Percy to come to her assistance, but he does not appear, for he has been captured by two female burglars who find upon him an incriminating letter from Ada Steele. The burglars offer to return the letter for $100,000. Some time later Ada and Percy are walking in Lincoln Park when they observe Mudd trying to put a wreath upon the spot in the lake where his grandfather met death by rocking a boat. He also recognizes the female burglars nearby, and tells them to kidnap Mudd until a certain time has passed when he (Percy) agrees to reward the burglars. They comply and Mudd mysteriously disappears. The time for Mudd's marriage is near at hand. Fearing that Percy may not live up to his word, the female burglars decide to watch him, and their suspicions are confirmed when they hear him say to Ada that the millions will soon be his and "The Spiders," whom the female burglars are called, can go hang. In revenge "The Spiders" give orders to release Mudd, who arrives at his mansion at 11:53. "The Spiders" are there, too, and they flaunt the letter found in Percy's pocket, revealing its import, and adding that Ada's absence proves that she has turned Mudd down. Mudd doesn't become alarmed, for he, at the last minute, marries Lida, who has always loved him.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

The reticence of Martha Sellers and her employment of Jim Ransom, a drunkard, excites the curiosity of the villagers. She receives mail postmarked "Ossining," and this further stirs the people. The gossipers spread the report that her lover is in Sing Sing, but the heart of the matter is that her husband has been unjustly convicted on a charge of embezzlement. Fate takes a hand and Ranson asserts that he is responsible for the robbery, thereby reuniting Martha and her husband.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Old Hartwell's Cub perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Garry Garrity, an Irish blacksmith, receives word from America that he has fallen heir to his uncle's millions. Arriving in Chicago to take charge of his estate, Garry's awkward ways incur the enmity of his cousin and ward, Louise Evans, but after Louise sees through the rough surface to Garry's sterling qualities, the two fall in love. This disturbs Count Caminetti, who had designs on both Louise and the fortune. The count schemes with Mrs. Hawtry, who has visions of becoming a wealthy countess, to frame Garry in a compromising situation, thus forcing him to marry Mrs. Hawtry, who would then divorce him and sue for alimony. When Louise hears the scandalous rumors generated by the count, she insists that Garry marry Mrs. Hawtry until an innkeeper admits that it has been a frame-up. Garry rushes to confront the count and as he is choking a confession from him, Louise enters. After overhearing everything, Louise begs Garry's forgiveness.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

Tony comes to America virtually the slave of his padrone, who holds him in debt for his passage money. But Rosa Picciano marries him to escape parental discipline and Tony hopes for freedom at last, but Rosa makes it plain that she does not love him. When the bambina comes, he lavishes all his love on little Giulia and is heartbroken when Rosa divorces him on a trumped-up charge and gains possession of the child. But Tony wins her back from her heartless mother and has her to thank that his hands are not stained with blood.

Dir: Thomas N. Heffron

Magazine writer J. Hamilton Vance travels to the mountains of Kentucky to get local color for his stories, and falls in love with Roxie Bradley, the daughter of a moonshiner. Regarded at first with suspicion by the mountaineers, Vance finally wins their confidence and is appointed teacher in the little log school house. The former teacher, resentful at the intrusion, attempts to shoot Vance through the schoolhouse window, but Roxie intercepts the bullet. Vance nurses her back to health, engendering the jealousy of Lily Bud Raines, who starts a rumor that Vance is a federal agent spying on the moonshiners. As the mountaineers plot to extract vengeance on Vance, Roxie and he are married, and when his antagonists discover that Vance is now one of them, they accept him as part of the mountain community.