Rare Cinematic Gems Exploring the Legacy of The Wheel: Cult Guide

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Traveling saleswoman Mary Marbury thrashes a masher on a train when he tries to kiss a young girl in a tunnel. After the man and his female companion are escorted from the train, Mary encounters them again in New York City, where they attempt to marry the children of her wealthy employer, Jonas Abbott, then pose as cubist art instructors Fernando Poyntier and his sister, Marcia. Jonas worries that his son and Mary's fiancé, Raymond, is leading a frivolous life in the city's Bohemian community. Mary plots to incur the boy's jealousy by posing as an adventuress leading Jonas astray. When the Poyntiers suspect that the Abbott fortune could go to Mary instead of to them, they rob Jonas's safe and hide the money on his yacht, on which they plan to escape. Exhausted from dancing the fox-trot, Mary and Abbott rest on the yacht, and she discovers the money. When the crooks are captured, Raymond, realizing his love for Mary, proposes.

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

When the circus comes to town, the town's orphans are treated to an outing to see the show. The circus troupe's 'Jinx' girl causes so many problems for the performers and performances that, to escape punishment, she must run away. She mingles with the orphans and runs away to join an orphanage.

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Ezra Hollins, though a hired man, is ambitious because he loves Ruth Endicott, his employer's daughter. Ruth, not knowing of his love, helps him with his studies, though secretly, because she knows her father would not approve. Ezra passes his entrance examination, but at the last moment gives his tuition money to save the brother of the girl he loves from the results of his speculations from the bank. His failure to go to college is misunderstood, but in the end his name is cleared and Caleb is proud of his chosen son-in-law.

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

Millionaire Larry Prentiss inherits a ranch. He decides to visit his new property incognito and gets a job as a ranch-hand. He falls in love with the ranch foreman's daughter and complications ensue.

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Sheriff's son Royal Beaudry is thought a coward, even by the young woman he has his heart set on. But he disproves cowardice when he rescues his father's friend from kidnappers.

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

Everett Nelson was born on a farm and is an only son. He does all the hard work on the place for his father, who keeps the country bank. Unable to stand the bondage any longer, Everett leaves for New York in quest of work. While job hunting he sees a sign on the door requesting the services of a janitor. On entering to apply for the position he finds himself on the stage of a theater, where a rehearsal for a musical comedy is in progress. The astounded manager gazes at this apparition, and then an idea strikes him. He hires the "Clodhopper" for a rural number in his show. How the "Rube" makes the hit of his life as well as showing he is not to be laughed at as a prodigal son is shown in the events that follow.

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Wealthy young Billy Bates's greatest fear is that he has inherited his family curse: drink. But when he falls for a beautiful showgirl from the Ziegfeld Follies, she shows him he has nothing to fear.

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

A young man with little ambition is given an opportunity to set himself up in business by means of financial support from his father. But the young man becomes involved in a shady railroad deal which threatens to destroy his own father.

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A young woman works in the scullery of a grand hotel, and dreams of a life among its fashionable patrons.

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During the May Day celebration at Ferryville, Millie Martin, whose stingy father will not buy her proper clothes, watches as Violet Henry, the daughter of the town's richest man, is pushed into a stagnant pool by the village bolshevik. The story amuses Millie's father, who gives her a dollar, with which she buys beauty cream in preparation for her first railway journey. On the train, Millie meets John Turner, a carpet layer disguised as a doctor. Earlier, John fought a man caught cheating at poker. He took his uncle's railway ticket and doctor's bag when he thought the cheater was killed. After Millie feigns a toothache to get John's attention, her father, to avoid a doctor's bill, gives her chewing tobacco as a remedy. When she swallows it, and John orders an operation, the train stops at a nearby sanitarium. After Millie escapes, and John finds her in a room with a baby, they both explain. John is mistaken for a burglar, and after his uncle arrives to straighten matters out, John and Millie are free to pursue romance.