Curated Recommendations Similar Cinematic Experiences to The Yellow Ticket: Cult Guide

Dir: William Parke

Amos Winthrop, owner of the Winthrop newspaper syndicate of "yellow" journals, delights in posing as the patron of ambitious youth, and he appoints Allan Stone as business manager of the "Daily Pioneer" at Columbia. The Rev. Timothy Neal, compelled to resign his pastorate because of advancing years, arrives with his granddaughter Esther in Columbia, where the minister hopes to make a living selling books. The one failure in Amos Winthrop's life is his pampered son Roy; he sends him to Columbia to work as a reporter on the "Daily Pioneer" staff. Rev. Neal takes many and varied lessons in the gentle art of book-agenting but success does not come to him and Esther is at her wits' end trying to instruct her grandfather how to approach strangers. Their little store of savings dwindles. Jim Barnes is editor of the "Daily Pioneer" and he delights in applying big-city methods to a small-town paper. He prints sensational stories and is supported in his methods by young Winthrop. Stone, on the other hand, asserts that scandal about people kills advertising prospects. The owner of Columbia's largest department store is Henry Lawlor, and the Daily Pioneer advertising staff longs to secure Lawlor to an advertising contract. Pneumonia attacks Rev. Neal and he passes away, leaving Esther alone in the world. She has met both Allan Stone and Roy Winthrop. The time comes when the only hope of the "Daily Pioneer" is the Lawlor advertising contract. There is an agreement that if the paper fails to make a stipulated showing before a specified date, Allan Stone and Jim Barnes shall forfeit all claim to their respective shares of stock in said paper. Young Winthrop antagonizes Lawlor and it seems that the contract is lost. He prepares a story dealing with the purported elopement of Lawlor's daughter and the same is set in type. Esther, considering it a "spite story," burns the entire edition of the "Daily Pioneer," thus preventing the story from being read; she thus earns the gratitude of Lawlor, who gives the paper the advertising patronage. Amos Winthrop, summoned to Columbia, appreciates his son's foolishness and orders him to leave Columbia and return home where the father can keep an eye on the boy. Stone wins an allotment of stock in the "Daily Pioneer" and wins Esther for his bride.

Dir: William Parke

Roma is being snubbed at school for not knowing her parents. Her guardians make up a story that she is of old English lineage and is truly Lady Partington. When she later wishes to marry a society chap, his uncle becomes suspicious.

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

Dir: William Parke

The owner of a resort hotel promotes Tom Gwynne, a college boy working as a waiter, to manager. As a result of his mismanagement the hotel loses several thousand dollars. Tom inherits a million and buys the hotel to continue his experimental management, which is to give the employees time and opportunity for self-expression--to do what they like best to do. With the grounds full of acrobats, musicians, and dancers, the hotel goes bankrupt. The old manager returns, buys the hotel, but retains Tom--now that he has learned his lesson--as manager.

Dir: William Parke

Impressed with Margaret Hill's singing ability, Al Levering takes her from the notorious dive in which she is performing and pays for her musical education. Just as she is about to join an opera company, Levering is arrested for embezzlement and Margaret, out of gratitude, promises to marry him when he is released. Later, Margaret meets and falls in love with nobleman John Ordham. Separated during a shipwreck, the two lose track of each other and five years pass, during which time Margaret has become a famous opera star. Discovering Margaret while attending one of her performances, Ordham breaks his engagement to Mabel Cutting and plans to marry the singer. In the meantime, Levering escapes from prison and arrives at Margaret's house. Anxious to save Ordham from scandal, the singer agrees to go away with Levering. Her sacrifice is averted by Scotland Yard detectives, who shoot Levering, thus freeing Margaret to marry her nobleman.

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

Dir: William Parke

Monte Bixby's grandfather leaves a will providing each native-born citizen of his small town with $50,000 while giving Monte one dollar. Monte's society fiancée, Mary Reynolds, abandons him, but grandfather Bixby's pretty young secretary, Phyllis Andrews, resolves to help him. Meanwhile life in the town is chaotic as the legatees begin to spend their money. Monte becomes concerned, appoints himself mayor, and restores order. Finally he learns that his inheritance was a trick to teach him the value of money. A real fortune awaits him, and he wins Phyllis.

Dir: William Parke

The affluent Carnabys have now dwindled in fortune and family, leaving just Lucy and her brother, Gordon in financial straits. Situations escalate as they struggle to pay their bills and deal with Gordon's gambling debts.

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

Dir: William Parke

The story opens with the broker, who, as the head of the company, was promising quick returns on investments, suddenly disappears. Another "get-rich-quick" bubble had exploded. The case was ordinary, it was averred by the officials, for the man had imposed on a gullible public and made off with their money to live in ease in some distant country. But there was a different story. The man had been the victim of a scheming couple. He was the tool of two wizards of high finance who used him to cover their tracks and take the blame for their misdeeds. The escape of the broker had been accomplished in a clever manner. While his daughter detained the detectives by talking to them, he left the table of a dinner party given at his home and from that time no trace of him To help the needy ones who had suffered by the apparent mismanagement of her father, the girl turned over all her property to the creditors and withdrew to earn her livelihood by working in a dressmaking establishment. Among those who attended the creditor's meeting were the actual criminals and they selected as their next victim a young man who had lost a few thousand in the crash but who could easily afford to lose more. He was very sympathetic with the unfortunates seemed "easy." To enlist his immediate sympathy, the woman simulated an attempted suicide. After the young fellow had rescued her, she told him that her husband's meager earnings had been wiped out by the crash and that they had nothing left. The young man escorted her home and said he would help them to a new start in life. While the woman and the "sucker" were out in the latter's automobile chance intervened to upset the plans of the conspirators. The girl, who had retired after the flight of her father, was struck by the machine. Despite the fact that the woman made sure to inform the young fellow who the upstart was, he evinced a great interest in her. To destroy this interest, the scheming woman tried a novel plan. She had the employer of the girl send the young woman out motoring in expensive gowns, arranged for the young man to see her, and insinuate that the worst possible conclusion was the only way to explain the sudden acquisition of wealth. This trick proved useless for the lover investigated and found that she was merely acting as a model. Various attempts to injure the girl and put her out of the way were tried but all to no avail. Feeling convinced that she was being persecuted for an unknown motive, the young fellow decided to do a little investigation. As a last resort the swindlers had their bookkeeper, who had only been a short time in their employ but had earned their confidence, write a letter to the girl purporting to come from her father asking her to meet him. The girl kept her appointment and found the man and woman waiting for her instead. They threatened her with bodily harm unless she withdrew and they reminded her of how they had disposed of her father. Then they became boisterous, feeling sure of their victim and recalled the details of the plot that had eliminated the father. Their talk suddenly ceased when they saw their bookkeeper followed by the young man and a policeman enter the room. While the crooks raged at the bookkeeper who had betrayed them, the old man smiled, removed his wig and glasses and introduced himself as the fugitive broker. He had determined to disclose the real criminals and, with the aid of the police, had installed a dictagraph, listened to what was said and arranged for their arrest. In the face of this testimony the swindlers were speechless and were silently escorted to prison to await trial.

Dir: William Parke

Parisian society girl Cleo de Bromsart is bored with her life and accepts an invitation from Prince Selm to join his yachting party. The cruise ends in disaster, and Cleo is stranded on a desert island with two sailors. One drowns in quicksand, and Cleo kills the other when he tries to rape her. Several weeks later, a derelict named Jack Raft is washed ashore and nurses the ailing woman back to health. Jack then effects their rescue by overpowering a gang of Chinese seal poachers. Upon her return to Paris, France, Cleo must choose between her fiancé, whom her parents approve, and Jack, whom she has grown to respect, and decides not to marry either.

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

Dir: William Parke

As the S. S. Huron returns from her summer trip to Europe laden with many passengers, a mysterious lady in room 7 is never seen, and the whole boat starts to gossip about her. In the meantime, a puzzling telegram arrives for Peter Hale, the passenger in the room across hers, about a sign of the Double Cross and his father's will.

Dir: William Parke

Convict 993 Roslyn Ayre, breaks out of prison, leaving her envious cellmate, Neva Stokes, behind. Roslyn settles into an affluent new life and is wooed by the wealthy Rodney Travers. After Neva is released from prison, she and gang leader Dan Mallory blackmail Roslyn into robbing the guests attending a reception at her home. Roslyn steals the jewels and then makes a deal with Mallory to double-cross the gang and escape together. The gang learns of this, and when they demand their share, Roslyn reveals that she has been a Secret Service agent from the first and turns the gang over to the law.