The Global Archive For Devotees of What a Life: Cult Guide

Dir: John G. Adolfi

After running away from an orphanage, young Alicia Jones disguises herself as a boy and gets a job on a farm. She falls in love with Harry Deigan, a farmhand who knows her secret, but when the farm's owner finds out, he fires her. Alicia is forced to return to the city, where she meets a wealthy man who adopts her. He turns out to be Thomas Deigan, the half-brother of Alicia's love Harry Deigan. Harry finds out that Thomas is his half-brother, but also finds out something that could change his, Thomas', and Alicia's lives forever.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Effie Marchand refuses to marry a man she has never met, but who has been picked out by her mother, is exiled to boarding school Then, when sculpting teacher Jules Gerard asks her to pose for him, an always impulsive Effie quickly consents. During one of the modeling sessions, however, Jules tries to seduce her, and Effie is saved only when Al Tournay, a visitor to the studio, fights off the sculptor. Later, when Jules' latest nude statue looks just like Effie, who really only posed for the head, an outraged principal expels her. Effie then begins a romance with Al, and when they get married, Effie's mother takes the wedding as just one more sign of her daughter's impulsiveness. Mrs. Marchand soon finds out, however, that her new son-in-law is the man she had chosen for Effie long before, and so mother and daughter are quickly reconciled.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

June, a country girl, comes to New York to take care of her aunt's little girl Jane. In a squalid First Avenue tenement, she meets Frank, her old sweetheart from back home who had come to the city to make good. In the same house lives a band of thieves who steal a jewel and hide it in a slipper belonging to Mame, one of the members of the gang. One day Jane finds the shoe and begins to play with it. When she accidentally tears off the heel, the gem falls to the floor. Frank, recognizing it as the stolen jewel, rushes off to get the police. Meanwhile, the crooks discover the loss of the slipper and Mame learns that June has it. They all converge upon June just as the police arrive. The crooks are arrested, and June and Frank return home for their honeymoon.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Merilla, a mermaid, must save four humans to earn a soul and human body. She falls for Prince Hero but lets him unite with his true love after saving princess Leanda from villain Boreas, sacrificing her own love but gaining humanity.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

The true story of Edith Cavell, a British nurse who served with the underground in Belgium during the First World War.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Stephen Field, a Jewish financier, takes great pleasure in philanthropic work at a community service center in the U.S. His daughter Esther devotes her time to entertaining returning soldiers in a canteen. When he reads in a newspaper about massacres of Jews and Armenians in Europe, and the suffering and starvation among other peoples there, Stephen remembers having lost his own wife and young son in a massacre years earlier. At the canteen, Esther meets Robert Graham, who suffers from fainting spells, the result of a war wound. Graham falls in love with Esther, much to the chagrin of his anti-Semitic father. Esther is also courted by the brilliant Jewish surgeon, William Morris. Esther's affection for Morris leads the jealous Graham to lash out at his rival with anti-Semitic invective even though Esther gently refuses Morris' marriage proposal. Graham loses control of his high-powered car due to a fainting spell, and the car goes over a precipice and turns over on top of him. Morris is the only person who can save his life, but the surgeon hesitates, fearing that failure would be interpreted as jealousy and thus compromise his professional integrity. Esther pleads with Morris to perform the operation, and he finally consents, sacrificing his own happiness for the woman he loves. The operation is proclaimed a surgical miracle, and Esther chooses to marry the man who performed that miracle.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

French Secret Service agent and boxer Henri D'Alour uncovers a plot to con the government out of millions of francs in its purchase of machinery.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

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

Elaine Brooks marries Robert Ames, a member of the United States Department of Justice. The Germans, who are anxious to secure some papers that Robert possesses, employ Viola Durand to get to Robert through Elaine. Viola tricks Elaine into giving her the papers and also procures a letter that seems to establish Elaine as the traitor. George Blair, an official at the Department of Justice, finally tricks Viola into confessing her guilt, thus clearing Elaine's name.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

Fearing that his daughter Patsy is becoming a tomboy, John Primmel sends her to a friend back East for education and refinement. Arriving in New York, Patsy discovers that her father's friend has died and his apartment is now inhabited by his son, Dick Hewitt. Dick allows Patsy to stay, and they hire a maid, a housekeeper, and a butler. One night, while Dick is drunk, adventuress Helene Arnold tricks him into marrying her. Soon after, Dick's sister Alice arrives and urges him to marry Patsy, whom he really loves. Helene then threatens to expose Dick unless he pays her $10,000 hush money. Dick refuses and the next evening, while at a party, Helene tells the guests that she has an important announcement to make. Just as she is about to expose Dick, his butler appears and Helene gasps, announces that she is going to Europe to become a nurse, and rushes from the house. The butler then informs Dick that Helene is his wife who deserted him years earlier. Dick's marriage thus nullified, he is free to marry Patsy.

Dir: John G. Adolfi

In Washington, D.C., Betty Lansing renews her acquaintance with young Congressman Brandon Kent and a romance blossoms. Betty and her mother conduct whist games at their home, the proceeds of which are donated to charity, but at one of these parties, Drake, an embezzler, is arrested. Because Kent arrived during the party, Oakland, a rival for Betty's heart, visits the campaign headquarters of Johnson, who is running against Kent for the gubernatorial nomination, and reports that the congressman was involved in a gambling raid. When it becomes clear at the state convention that few delegates plan to vote for Kent, Betty, with the aid of suffrage leader Mrs. Ogden, mounts the platform and delivers a rousing speech exposing Oakland as a liar. Exonerated, Kent wins the nomination.