The Artistic Mind of Thomas H. Ince: Decoding The Cup of Life

Sisters Helen and Ruth Fiske work in a department store and live in an East Side tenement. While Ruth is satisfied with her "regular fellow," a mechanic, Helen yearns for fine clothes, wealth, and attention. Ruth marries the mechanic and they struggle for a modest existence. Helen leaves her squalor to be the mistress of wealthy John Ward, despite Ruth's pleas. As the years pass, Helen goes from one man to the next, looking for more luxuries. When James Kellerman, who really loves her, proposes, she laughs at him. Finally, Helen returns from Europe embittered that she no longer commands the attention of men. She tries to win Kellerman back, but her phony coyness contrasts with the natural innocence of the woman he is about to marry. When Helen sees Ruth in her pretty cottage, with two children, and still in love, she despairs for her own future. Her subsequent suffering is eased only by alcohol, drugs and cigarettes--which hasten her death.