Fires of Rebellion

Summary

A soot-choked mill town exhales despair; Madge Garvey, nostrils flaring at the acrid marriage between malt and machinery, spurns the coal-dusted promise of John Blake’s ring. She bolts toward the electric mirage of the metropolis, where department-store Olympus demands sacrificial vestal virgins in lace that scarcely whispers. Between the flashbulbs’ pop and the buyers’ leer, innocence is auctioned by the inch until Blake—collar still flecked with factory stars—storms the gilded runway, scoops her from the mannequin’s abyss, and proves that tenderness can bloom even in a city that eats beauty alive.

Synopsis

Dreading the drab and loveless factory life that she sees all around her, Madge Garvey refuses the marriage proposal of factory foreman John Blake, a rough but honest man, fearing that he will degenerate into the brutal drunk that her father Joe has become. Instead, Madge takes stenographer Cora Hayes' advice and seeks work in the big city. Arriving in the city, Madge accepts a job as a model for women's underwear but is shocked at the brevity of the garments as well as the duties expected of her beyond those of posing. Only Blake's timely arrival preserves her innocence, and after the foreman proves that he can be loving, Madge agrees to loving him.