Clarence Burton

Clarence Burton

Birth : 1882-05-10,

Death : 1933-12-02

Profile

Clarence Burton

Movies

The Sign of the Cross
Servillius
After burning Rome, Emperor Nero decides to blame the Christians, and issues the edict that they are all to be caught and sent to the arena. Two old Christians are caught, and about to be hauled off, when Marcus, the highest military official in Rome, comes upon them. When he sees their stepdaughter Mercia, he instantly falls in love with her and frees them. Marcus pursues Mercia, which gets him into trouble with Emperor (for being easy on Christians) and with the Empress, who loves him and is jealous.
The Love Trader
John
A woman, raised in the most-strict New England atmosphere, marries a stern, God-fearing sea captain and is thrown suddenly into the romantic, colorful and licentious atmosphere of a South Sea island outpost. With her inhibitions and repressed desires what will be her reaction to the charms of the sensuous of the beautiful tropic nights and the call of love?
The Unholy Three
Regan
A trio of former sideshow performers double as the "Unholy Three" in a scam to nab some shiny rocks.
Barnum Was Right
Martin
Freddie owns a failing old hotel. To attract new business he spreads the rumor that there's pirate treasure hidden somewhere in the building.
The Godless Girl
Prison Guard
High school students led by the Girl and Boy turn from Christianity toward secret atheistic meetings. When a girl is accidentally killed by a stairway collapse, the Girl and Boy go to reform school where they are treated brutally.
The Younger Generation
Police Desk Sergeant
Soap-opera about a social-climbing Jewish man and his old-world parents who are heartbroken by his rejection of them. Young Morris Goldfish follows his immigrant father into business. His ruthless business practices cause him to become a big success, and he moves the family to Park Avenue. They go, but were happier back on the East Side. Morris is ashamed of this parents and his humble origins, but learns in the end that there is more to life than money.
Stool Pigeon
Mike Shields
An underworld story about a boy (Charles Delaney) suspected of being a stool pigeon but in reality, he is only stealing to give his mother a better life. His devoted girlfriend Goldie (Olive Borden) tries to help him turn his life around.
Submarine
Submarine Commander
Two sailors who are always competing against each other set their sights on the same girl. When she chooses one over the other, their friendship ends acrimoniously. However, things change when one the men is in a submarine trapped beneath the ocean and the other, a diver, is sent down on a rescue mission.
Midnight Madness
A Sailor
In Midnight Madness millionaire diamond miner Michael Bream (Clive Brook) discovers that the woman he’s marrying — funfair shooting-gallery hostess Norma Forbes — is a gold digger. So Bream decides to teach her a lesson, and forces her to live with him in the remote African outback where, eventually, she realizes her true affections.
Stand and Deliver
Captain Melok
Our heroine, Miss Velez (despite the fact that she seems to be just along for the ride) is much her usual over-eloquent self (how fortunate she has no sound track!), while Warner Oland makes such an impressive and villainously seedy bandit, he needs no sound track at all. We can just imagine his oily, purring accents all too well.
Chicago
Police sergeant
Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted. The basis for Kander/Ebb's 1975 Broadway musical of the same name and its Oscar-winning 2002 film adaptation.
A Harp in Hock
Plainclothesman
A Harp in Hock, also known as The Samaritan, is a lost 1927 American silent melodrama film directed by Renaud Hoffman, produced by DeMille Pictures, and distributed by Pathé Exchange. The film starred Rudolph Schildkraut, Junior Coghlan, May Robson, and Bessie Love, and was based on the short story by Evelyn Campbell.
The Angel of Broadway
Herman
Babe Scott, a cabaret dancer who is constantly searching for sensational material to shock her customers, conceives of burlesquing a Salvation Army girl and attends mission meetings on the East Side for atmosphere. There she meets Jerry Wilson, an honest truckdriver and friend of the Army captain. Although the act is a success, Babe is disillusioned to find Lonnie, a fellow worker who has been romancing her, stealing her money and making overtures to Big Bertha, the hard-boiled club hostess.
The Yankee Clipper
Captain McIntosh
A race between a British clipper ship and an American ship of a new design will determine the right to transport Chinese tea.
The King of Kings
Dysmas - the Repentant Thief
The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.
Rubber Tires
Mexican
When the Stack family suffers some financial setbacks, daughter Mary Ellen suggests they buy a car and relocate to California. Unbeknownst to them, their used car is worth more than they ever could have imagined.
The Nervous Wreck
Andy McNab
Henry Williams, out in Arizona looking for a cure for his imaginary ills, stops at the ranch of Jud Morgan, and decides to stay. Jud's daughter, Sally, attracts his attention, although she is engaged to be married to Sheriff Bob Wells. Henry rides with her to town, where she wants to go shopping for her wedding clothes, but they run out of gas. No, problem' Henry holds up a passing motorist, with a monkey-wrench, and takes gasoline out of his car. They stop at a ranch where the foreman makes them become the cook and dishwasher. Then Jerome Underwood and his daughter, Harriet, arrive and they recognize Henry and Sally as the ones who held them up for gas. The jealous sheriff adds to the complications.
Flyin' Thru
Melvin Parker
Lieutenant Willis returns home from France, where he was an aviation ace, to find that his father has been falsely jailed for the murder of Judson Blair.
The Wedding Song
Capt. Saltus
A beautiful con artist marries Hayes Hallan, the owner of a pearl-rich island. No sooner has the couple said "I do" than Beatrice's partners in crime show up, claiming to be the bride's parents.
The Road to Yesterday
Hugh Armstrong
Malena's apparent frigidity toward her husband Kenneth is a result of injustice done in an earlier incarnation when he was a knight and she was a gypsy headed for burning at the stake. This becomes evident when their unconscious minds travel back from a train wreck in the American plains to Elizabethan England.
Savages of the Sea
Black Brock
A seaman on board a sailing ship battles mutinous crew members, a corrupt millionaire trying to take over the ship and falls in love with a girl who turns out to be his adopted sister.
The Million Dollar Handicap
Langdon
The Million Dollar Handicap
The Mine with the Iron Door
The Sheriff
This epic Western-melodrama was based on the popular novel by Harold Bell Wright. Two old prospectors, Thad Grove and Bob Hill find an infant in the cabin belonging to Sonora Jack, a notorious bandit. The girl, Marta, grows to womanhood.
The Navigator
Spy (uncredited)
The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.
The Guilty One
Detective
The Guilty One is a 1924 mystery film.
No More Women
'Beef' Hogan
When Matt Moore was thrown over by vamp Kathleen Cliffford, he resolved to have no more women in his life. But he didn't take account of wealthy Mage Bellamy who is determined to pursue him until he marries her.
The Satin Girl
Moran
The Satin Girl is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Arthur Rosson and starring Mabel Forrest, Norman Kerry and Marc McDermott.
The Ten Commandments
The Taskmaster - Prologue
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
Adam's Rib
Cave Man
Michael Ramsay only has time for gathering his fortune in wheat. His wife seeks comfort elsewhere and, to avoid a scandal, her daughter Matilda assumes her mother's guilt. Ramsay nearly goes broke but gets rich again; his wife returns.
Hollywood
Clarence Burton
Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime
Diego
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime is a silent comedy film.
Nobody's Money
Kelly
Two newspapermen who wrote a successful book using a phony author have to come up with a real person when the book is a huge success. Ailing literary agent Jack Holt takes the job while his safe cracking friend tags along for the ride. Jack falls in love with the Governor's daughter just as the Governor is about to be blackmailed by the evil Drisco, who has planted $20,000 in the Governor's safe. -Written by PetersMoviePosters, from IMDB.com
The Impossible Mrs. Bellew
Detective
Lance Bellew ignores his wife, Betty, for his mistress, Naomi Templeton, but becomes so enraged when he finds Betty in the company of Jerry Woodruff that he shoots this family friend.
The Man Unconquerable
Nilsson
A conservative young man inherits his uncle's pearl fishery concession in the South Pacific. Upon his arrival there, he becomes involved with a woman and a mystery.
The Ordeal
George Bruce
Sybil marries George Bruce, an alcoholic 20 years her senior, In order to provide for her crippled sister, Helen, and her brother, Geoffrey. Bruce becomes jealous of Sybil's attentions to young physician Robert Acton, and when Bruce suffers a heart attack and calls for digitalis, Sybil allows the vial to break and he dies.
The Crimson Challenge
Black Bart
In the cattle town of Lost Valley, Buck Courtrey, saloon owner and political boss, covets Tharon, daughter of Jim Last, a small rancher; and when rebuffed, he has Last killed. Tharon swears revenge with her father's own guns and organizes a vigilante band to check Courtrey's activities. Learning that she loves Billy, a cowpuncher, Courtrey kidnaps and threatens to kill him unless Tharon agrees to marry Courtrey following his divorce from Ellen. Courtrey's wife informs Tharon of Billy's whereabouts, and she rescues him in time to join the townspeople attacking Courtrey's gang. Courtrey is pursued by Tharon, who kills him and returns to become Billy's wife.
Her Husband’s Trademark
Mexican Bandit
James Berkeley (who wants to get rich) and Allan Franklin (determined to be a great engineer) are rivals for the hand of Lois Miller. Berkeley marries her, and 15 years later, though he has not realized his ambition, he keeps his wife luxuriously attired as a "trademark" of his prosperity. Allan, who has obtained a large tract of oil land from the Mexican Government, visits the Berkeleys; and James, hoping to profit from his wealth, goes to Mexico with him, accompanied by Lois, who unwillingly agrees to help her husband. When Allan and Lois realize their love for each other, James, refusing to become angry, is denounced by his wife. A band of Mexican bandits attempt to capture Lois, and in the attack James is slain. Allan rescues Lois, and they escape across the border.
One Glorious Day
Bert Snead
Ek is a disembodied spirit, required to wait his turn in the boring cosmos until he is allowed to inhabit an earthly body. Impatient, he sneaks off to earth to find a body and, after several failed attempts, finds Professor Ezra Botts, a timid old pedant and researcher of psychic phenomena. Life fairly well kicks Professor Botts around as it does all timid souls, and he gets little love or respect. But during an experimental trance, he is able to leave his body behind and at that moment, Ek sees his chance and slips in, taking over the professor's body. The "new" professor is energetic, charismatic, and dynamic, and from the limbo in which he floats, the real professor fears that Ek is going to wear out the tired old body before he, Botts, can return to it. And just how is he supposed to get back into his body, anyway?
The Law and the Woman
Bates
Although Margaret and Julian Rolfe are deeply in love, Rolfe has a bit of a past. At one time he had befriended Clara Foster, a woman of the streets. When he discovers that his ward Phil Long is about to wed Clara, he tries to stop him. But he finds that Long and Clara have already married, so he heads back home. When Phil is found murdered, Rolfe is arrested and tried for the crime.
A Daughter of Luxury
Red Conroy
When a lawsuit deprives a rich woman, Mary Fenton, of her wealth, she decides to impersonate another woman, Mary Cosgrove. The situation becomes sticky when Cosgroge turns up and demands Fenton be arrested.
Fool's Paradise
Manuel
In a Mexican border town Arthur befriends cantina girl Poll. She falls for him but he still loves the dancer Rosa. When the cigar Poll gives him explodes and blinds him, Arthur is duped into thinking Poll is Rosa and marries her. When his vision is surgically restored, he leaves for Siam to find Rosa.
Miss Lulu Bett
Ninian Deacon
Lois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of burden, whose timid soul has failed to break the bonds of family servitude." Her brother-in-law is patriarchal Theodore Roberts (as Dwight Deacon); running the house with an iron fist, he is both a dentist and a Justice of the Peace. As the latter, he accidentally marries Ms. Wilson to his visiting brother Clarence Burton (as Ninian Deacon) while they are out for dinner. Schoolteacher Milton Sills (as Neil Cornish) is also interested in Wilson...
Crazy to Marry
Gregory Slade (a lawyer)
A doctor who believes he can cure criminals takes on a big challenge.
The Lost Romance
Detective
Dr. Allen Erskine's maiden aunt Elizabeth attempts to save her nephew's floundering marriage by staging the kidnaping of her nephew's son, in the hope that the married couple will be drawn closer together by the experience.
The Love Special
Morris Blood
Jim Glover is an engineer in charge of constructing a railroad to the sea. He gives the company president Gage a tour of the area of land coveted for its use as a short cut that can save hours on the journey. After the officials visit a recently constructed dam, the train makes a stop in a dull town, and Gage's daughter Laura throws a charity bazaar to combat the boredom. Jim puts together a mock-holdup that saves the event from financial ruin, endearing Laura to him. Later, an accident traps three workers in a cave, and Jim is called away to rescue the victims.
Forbidden Fruit
Steve Maddock
Mary Maddock works as a seamstress to bring home money while her husband Steve, unemployed, has no real prospects of earning money. Mary's employers, are trying to strike an oil related business deal with a rich man by the name of Nelson Rogers. The deal does not seem to be on the table, as Mr. Rogers is leaving town shortly and does not have the time to work out the details of such a deal. In an order to entice him to stay, Mrs. Mallory - wife of Mr. Mallory who is proposing the business deal - convinces Mary to be her guest at a dinner party with the intent of making Mr. Rogers fall for her and thus stay long enough for Mr. Mallory to make him agree to a business deal.
What's Your Hurry?
Brenton Harding
Truckdriver Dusty Rhoades leads a team of truckers over dangerous roads to deliver emergency supplies before a crucial dam breaks.
The Fighting Chance
Leroy Mortimer
Sylvia Landis promises to marry the wealthy but unprincipled Quarrier because of his social standing. Avarice is the only emotion that Sylvia feels towards her fiance, and when she meets Stephen Siward, a young man afflicted with alcoholism, she falls in love.
The Six Best Cellars
Ed Hammond
Henry Carpenter and his wife Millicent are the envy of their exclusive suburban set because of their abundant wine cellar, a blessing in the face of the recent prohibition against alcohol initiated by the Volstead Act. In reality, Henry is down to his last few bottles, and, faced with an impending dinner party, he decides to save face by denouncing the evils of drink. His impassioned speech earns him the support of the Prohibition party for a Congressional seat. Henry is relishing his popularity when his aunt discovers twenty-one cases of rare wine in the cellar, forcing the candidate to choose between political and social success.
Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
Fredericks
A light-hearted romantic adventure.
Male and Female
When an aristocratic family and their servants are shipwrecked, the butler becomes their ruler.
The Last of the Duanes
Bland
Buck Duane guns down the man who killed his father and flees from the law. He rescues a girl he once loved from outlaws, but the wife of outlaw chief has her own designs on him.
Six Feet Four
Sheriff Cole Dalton
A cowboy matches the description of the man who robbed the local hotel--both are 6'4". When a young woman is robbed, suspicion falls on the cowboy again. However, he discovers that the actual culprits are a local gang headed by the sheriff. He sets out to capture the robbers and clear his name.
Hearts of Men
Buck Hughes
Silent Italy immigrant family relationship romantic melodrama about a poor Italian flower seller whose mother gets sick. The doctor tells him to take his mother to Arizona, which he does with his wife and child. The railroad men in Arizona think he is the start of a wave of Italian immigrants coming to take away their jobs, but they meet his darling son, Beppo, who wins them over. But then, his wife dies, and he gets involved with an immigrant Italian woman who takes Beppo back to Italy, but the railroad men help him get Beppo back. It turns out his land has oil on it, so he's fabulously rich, and he shares the fortune with the railroad men!
Fame and Fortune
Sheriff of Palo
Clay Burgess (Tom Mix), a drifter, returns to the small town of Palo to find the president of the bank -- his father -- murdered and the unscrupulous "Big" Dave Dawley (George Nichols) in charge.
Powers That Prey
Jarvis McVey
Publisher Burton exposes politician Jarvis as a crook and is run out of town. He asks his daughter Sylvia to turn the newspaper over to his editor Frank. Instead, Sylvia fires Frank and takes the publisher’s duties herself.
Beauty and the Rogue
Detective Callahan
Humanitarian Roberta induces her father to hire former convict, Bill, as his gardener. When she leaves on vacation, Bill steals her jewelry and eventually sells a brooch to her boyfriend, Richard, who unknowingly gives it to her as a present.
A Dream or Two Ago
Her Father
During a jewelry-store holdup, 6-year-old Millicent Hawthorne, the neglected daughter of a wealthy socialite, falls on her head and is carried home to be reared by Mother Gumpf, the leader of the thieves. The fall cost Millicent her memory, but at night she dreams of her former high-society existence, while during the day she works for Gumpf as a pickpocket and later becomes a cabaret dancer. A friend of the Hawthornes sees Millicent perform, recognizes her, and reports back to Mrs. Hawthorne, who has vowed to be a devoted mother should she ever find her daughter. Finally, after the Hawthornes rescue Millicent from Kraft, the lecherous cabaret manager, an operation restores her memory, and she delights in the love of her long-lost mother.
Faith
John Thorpe
A father who despises his daughter, a boyfriend who refuses to marry the girl he knocked up, and a mother caught in the middle.
A Modern Knight
Jackson - Movie Director
Percival Cadwallader Perkins was so bashful that whenever a woman would look at him he would blush like a beet, and this brought the "Happy Family," the cowboys of the Flying U, to calling him "Pink."
The Detective's Peril
The Paymaster
Hanging from a rope over the track, the detective seems certain to plunge to death when the oncoming train splits the knot of the rope which has been tied to a rail and slung over the bridge girder. Helen's presence of mind and nerve in swinging out over the river on the other end of the rope and thus balancing the detective until the train has passed prevents the terrible catastrophe. Later, when pursuing the culprits, Helen once more takes her life in her hands by throwing a lasso from the hand car on which they are pursuing the freight over the brake beam, and then crawling hand over hand to the top of the car.
The Girl Who Dared
1st Detective
The smugglers seem in a fair way to escape on a stolen engine when Helen, unhitching a team from a nearby wagon, races down the road towards the railroad bridge from which a rope is hanging directly over the track. Standing astride the two speeding horses Helen leaps to the rope, and swaying in mid-air makes a perilous drop to the stolen engine as it dashes past.
The Switchman's Story
Number 68 in the Hazards of Helen series.
The Perilous Swing
The Sheriff
Helen is enjoying a ride on her horse, "Hazard," after her day's work, when news comes that "Red" Purdy and his aides are escaping after making a big haul. When the automobile in which they are escaping breaks down they take to a handcar. Helen pursues them down the track while the Sheriff and his posse set out to head them off on a short cut.
The Peril of the Rails
Engineer
Apparent carelessness causes Conductor Lawton and his train crew to be laid off for thirty days. A gang of car thieves, pursued by police, jump aboard a freight, and after a stiff combat, succeed in throwing the crew off the speeding train to the ground.
The Broken Wire
Conductor
When the Limited is forced to stop because of an obstruction on the tracks, the passengers alight for a stroll. In the excitement of boarding again one of the passengers loses a handbag containing her jewels and money. Two crooks aboard the train hear of this and at Helen's station they alight.
The Open Track
2nd Detective
"The Open Track" is a short action film from the action series of short films "The Hazards of Helen". This is episode 63 from a total of 119 weekly one reel films produced by Kalem. Helen's cleverness exposes a band of counterfeiters who later succeed in turning the tables on the railroad detectives and tying the two men to the cowcatcher of a train which they then start off down the grade.
The Haunted Station
The Chief Despatcher
A fall from a semaphore weakens Wood's mind and when he later disappears circumstances point to suicide. His ghostly appearances make the post known as the "Haunted Station," and Helen is appointed as a last resort after many others have quit.
When Seconds Count
#61 in the Hazards of Helen series
A Boy at the Throttle
Layson - Station Agent
Climbing into a cab of a freight engine, Bobbie Layson, the son of a station pulls the throttle open. The alarm goes out and Helen, stationed at Lone Point, is ordered to derail the runaway and thus prevent it from running head-on into the approaching passenger train. Fearing for his son's life, Layson phones Helen
The Wrong Train Order
Macker - Chief Dispatcher
In this episode everything goes wrong. Helen ends up on the rear observation deck of a runaway express train with the door to the inside closed, with the air-brake of the engine damaged, the engine itself full of steam and inaccessible, and the train speeding ahead on the wrong track.
Crossed Wires
Bill Stone - Convict
Crossed telephone wires enable Helen to overhear a plot between Joe and Bill, escaped convicts, to join a number of Chinese who are being smuggled into the country in a freight train.
The Tramp Telegrapher
Tom Corson - Pete's Pal
Beaten by Dun and Corson, Trent is hurled unconscious to the tracks. Helen, who witnesses the attack, drags Trent from the rails just in time to save him from death beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. When the tramp revives, he accompanies his rescuer back to the station.
The Dynamite Train
Tim Jones - Leader of the Yeggmen
The shifting of the dynamite contained in a boxcar causes the latter to be cut from the freight and set out as unsafe. While this is being done, the Jones gang waylays Emerick, a cattleman who has just sold a herd of stock. Detectives are sent after the thieves.
The Girl on the Bridge
Daly - Jailbird
Communicating with his pals outside, Daly informs them as to the date upon which he is to be taken from the jail to State's prison. Kling, the head of the gang, arranges to hold up the train carrying Daly and effect the man's rescue.
The Girl and the Special
Atwell - Brakeman
Disguised as baggage man, Burgess and Whelan board the train to which is coupled the special carrying Nina Mallotte and her theatrical troupe. The thieves plan to steal the actress' gems.
Danger Ahead!
Bowring - Railroad Detective
Sterling and Ella steal a jewelry salesman's sample bag and make their getaway by boarding a passenger train. Word is flashed ahead to Helen, who in turn notifies Bowring, a railroad detective. The train is flagged.
The Rescue of the Brakeman's Children
Dispatcher
Discharged for drinking, Coleman attempts to get even by releasing the brakes on an empty boxcar, to which is coupled a flatcar, allowing them to run wild down the main line on which he knows the president's special is coming. Coleman does not know that his children, Helen and Paul, are playing on the flat car.
The Eleventh Hour
Bain is in love with Alice, the niece of his employer Mr Borrow. However, Alice is already happily engaged to Clifford. When his boss dies Bain starts working for his brother William Borrow. When Bain sees Alice again jealousy drives him to plan Clifford's murder. He pays Cochise, an Indian, to do the dirty work, but Cochise kills William Borrow instead of Clifford. Clifford is suspected of the murder and will be hanged. However, Cochise confesses his crime when he is rescued from drowning by Alice. Clifford can be released on time.
The Werewolf
Ezra Vance, Prospector and Trail Blazer
An old Indian legend tells of the supposed ability of persons who have been turned into wolves through magic power to assume human form at will for purposes of vengeance. This film is presumed lost.
The Man Within
A man is a fugitive from the law. A reward of $2,000 is offered for his capture. A large posse is on his trail. Weary, hungry and haunted, the refugee is slowly but surely being hemmed in.
Her Own Money
Harvey Beecher
After five years of marriage, Mildred comes to the realization that her husband, Lew, is going nowhere in the real estate business. Mildred, however, has managed to squirrel away two thousand dollars from the household budget -- enough to buy a home. But it turns out that Lew needs just that sum to avoid a financial disaster