(archive footage) (uncredited)
A nostalgic look at film clips from the Silent era.
A little girl and her father are among the settlers in a small western town. The father is very friendly with the neighboring Indian tribe and is presented with a quaint piece of metal representing a dragon's claw, the tribe's good luck omen. Some time later, while traveling with his daughter, he is held up by a band of bandits and shot dead. A bandit takes from him this dragon's claw. Years pass. The little girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. She marries. Their love is very real and their life most happy. He decides to go out west to see a mine that yields the richest gold and his wife expresses a desire to go along with him. The mine is christened "The Dragon's Claw," because of an Indian charm the man owns. While out on a western desert, he shows the dragon's claw to his wife. She then recognizes it as the kind her father possessed when he was killed. She has understood it to be the only one of its kind. She now believes it is her husband who killed her father.
The husband of the young woman is shot by a rejected suitor and she is left with an infant boy, who is to be spared until he reaches man's estate. Standing over the dead body of her husband she vows vengeance.
John Evans and Thomas Barnes were both employed by the banking house of H.M. Cruze and Co. They also occupied an apartment together. Barnes received a tip to play C. and S. stock for a rise. But instead of rising it fell, and he was notified by his broker to send five hundred dollars the next morning to cover the margin or be wiped out. He had no money of his own left, and waiting until everyone had left the office, Barnes opened the safe and took out five hundred dollars.
A young girl is a talented violinist, and wins a scholarship in a school of music. In the village is a banker who is a deacon of a church of whom everybody is afraid. He convinces the father of the girl that music is leading her astray, and declares that the only way to save her is to make her his wife. The father falls dead at the wedding. A year later a child is born. The young wife leads a life of sorrow and abuse. The husband takes her violin away from her and refuses her girl friends permission to come and see her. When she rebels, he drives her out of the house. She goes to the city and makes a name for herself as a musician. Her husband, chagrined at her success, tries to worry her. He sends a box of crepe intimating that their baby is dead.
A girl marries a wealthy pawnbroker in order to get money for her poor lover, who is an artist. When the pawnbroker dies, his son forces the girl to marry him, but he is killed and she marries the artist. Various problems arise after their marriage, but eventually they are happy together.
Donna Isola
A 1914 short directed by Stanner E.V. Taylor and starring Marion Leonard.
The story opens with Miss Leonard, now a woman past the prime of life, relating the sad, romantic story of her life to her dearest niece, who is engaged to be married. As in a vision, the story shifts back forty years and discloses the interior of an orphan asylum. Three babies are there, two boy babies and one baby girl, awaiting adoption into a good home. Years pass and the orphaned children have grown up in three different homes. Miss Leonard's dearest treasures are a pair of tiny baby shoes and a faded plaid shawl given to her foster parents by the asylum nurse.
The story opens in a New York tenement where Miss Leonard is living in hopes of finding the means to support herself and little baby. A month before her husband had been killed in a mine accident and Miss Leonard sought the city, leaving her child m the care of a neighbor. She is aroused by a knock on the door. A youth of the underworld, struck with her beauty, has followed her home. He tells her where she can secure work. When he offers her money to pay for a new dress, she understands, and drives him from the room. Another knock. It is her landlord. She must pay her rent in the morning. Her eye falls on the card left by the "cadet." and makes a desperate decision that will change her life.
The girl decided after what happened at the garden party that she did not want his love any longer, but could not live without it. She decided to leave this world. Her unexpected caller had something to say about that. He did not have to read "Sarah Hardcrab's Advice to the Lovelorn" to know what to do. Being a very human and sensible person, he brought two young people together in his own original way.
A 1913 short directed by Stanner E.V. Taylor and starring marion leonard.
Writer
Quite harmless in themselves, but when Mrs. Ronald G. Saunders saw her faithless lord purchasing the innocent blossoms, she was for a divorce right away. Henceforth she would devote her life to charity. The fond one on whom the flowers were bestowed cast them forth. In her pursuit of uplifting the lowly, Mrs. Saunders found them, and the monster husband was at once transformed into a dear, kind, good one.
The Mother
A woman realizes that her son is following the same path of corruption pursued by her father, a Civil War traitor, and her husband, an embezzler.
A 1913 short directed by Stanner E.V. Taylor and starring Marion Leonard.
Mother / Daughter (dual role)
A 1913 short in which Marion leonard plays a double role.
Carmen
A 1913 short directed by Stanner E.V Taylor and starring Marion Leonard.
Lena Despard
Mrs. Despard, a butterfly of society, finding herself widowed and without means, sends her little daughter Lena, to live with fisher folk in a seacoast town, while she seeks ways and means to continue the life of luxury and ease she has become accustomed to. With the aid of a young adventuress, she conducts a gambling house for the sons of the wealthy, and prosperity smiles upon her until her partner after a severe quarrel leaves her. Unfortunately, the partner, young and attractive, starts a rival gambling house and the scions of the wealthy soon become conspicuous by their absence. Desperate, the widow seeks other means of attracting the men, and lighting upon a letter and photograph of her daughter, decides upon bringing her to the city and make her the magnet that will draw the trade to the gambling tables.
A newspaper woman buys a statuette from an Italian peddler and is given her change in counterfeit bills. Throught the peddler, she tracks down the counterfeiters.
A 1912 short directed by Stanner E.V Taylor and starring Marion Leonard.
The little Mexican girl was in love with the American engineer, but the Mexican who loved her was vindictive and vain and so attempted to force his dagger into her throat. Her cries were heard by an American tourist, who at once came to her assistance and forced the Mexican from the shack. He disappeared quickly and the girl never saw her benefactor. Sometime later she and her American husband returned to the east. He had succeeded, comparatively, but he soon took to gambling in stocks; One day he informed his wife that his speculations were wiped out, and even his house may have to be sold to meet his creditor's demand. The husband then noticed a newspaper item. "James Burden, the Multi-Millionaire, interested in Charity." Then the idea came; it was daring, it was wrong, and he knew it: but he was desperate. He would call on the millionaire, ask for a contribution, and then copy his signature and forge a check.
The leader of the band loved the little tambourine player, but she loved the first violin. The first violin loved her. The leader of the band was in a position to bully both the first violin and the little tambourine, and what's more, he did. But their love was strong.
A 1912 short directed by Stanner E.V Taylor and starring Marion Leonard.
Her husband was just what she was not, cold and brutal and even a little criminal. He earned his living in God knows what way, but once he boldly boasted that he and a confederate was to rob a house. She pleaded with him to forsake the dishonest plan, but he laughed and hurled her aside. She sobbed and begged, but he merely enjoyed her tears, and left the house. Outside he met his accomplice. The little wife followed him, caught up with him on the corner, and again pleaded with him to return home. In his rage he turned and struck her on the head. The woman fell and did not rise again. The two ran off. A little later she was found lying there by a farmer and his wife, who revived her. She did not know who or what she was. Her memory was a complete blank.
The Actress
When the actress learned that if she married the man his father would disinherit him, she was rather determined for his sake not to marry him. When his father, at the point of death, suddenly had a will drawn up leaving everything to his wife, and then commissioned his attorney to go out and find a woman who would marry him, it was she whom he met and to whom he broached the daring offer. And she accepted. When she learned that she had married the father of the man she loved, and that she had everything and he nothing; they arranged a plan of their own whereby the fortune would be more equally distributed.
The Girl Advocate
A girl champions the cause of the strikers at a mill.
A pretty woman's tears are the greatest persuasive argument on the planet earth. A woman's tears will melt the coldest heart, and will make the heart manifest itself when there isn't any at all. They were in love, and pa frowned on the romance. When a pa frowns on a romance between a pretty, determined girl and the man "she was born to marry" there's always an interesting story. The girl knew the power of tears, because she was a girl! And she determined to cry her father into submission.
The Princess
She was the princess, and a human girl. Sincere, simple, with an earnest love for all things everywhere, she hated royal pomp with a hatred that was passion. In her light, bright eyes was the uncopyrighted story of human struggle, of contending human emotions. This, then, was the girl to be sacrificed for a political alliance. The prince selected was a jellyfish personage with enough blue blood to give a girl with as much red blood as the princess the blues.
With the frozen desert all about them, under the chill northern skies, a vast stretch of somber gray, they plighted their troth. He had left the wilderness of mortar and steel with its lights and sights and tears and sneers to come to this land of night, with its cold and gold, to cut through the white for the yellow beneath. And the girl, brave in her hope that his would be realized, had come with him. His goal was gold; and he took the trail. For days he searched it, and found only despair, then broke his leg. An old Indian found him, alone and suffering, and took him to his hut. For days he nursed the injured limb, and for weeks the wanderer loitered in the camp of the Indian. Never a word reached the girl. Then she received a letter from home, advising her that she had inherited a large fortune.
Marion Leonard is the teacher of a group of children of the tenements. She loved them, loved them with a mother-love and a sister-love, and the warm love of suffering humankind.
She was tired of her plain dresses. So that night she told her husband of the desire that was to be the disaster. And so the next day at the office the guilty pen left a balance in the figures, and the sin was concealed under the silks it bought. The woman was happy. His act was discovered, and he was taken away to jail. The wife went to the judge with her woman's tears and a weeping plea, but in the stern eyes of earth's law sentiment is no extenuation. So the barred gates of hope closed behind him, and on the four stone walls he saw the handwriting and read its message. The years went by, and one day a woman older than her birthdays sat in the twilight, and peering into the gloom saw her heart reflected.
The Penitent Mother - the Moth
Peeved and piqued, she sat in fretful mood before the fireplace. Perhaps in the fleeting flames she saw the lights and sights of the ballroom. She chided herself for having married a man who was wedded to his professional duties. Of course, she admitted to herself, the hospital required her husband's duties. The brilliance of the ballroom beckoned with boisterous invitation to her yielding thoughts. She put the baby girl to sleep, and went to the ball alone. The lights were bright, the people were merry and she was happy. But at home a great record was writing itself on the walls, writing mother's negligence in writhing flames. The fire in the hearth, left to its own mischievous irresponsibility, had set the house ablaze.
Bessie Trenton - the Stenographer
Bessie Trenton grieves over the fact that her brother is neglecting the support of his wife and children. At last she determines to obtain a position for him in the office where she is cashier. One day her brother steals some money. The girl notes the missing money, and the disappearance of her brother points to his guilt. She returns home at once. Her employer returns to the office, sees the open safe, the missing money, and at once suspects the absent cashier as guilty of the theft. He calls at the house, just in time to see her with the money in her hands, which she had been given by her brother, and announces herself as the guilty person. The detectives find a man's watch fob, just in front of the safe. The clue is followed, and at last the guilt of the brother is fastened upon him. Bessie is liberated, and thenceforth she appoints herself as the breadwinner of her guilty brother's family.
How the accident happened no one could explain, but the lamp had exploded, and the girl was blind! She thought of and sent for Bob. He came. Sadly she told him what had happened, and horror-stricken, he recoiled from her. And that moment he decided to go away. When he told her he was going west, that he would soon return to her, she clung to him. He comforted her with deceit, and went out of the house, putting her out of his life.
John Potter's Loyal Sister
John Potter volunteers to serve the South and, disguised as a Union soldier, John starts on his mission of securing the Union forces' plans. As he steals through the Union lines he comes upon a squad of Union soldiers, and in their midst a Confederate spy. A sharp order and from the barrels of twelve guns the prisoner's punishment is meted out to him. Like a blow it dawns upon John that, if detected, that would be his fate. His courage fails him and he turns toward the Confederate lines. He runs to his home, and bursts in upon his sister, who alone is awake. A few brief words and she knows all. The boy, desperate in his shame, runs into another room; there is a muffled shot, a thin wreath of smoke tells its grim tale. She determines to accomplish her brother's mission, and flies out into the night.
To save her artist lover from starvation, a young girl weds a rich old man, who buys his pictures. Not knowing her sacrifice, the artist becomes famous and publicly snubs the girl. On his deathbed the old man sends for the artist and divulges how he forced the girl to marry him and the lovers are reconciled.
Mrs. Murray
Murray, the president of the union, hides the papers in the house containing plans for a big strike. He thoughtlessly tells his wife that the boss would give much to know the contents of the papers. Extremely vain, and yearning for fine raiment, she sells the papers to the boss, who informs the men of his knowledge, forestalling the strike. Murray is accused of being a traitor, and the men agree to continue under present conditions if he is discharged. When Mrs. Murray realizes the enormity of her offense she burns the money and confesses to her husband. He refuses to forgive her, and parts from her in a dramatic scene.
Helen Blair
Jack Northwood and Helen Baer have a lovers' quarrel, and Jack sends her a huge bouquet, in which is placed a penitent plea for forgiveness and a proposal of marriage. In delivery the note works itself into the center of the bouquet and is overlooked by Helen. Jack receiving no reply leaves town, crushes and heartbroken, and is so overwhelmed with grief that he loses all interest in the world and becomes a tramp. Helen cherishes the bouquet as the last gift from her lost lover from whom she has received no word as the years have gone by, and keeps the withered flowers.
Belle Meade
Belle Meade is in the secret service of the Confederate army, and is assigned the task of recovering some battle plans. She penetrates the Union lines, but comes under suspicion of Col. Cuthbert's plantation, who is a loyal southerner. The colonel conceals her in the house. The Union general takes possession of Cuthbert's house, and a courier enters with the plans. She slays the courier and hides in the stables. Col. Cuthbert is accused of the act, and is sentenced to death.
Queen of the demi-monde, Cynthia is madly infatuated with Rogers, an unprincipled scoundrel, who, secure in his dominance over her, openly makes love to other women in her presence. In a moment of desperation, her womanhood coming to the fore, she calls on Father Sullivan, the good priest at the monastery, who soothes her hysteria and tries to show her the path of rectitude. Jackson pursues his prey into the very walls of the monastery, and triumphantly brings Cynthia back with him. Disheartened, the priest is inclined to let her go her way, but a vision of the Savior rise before him, holding out a saving hand to Mary Magdalene, kneeling at his feet. Filled with holy awe, the priest enters the gilded den of vice and calls on Cynthia.
Adele
Adele is courted by Algernon, a delicate young man. They attend a boxing exhibition, and Adele becomes enraptured with the manly art. Algernon starts to take lessons and is given some painful maulings at the gymnasium by the instructors, who delight in battering the "Willie-boy." Adele also takes lessons and accidentally receives a left hook on the jaw, which destroys all her interest. She writes a note to Algernon, expressing her dislike for boxing, and as he gazes at his bruised and battered countenance in the mirror and realizes it has been for naught, he presents a laughable appearance.
Wild Dove
Jack Reed falls madly in love with Wild Dove, an Indian maid, and while his affection is returned by the girl, his suit is frowned upon by her father, who wishes her to marry an Indian brave who has given him many presents. Wild Dove enters the road house to sell her bead work, and Bill Emery, a tough westerner, forcibly tries to kiss her. Her frantic efforts to save herself are greeted with laughter by the amused onlookers, till Jack rushes in and knocks Emery down. Emery draws a gun but is quickly covered by Jack, and departs sullenly. Jack decides to marry Wild Dove immediately, to prevent such insults, and hand in hand they go to her father's tepee, where Jack's pleadings are rejected. Jack decides upon a desperate plan, and creeping into the tepee in the night he awakens Wild Dove and takes her to the road house where he has asked a minister to meet him.
Smith, a waiter in a fashionable restaurant, is a kleptomaniac. A guest, somewhat flustered by the petulance of his fair companion whom he has slightly offended, departs without a roll of bills from which he paid his check. Smith hurriedly tucks the money in his pocket, and when the guest comes back denies he has seen the roll. The head waiter searches him, finds the money, returns it to the owner, and discharges Smith. The waiter breaks the sad news to his wife, who is waiting for him with their little child in an atmosphere of poverty, owing to the fact that Smith's petty dishonesties deprive him of employment. Mrs. Smith, with the baby in her arms, hurries to the restaurant and pleads with the head waiter to give her husband another chance, but he refuses. A wealthy patron, Mr. Randall, and his handsomely gowned wife overhear the plea, and the rich woman's sympathies are aroused.
Grace - George's Sister
A 1911 short starring James kirkwood and Marion Leonard. It is considered to be a lost film.
Isabel Bradford, an orphan, keeps house for her grandfather, her sisters Ina and Marie, 18 and 10 years old, respectively, and her brother Harry, aged 16. Harry and his grandfather answer the call to arms. Ina meets a wounded volunteer carrying a message to the American general that the British are preparing to attack. She undertakes to carry the message and after a trying experience reaches the American camp and the soldiers advance to meet the enemy. In the meantime the British have attacked the settlement and a pair of drunken soldiers enter the Bradford cabin and attempt to force caresses upon Isabel. Capt. Burton, a British officer, arrives and hurls them aside. Isabel's heart flutters with emotion as she thanks the dashing officer, and he in turn is smitten with her charms. Later another detachment of soldiers make an attack and Isabel barricades the heavy door and fired the guns which her tiny sister loads.
The Peasant Girl
A 1911 short starring Arthur V. Johnson, Marion Leonard and Henry B. Walthall. it is now considered a lost film.
George Waring becomes infatuated with Miss Lowe and his wife divorces him, While driving, Miss Lowe's horse runs away and she is heroically rescued by Dick Watts, a handsome youth who falls in love with her.
A 1911 short starringJames kirkwood and Marion Leonard. It is considered to be lost film.
The story depicts a youth at the crossroads of life, listening to the call of the church, renouncing love and worldly pleasure which beckon him and consecrating himself to the priesthood. It shows a woman of the world with ideal, pure-hearted love within her grasp, surrendering her lover to a sanctified existence.
The old Kentuckian, Colonel Goring, is loyal to the Union cause. His son enlists in the Confederate army. The Union spy is ordered into the enemy's lines to secure some drawings, and to accomplish his purpose is compelled to kill young Goring. Pursued and in danger of capture, he takes refuge in Goring's home, and the Colonel hides him in a large basket. The searching party fail to discover him, and as they depart the body of the dead soldier is brought home on a stretcher. The Colonel is horrified at the realization that he has protected the slayer of his son, and is rent by conflicting emotions. His love of country bids him protect the Union spy, and his paternal love cries out for vengeance
Two sisters, Nellie and Florence, support themselves and their mother by sewing. A man accompanying a wealthy client tempts first Nellie and then Florence to leave with him. Nellie rejects him, but Florence goes to his decadent apartment and becomes his mistress. Nellie marries a diligent carpenter and raises a growing family. Eventually the Tempter tosses Florence out, and she dies alone and impoverished.
The Wife
A 1910 short starring Arthur V. Johnson and Marion Leonard.
A 1910 short Starring Marion Leonard and James Kirkwood. It is considered to be a lost film.
A 1910 short directed by D.W. griffith and starring Marion leonard.
Set in Rome, during the feudal period. The heroine, the daughter of an armor manufacturer, is in love with a humble tradesman. The resistance expressed by the armorer towards this romance inexorably leads to disaster for everyone concerned.
A 1910 short directed by Eugene Sanger and starring Marion Leonard.
Typical morality tale has a Deacon coming onto a "wild child" (Dorothy West) but after she rejects him he goes back into town saying that the girl and her mother are witches.
A rich nobleman steals a perfume merchant's wife just prior to the French Revolution, in which the perfumer is a leader of the peasants. His priest made him swear an oath to leave vengeance to God, however.
In a quaint fishing village Bill and Mary are childhood sweethearts. Ten years roll by, and the boy, now a young man, gives the girl a ring and they now renew their vows. They are both very happy until fate interferes. Bill, while strolling on the shore, espies a raft with an object on it that looks like a human being, far out at sea. He swims to the raft and finds an exhausted fisherman lying prone upon it. Pushing the raft to the shore, he, with the aid of others, revives the stranger. Joe is the stranger's name and he and Bill become staunch friends. Mary becomes smitten with Joe and cruelly casts Bill aside.
During a stay at beach resort Mr. and Mrs. Randall neglect their daughter and follow their own interests. Mrs. Randall entertains the local minister, while Mr. Randall agrees to take his daughter on a walk along the beach. However, he is attracted by a flirtatious young woman, and the little girl wanders off on her own. She clambers onto a seaside rock where she falls asleep, unmindful of the incoming tide. Her parents at last notice her absence and begin searching for her. However, the incoming tide has by this time surrounded her rock, cutting her off from land. A lifeguard hears her cries and swims to the rescue just as the rising tide is about to engulf her. The child is returned to her parents, who receive from their near tragedy a salutary lesson in the importance of being more careful parents.
The Lord's Wife, Regina
A Feudal Lord and his bride were visited by their cousin at a time when this Lord was presenting to his bride the family heirloom the Great Ruby of Irskaat. The cousin coveted it, and was determined to secure it. The Lord receives a call to arms and appreciating the danger of leaving this valuable jewel unguarded, buries it in a secluded part of the grounds. His soldiers now assembled, he departs, leaving his wife to the care of his trusted servants. No sooner had he left than the cousin returns with the subterfuge that he will stay at the palace guarding the wife until the Lord's return. This the wife appreciates, believing his tender well meant. Surreptitiously he rids the palace of the servants, placing his own in their stead. The poor woman is now in the absolute power of this despicable villain.
Two eccentric Frenchmen argue for the hand of an eligible American girl, who finally discouraged both of them by introducing her betrothed.
The Daughter
In the heart of the American west, a miner toils day after day at his rocker box while his young daughter keeps his camp. His daughter persuades him to return to civilization, where they may enjoy the fruits of their labor. Both are happy in the anticipation of what seems a bright future. While she's away, a desert wanderer appears at the camp, and at the sight of the old man weighing his gold is seized with cupidity. He himself had toiled long in the wilds, but with no success, so he demands that the old man divide his gains with him. This, of course, the miner decries, and the wanderer uses force to obtain the old man's gold. The wanderer collapses in the desert, only to be rescued by a certain young woman: the miner's daughter.
Red Rose
In Camarillo, principality of the Spanish dominion, there lived two brothers, Jose and Manuel. Born in a noble Spanish family and reared by a mother noble in both station and character, they were vastly different morally. Jose was a dutiful son and upright young man, while Manuel was the black sheep. It was on Easter Sunday morning during the processional that Manuel appears in an intoxicated condition and foully ridicules the priests and acolytes as they enter the chapel of the old mission. At this the mother's pride is hurt beyond endurance and she exiles her profligate son from her forever. Manuel is shunned as a viper and while making his way along the road, meets Pedro, the notorious political outlaw, who sympathizes with him and offers him inducements to join him, and so takes him to his camp. Meanwhile, Jose woos and wins the Red Rose of Capistran and the day for the wedding is set.
The Lady
In the Kingdom of Never-Never Land there live a great Lord and Lady, each presiding over their own domain. This great Lord goes for a stroll through his estate and coming to the border of his own land he is struck by the entrancing beauty of the contiguous estate, so like his own, that the inclination to intrude is irresistible. His peregrination is halted by the appearance of the great Lady, who is indeed as fair as the flowers that clothe her land. He introduces himself and invites her to stroll with him in his gardens. She is in like manner entranced by the beauty of his possessions. How alike in beauty are they; a veritable fairyland. If they were only one, for it seems they should be. This thought is mutual, and the Lord proposes a way, a marriage, and so a betrothal of convenience ensues. They know nothing of love and so are content in the anticipation of being Lord and Lady of all Never-Never Land.
A man sacrifices a new marriage for the happiness of his daughter.
The Woman
A young man with a beer budget learns a hard lesson when he takes out a young lady with champagne tastes.
A prospector in the Gold Rush days of ‘49 strikes pay dirt after a long struggle. He stakes the claim and stays to guard it while his wife and ten-year-old son hurry off to the claim office to register it. Two scoundrels observe the action, and go in pursuit. Arriving after the wife and her son, they trick her into leaving the queue waiting for the agent to arrive. A woman who pretends to faint is the accomplice who leads the wife to a cabin. The scoundrels lock the wife in, but she ties her son to a rope and lowers him out the window to bring help. She is rescued and manages to register their claim in the last moment.
Perdita
An historical dramatization of a Spanish woman during the reign of Spanish and Mexican owned California in the early 19th century.
Laura has already accepted an engagement ring from Edgar when he discovers that he has tuberculosis. Persuaded by the doctor that he risks infecting his unborn children, he calls off the engagement, but Laura will not accept that: she threatens suicide. When the doctor points out a little girl who is the diseased result of such a union, Edgar recoils, and agrees to pretend to flirt with another woman to put an end to Laura’s love.
Mabel, a young woman living in a large mansion, is courted by Tom Darrell, a neighbour of the same class. Meanwhile, Ruth, Mabel’s laundress, is courted by the equally lowly Steve. Ruth and Steve watch the wealthy couple’s courtship enviously. Both couples marry; the Darrells have a daughter, and Ruth and Steve a son and daughter. Tom tires of Mabel and his daughter, and runs away with another woman. Later, Mabel’s little girl is stricken with diphtheria and dies, despite her mother’s offering the doctor all her wealth if he can cure her. Meanwhile, Ruth and Steve’s children remain healthy, and their domestic happiness prevents their persisting envy of Mabel’s wealth from embittering them.
Flametta - the Duke's Daughter
The Duke, in an effort to 'save' his daughter from marriage to a poor lad of noble birth, hatches a plot which nearly costs the life of that very daughter.
A dance hall girl is converted to a religious life by a phony evangelist. But can he, himself, be saved?
Elsa - the Mother
A peasant family comprising the father, mother and little boy child are happy in their own sphere until one day several courtiers of a hunting party stopped at the humble home for refreshments. The men are particularly struck with the beauty of the young wife, and as their Duke is in the depths of boredom they suggest carrying her off to court. However, they think it best to first consult the Duke, who in the extreme of ennui, is most agreeable to the plans. Hence, the poor wife is torn from her husband and child and taken to court to be made a lady by the Duke.
Edith Lawson is engaged as the star dancer of a traveling tent show. Her circus name is Fatima. Billy Harvey, one of the performers, and a part owner of the show, is, or rather pretends to be, in love with Fatima, and she loves him in return. The arduous duties have made the poor girl ill but her managers cruelly insist that she must appear, as she is a feature. During her dance, however, she faints from weakness, and the audience is dismissed. Amos Holden, a young merchant in the village, who is in the audience, is deeply moved by the poor girl's predicament, and determines to help her.
Grace Wallace
Grace Wallace was the only child of a widow of decidedly meager means. Mr. Rupert Howland, a widower of considerable wealth, the father of a girl child, and an old friend of the family, often surreptitiously helped them. He dearly loved the young girl, but it was only at the death-bed of Mrs. Wallace that he really showed it. The poor woman at the point of death realized the helplessness of those she was leaving behind, her own aged parents and her daughter Grace. To assure their future she begged Grace to marry their dear friend, and Grace, touched by the man's goodness and her mother's condition, consented. Not content with the promise, she asked that the marriage take place at once by her bedside, and the wish was granted. Poor Grace struggled hard to love the dear old man, but while she admired and respected him, and was profoundly grateful for his kindness, she could not love him.
The evils of drink cause a man to separate from his family. In time he becomes sober and prosperous. Then he meets and falls in love with a young woman, and they become engaged. Unbeknownst to him this young woman is his own daughter.
The Outlaw's Wife
A man gets revenge on his cheating wife by killing her and her lover. He thinks he has killed his daughter as well, but she survives and is adopted by the sheriff. A few years later the man, now an outlaw, ambushes the sheriff and plans to kidnap and murder the sheriff's daughter.
Mrs. Hilton
Mr. and Mrs. Hilton throw a New Year's Eve party. They agree not to drink the punch themselves, but as guests begin to arrive their resolve weakens, and soon they are both cavorting drunkenly. Next morning Mr. Hilton, feeling very sick, is conscience-stricken over his drunkenness and his behavior with another woman. He fears to face his wife until he discovers that she feels just as guilty herself.
Marie Cadrona
Marie has two suitors. She accepts Victor and rejects Tony, who stabs Victor in a fit of jealousy. When he learns that Victor is still alive, he breaks into the room in Marie's house where Victor is convalescing and attacks him again. He is threatening to attack Marie when lawmen burst in and arrest him.
Helen Rogers (uncredited)
The children of a household attempt to capture Santa, but they catch something else entirely.
At the Hotel
Harry, preparing to leave on a business trip, tells Bessie that her photograph will always be with him. To test his sincerity she removes the photo from his bill case, and when he writes her that he is looking at her picture, she writes back that she knows otherwise. Realizing that he has been found out, Harry obtains his mother's photograph of Bessie, and upon his return home convinces her that he had it all along.
Mrs. Nostrand
A society couple, neglect their young daughter in favor of their social life. When the girl becomes seriously ill, the father realizes the errors of his ways and stays home with her, demanding his wife do likewise. She sneaks out to a dance and the child takes a turn for the worse. By the time she returns home the child is dead. After her husband leaves her, the mother realizes her selfishness and begs forgiveness at her daughter's grave.
The Catholic's Wife
During the reign of Oliver Cromwell, Catholic worship is forbidden on pain of death. Three soldiers are arrested as Catholics and condemned to die. Cromwell decides to spare two of them and to determine which should die by chance. The guards bring the first child they meet. Whichever soldier she gives the 'death disc' to shall die. Cromwell is charmed by the girl and gives her his signet ring. By chance the child is the daughter of one of the soldiers and gives the death disc to her father, because she thinks it's pretty. The child is returned home to her mother, who learns of her husband's pending execution and of the power of the ring. She rushes to the place of execution and saves her husband by producing the ring.
Mrs. Wallace
An escaped convict takes refuge in the home of a police officer out on duty. He seizes the officer's daughter and pulls her into a window recess, with a pistol to her head. The officer returns and discovers the convict's hat. He suspect his wife is concealing an affair and she must avoid revealing the convict's presence for the sake of their daughter.
Paul's Fiancee - The Jilted One
After being jilted for another, a woman sends her lover's old letters to the new fiancée and looks forward to the reaction. But when she spots her old lover's glove left behind, she has a change of heart and repents.
A disfigured young woman with two beautiful sisters is courted by a blind man. Will he still love her when his sight is restored?
Mrs. Morley
A husband suspects his wife of an affair. The wife's cousin borrows a shawl to meet her lover in the garden. The husband spies the couple embracing, and, thinking it's his wife, he strikes the lover. The thought that he has killed a man temporarily unhinges the husband's mind until he can be convinced that the lover is still alive.
The Wife
During the French Revolution, a wealthy couple lives safely by professing republican beliefs. When a mob attacks a nearby chateau an aristocrat bursts into the couple's home. They save his life by disguising him as a servant, but he soon forces his attentions on the wife. Hearing their struggle, the husband intervenes and, stripping the aristocrat of his disguise, thrusts him outdoors to be killed by the mob.
Nanette Ranfrea
A pack of admirers won't leave a beautiful woman alone at a seaside resort, so she devises a plan. She appears in a leg-revealing swimsuit, but the stockings have been stuffed with cotton to make her limbs appear misshapen. All but one of the men is driven off, and regret it when she removes the misleading leggings.
The Second Wife
Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.
Mrs. John Whitney
An honest worker, John Whitney, finds himself unemployed and unable to provide for his family. Desperate, he robs a rich man's home and is arrested. One of the police officers is an old friend and accompanies Whitney home to allow a farewell with his wife. Humiliated, Whitney decides to kill himself and his family. The rich man learns of his desperate situation and arrives in time to save the family and drops the charges.
Three little girls fall into a sand pit and can't get out. One of them ties a note around her pet pigeon's neck and releases it. The pigeon flies home, alerting the parents to where the girls are trapped.
Helen Waterbury - John's Wife
William is drawn to Edward's wife, Helen. Sensing his feelings might lead him into an affair, he decides to go away. As he says goodbye to Helen, Edward spies from behind a curtain. Soon afterwards Edward shoots himself, believing Helen can be happier with William. When William returns to convince Helen to become his wife, she refuses, blaming herself for Edward's suicide.
The Sister / At Wedding
Mary marries James, after jilting his brother Luke. Mary's sister arrives and soon James is professing his love to her. The shock of this kills Mary and leaves her newborn daughter motherless. Luke offers to raise the daughter. Years later James returns and tries to convince his daughter to leave Luke, the only father she's ever known, and come with him.
Fanny Webster
Fanny is the wife of Ben Webster, a trapper, and while he is an affectionate and dutiful husband, she yearns for something which appears better than her lot. She reasons: "Have I not youth and beauty and attainments far above this environment? Why should I be compelled to toil and struggle in this wilderness?"
Ottima
Pippa awakes and faces the world outside with a song. Unbeknown to her, the music has a healing effect on all who hear her as she passes by.
One of the Colonel's Nieces
A short version of James Fenimore Cooper's famous tale about Natty Bumppo, or "Hawkeye," and his exploits during the French and Indian war.
Mexican Woman
George Peabody is a young man who has been giving free rein to his inclinations, the principal one being drink. One might have concluded he was lost, but there was the chance which the hand of Providence always bestows in the person of pretty little Ruth King, who had secretly loved George since their childhood days. She succeeds in persuading him from his reckless life, and he determines to cut off from his old loose companions by going out West and making a man of himself. Bidding Ruth and her mother good-bye, he realizes that he loves his little preserver and promises to return worthy of her love and confidence. They plight their troth with their first kiss and a heart shaped locket, which Ruth wears, she breaking it in two, giving George one side while she retains the other, which symbolized the reunion of their hearts with his return.
Clear Eyes
This story of the Black Hills consistently tells of the unrequited love of a Sioux brave for his chief's daughter, and how he premonished the awful results of her ominous marriage with a white cowboy. Clear Eyes, the daughter of Chief Thunder Cloud, is beloved by Comata, a Sioux brave, but having met and listened to the persuasion of Bud Watkins, a cowboy, leaves her mountain home to become his squaw. Poor little confiding Clear Eyes lives only for Bud, and he at first seems devoted to her, but at the end of two years, a little papoose arriving meanwhile to bless their union, he tires of her, and courts Miss Nellie Howe, a white girl, who thinks him single. Comata, however, has unremittingly watched his movements, and vows to avenge his lost one. Following him to the white girl's home, he sees enough to convince him of the whelp's villainy, so he goes and reveals the truth to Clear Eyes.
The Countess
The Count sets out to make a private room for him and his Countess, built in such a way no one can see, hear, and most importantly, disturb them. But unbeknownst to the Count, his wife has set her eyes on the court minstrel. Based on Edgar Allan Poe's “The Cask of Amontillado” and Honoré de Balzac's “La Grande Breteche”.
Nellie
A woman in love with an unsuccessful author tries to convince a publisher to accept his work.
Ethel
Tom and Ethel separately decide to go bathing in a river. Pranksters switch their clothes and they each have to dress up as the opposite sex.
The Woman
To help a woman whose purse has been snatched, two college boys stage a murder scene and trap the purse snatcher.
Wedding Guest
A woman is scarred in an accident and refuses to stand in the way of her lover's marriage to another.
The Gypsy
Mrs. Jones leaves her baby with the maid and goes shopping for a new hat. Meanwhile, the maid invites a band of gypsies into the house for a palm reading. After the gypsies leave, no one can find the baby, and everyone assumes it's been kidnapped, until the baby is found under a hatbox.
Biscuit Victim
A new bride has made a batch of biscuits. Her husband pretends to like them, so she delivers the rest to his office. But one bite of these biscuits makes you violently ill, and soon all his visitors (he runs a theatrical booking agency), plus the workmen at home, are ill; when she shows up at the office, they all go after her.
A disfigured violinist mistakes a token of appreciation for a love bouquet. When he realizes his mistake, he loses his mind.
A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.
The Judge's Companion
A contest is being held in Cremona for the best violin, with Giannina's hand in marriage as the prize. Filippo is secretly in love with her, but is also ashamed of being a cripple, so he switches his superior violin with that of another apprentice, Sandro, whom Giannina loves.
Woman in store
It's Bob Allen's twenty-first birthday. His mother and his brother Jack, a policeman present him with a cap, personalized with his initals in the lining. Jack then goes to work and Bob goes out also. Later in the evening, Jack is called to the scene of a robbery, where he finds the cap with his brother's initials. Dismayed by the idea that his brother is a thief, he goes home and confronts Bob with the evidence. Though it breaks their mother's heart, Jack does his duty and leads his brother out in handcuffs.
Marion Francis
Henry and Marion have a lover's quarrel and part in anger. They do not reconcile, and ten years pass without contact. Marion becomes a society girl and spends her time at parties with her friends. Henry has become very ill and wishes to see Marion one more time. He writes asking her to visit. When she recieves the note, she laughs and tosses it on the floor, but, later, on a whim, decides to take all her drunken friends with her to visit him. When they arrive, Marion finds Henry dead, clutching her portrait in his hand. She sends her friends away and falls to her knees in remorse. Mary Pickford's debut!
A Prisoner
Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
Dorothy Kirk
John is seduced and abandoned by a cruel flirt. Later he learns that his friend Frank is engaged to the same woman. He relates his story to Frank and convinces him to jilt her at the altar.
Factory Employee
A shoe-factory worker puts a note in a shoe box offering to marry the lucky buyer. As a result, she is dismissed from her job, but her employer finds her so attractive that he suggests a new job for her, as his wife.
Mercedes
Hidalgo offers his daughter's hand in marriage when he can't repay a loan to Manuella. But when Manuella overhears the daughter bidding farewell to her lover, he is so moved by their devotion that he cancels the debt.
Landlady
Out-of-work, Tim steals a sandwich, then knocks out the policeman who chases him. He changes into the policeman's uniform, and is approached by a wife who needs help with her drunken husband.
Gertrude
Gertrude chooses Jim over Jack, which makes Jack very jealous. Later Jim dies, and Jack marries Gertrude. He finds himself once again very jealous of the late Lucky Jim.
Madame Lebrun
Harry's jealous former mistress puts poison in some candy intended for his new fiancée. Harry discovers what she has done, and races to save his fiancée before she eats the candy.
Noblewoman
A young courtier gambles in a tavern and wins a coat from the leader of a gang. In the pocket he finds details of a plan to kidnap the Queen. He returns to the castle and hides until the kidnappers show up, then he exposes the kidnapping plot.
Mrs. Leffingwell
Mrs. Leffingwell runs after the last of her departing party guests to return a forgotten muff. While she's out a burglar enters the apartment and opens the safe. He can't make his getaway before she returns, and tries to bluff his way out by saying he entered the wrong apartment. She sees the open safe and secretly tells the butler to get the police.
Extra
A tramp tries to get himself arrested so he can sleep in the nice, warm jail, but the police keep ignoring him or arresting the wrong person.
In the Play
A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.
Mrs. Parker
While she attends a party, Mrs. Ross leaves her young daughter to care for her bed-ridden mother. At the party, Mrs. Ross realizes she left the wrong medicine, and desperately tries to contact her daughter before it's too late.
Mrs. Newman
Henry is being blackmailed. When the blackmailer breaks into his house, Henry apprehends him at gunpoint and takes the opportunity to rid himself of the blackmailer's threat.
The Mother
Seven years after the death of their first child, a couple has grown apart and decides to divorce. Their second child asks a question about who will keep the first child's most cherished toy after they separate. This leads the couple to reconsider their actions.
Helen Walker
A music teacher is in love with Helen, one of his students, but she rejects him. In his anger he joins a communist group who plan to blow up a rich capitalist's house. When he realizes it's Helen's house, he tries to stop the plan.
Isabelle
"Fine feathers make fine birds", and handsome gowns make handsome women. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.
Landlady / Shoplifter
A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her faith is real, and strong, and her former love doesn't like this.
The Blind Sculptress
Mons. Flamant, a typical roué of the French nobility, is surrounded by all the pleasures and pastimes his fabulous wealth can procure. In a quest of diversion he visits the art rooms, just as a young girl enters with a magnificent piece of sculpture and places it on sale. The roué is so impressed with the work and the girl that he purchases it at once and follows her to the atelier, where he learns that she is the maid of the sculptress, whom he sees and at once falls passionately in love with her, but when he learns that she is totally blind, his feelings change to one of deepest pity.
The daughter
A court fool believes the Duke is after his beautiful daughter, and arranges to have the Duke murdered. The daughter overhears the plot and, disguised in the Duke's cloak, sacrifices her life to save him.
Lady Florence
Lady Florence hides her lover, a Prussian spy, from the French troops who are hunting for him. One of her other suitors, a French officer, discovers the hiding place and threatens to kill the spy.
Minnie, the Daughter
At the Italian boarding house the male boarders were all smitten with the charms of Minnie, the landlady's pretty daughter, but she was of a poetic turn of mind and her soul soared above plebeianism and her aspirations were romantic. Most persistent among her suitors was Grigo, a coarse Sicilian, whose advances were odiously repulsive. The arrival at the boarding house from the old country of Giuseppe Cassella, the violinist, filled the void in her yearning heart. Romantic, poetic and a talented musician, Giuseppe was indeed a desirable husband for Minnie.
Reveller
An anonymous donor drops a gold coin in the shoe of a homeless girl as she sleeps. A gambler with a 'sure thing' borrows the coin and wins a fortune, but he can't find her again to repay her.
Peters - the Cartoonist
A haughty politician, on seeing a satirical cartoon in a newspaper, rushes to the paper's offices to shoot the cartoonist. On discovering the cartoonist is a pretty woman, he falls instantly in love and wastes no time in trying to woo her.
The Woman
Jack Windom experiences a sensation of awe at the reception of the Hindoo dagger from his old chum, Tom, who was traveling in India. Hanging the dagger on the wall. Jack goes out. For some time Jack has discerned a coolness in his wife, and his jealous misgivings were verified when he returned and found her in company with a stranger. Seizing the dagger from the wall he chases the recreant lover from the house and then follows the wife to the bathroom, wither she has flown in terror. Mercilessly he plunges the dagger and flies the place. The lover in hiding sees him leave and returns, and calling aid succeeds in reviving the wife, who afterwards with careful treatment recovers and marries her paramour. However, either from the baneful influence of this diabolical dagger, or the woman's capricious nature, just one year later the second husband enacts the same scene, but with fatal results.
Mrs. Trouble
This is a very short and rare attempt at comedy by D. W. Griffith.
In Factory
Bob Spaulding, a manly fellow, meets Dr. Rankin and his wife on the street while they are engaged in a violent tiff. The doctor is about to strike his wife when Bob interferes, incurring the resentment of the doctor. During the flurry Mrs. Rankin drops her card case. From a card inside he learns the address and goes there to return it. They meet, and it is a case of love at first sight; but she is a wife, and beyond his reach.
A few of us have had the chance to read our own obituary notice, but it fell to the lot of John Goodhusband the rare privilege of viewing his own elegiac cinerary floral offerings, and at the time John was anything but a "dead one."
Dancer (unconfirmed)
An unscrupulous tourist plots to steal the famous diamond, "The Light of the World," tricking a young woman into helping him. She is caught and imprisoned, while he prepares to sell the diamond and make his getaway.
At Black & Tan Ball
Sisters guarding their house from a burglar set upon stealing their daddy's money.
Galora's Wife
Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.
Alice Pierce
Mack Sennett appears as a butler and a man in an office in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Mrs. Francis
Mack Sennett appears as a party guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
The Man's Fiancee
Mack Sennett appears as a party guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
At Wigmaker's
Mack Sennett appears as an extra in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
In Crowd
Mack Sennett appears as a man in the crowd in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Their Daughter
Mack Sennett appears as a footman in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Mrs. Holland
Mack Sennett appears as a cop in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Sicilian Woman
Mack Sennett appears as a cop in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Wedding Guest
Mack Sennett appears as a wedding guest in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Customer
Mack Sennett appears as one of character Mike McLaren's assistants in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Fiammetta, Matteo's Wife
After a judge (Harry Solter) does his job and sentences a man, a gypsy woman (Marion Leonard) erupts in vehement protests and has to be taken forcefully out of the courtroom. Later the gypsy follows the judge to his home and plots a vicious revenge on his wife (Florence Lawrence).
Guest / Woman at Wigmaker's
Mack Sennett appears as a guest and a man in the fight in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
Nellie Caufield as an Adult
Mack Sennett appears as a member of the Wilkenson clan in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
D.W. Griffith film about an elderly father who grows tired of seeing his son bring home beautiful women so he gets a makeover and heads out on the prowl.
Mack Sennett appears as a policeman in this film produced by the Biograph Company.
This one-reeler has been regarded as a classic example of a Griffith thriller. It engages with the Chinese White slave traffic from the perspective of a female detective, played by Marion Leonard, whose assignment is to expose and break the traffic ring. A fragment is widely available.
Mildred West
Jose, a handsome young Mexican, leaves his home in the Sierra Madre Mountains to seek his fortune in the States. On leaving, his dear old mother bestows upon him her blessing, presenting him with a pair of gauntlets, upon the dexter wrist of which she has embroidered a Latin Cross.
Kidnapped Woman
A gang of lawless freebooters who terrorized the country and made travel in the mountains a hazardous pastime hold up a stylish landau in which are seated an old gentleman, a duenna, and a pretty young Senora. The inevitable happens; all are relieved of their valuables, and while the gentleman and duenna are sent on their way, the girl is held a prisoner.
Daughter
In the lonely wilds of Southern California there stands a rural tavern, kept by an old trapper, who had been widowed years ago; his wife leaving him a most precious legacy in the being of a pretty daughter.
Daughter
At the Crossroads of Life is a typically Victorian-style melodrama in which a girl's wishes to be an actress are condemned by her stern father, a man of the cloth who has no time for those in the acting profession.
A doctor moves to the city, and stops writing to his sweetheart back home. She decides to go to the city to find him.
