The Mainspring

Runaway Romany

December 1917 •English

Press agent "Inky" Ames, in a quandary to publicize showgirl Anitra St. Clair, convinces her to paint a birthmark on her shoulder and pose as millionaire mine owner Theodore True's long-lost daughter.

Bonnie May

June 1920 •English

Young actress Bonnie May finds work in a private play given at Mrs. Baron’s mansion, where she endears herself to all, especially Victor Baron, the invalid son who has written the play. He begs her to stay on to help him write another play, despite the reluctance of his mother.

The Stranger Of The North

February 1924 •English

Laddie Ferguson arrives from overseas and gets work in a lumber camp in Nova Scotia. He becomes a rival with Ed Spencer for the hand of Mary, the foreman's daughter. Spencer is turned down and he calls a strike. Laddie calls upon the Cape Breton Highlanders, camped nearby, for assistance and they go to the camp and break up the strike, which clears the way for a happy future for Mary and Laddie.

Jazzland

December 1928 •English

Fighting the invasion of their small New England town by a big city--type nightclub, the Jazzland, a young newspaperman and his brother endeavor to learn the identity of the club's owner...

My Friend the Devil

November 1922 •English

Silent romantic drama...

A Heart in Pawn

March 1919 •English

Toyama wants to go to college in America but his alcoholic father won't supply the funds. He gets the money to go, however, from Sada, whom he has married in secret. But Sada has a secret of her own -- she told Toyama that she got the money from a relative, but the truth is that she has signed up to do a four-year stint as a Geisha girl.

Double Speed

February 1920 •English

Auto racer Speed Carr enters a marathon race across the United States, from New York to Los Angeles. He encounters numerous obstacles not related to the race and must switch identities and vehicles before he can finish.

The Lion and the Mouse

January 1914 •English

Silent film drama...

The Bravest Way

June 1918 •English

Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa was one of the most popular leading men in American silent films-this despite the fact that orientals were traditionally (and stereotypically) cast as villains at the time. In The Bravest Way, Hayakawa carries self-sacrifice to the nth degree. He is so devoted-in a perfectly platonic manner-to the widow of his best friend (Tsuri Aoki) that he loses the love of his American fiancee (Florence Vidor). Lost film.

One Splendid Hour

May 1929 •English

While on a "slumming" excursion, debutante Bobbie Walsh (Viola Dana) falls in love with tenement-district doctor Thornton (Allan Simpson). Not wishing to scare the doctor off, Bobbie doesn't tell him that she's the wealthy daughter of a prominent senator. But when Dr. Thornton ends up in night court after punching out a pair of would-be mashers, Bobbie is forced to reveal her true identity. The expected resentments arise, leading to the inevitable reconciliation. Star Viola Dana's final film.

Husband and Wife

August 1916 •English

When Doris Baker spends her husband Dick into serious debt, he embezzles funds from the bank where he works to cover some speculative investments. He is joined in these plans by one of the bank's directors, but when Doris unknowingly snubs the director's wife, he pulls out his aid. Dick finds himself in serious trouble, and then Doris leaves him after an argument. She is about to leave for the Orient with her daughter Bessie, a friend, Mrs. Prescott, and an admirer, Patrick Alliston, but they are stopped at the station because Dick is believed to be with them. He isn't, and his difficulties drive him to an aborted suicide attempt. Doris finally wakes up to what is going on and reconciles with Dick. The bank examiner looks over the books and helps Dick get back on his feet, much to the director's chagrin.

Seeing It Through

January 1920 •English

Swindled out of her small property by crooked money lender Bogrum, Betty Lawrence turns to large estate owner and old friend Jim Carrington. On a tip supplied by Bolter, Bogrum's secretary, Jim investigates and after Bogrum's crooked dealings are exposed, and he is imprisoned, Betty and Carrington join their property through matrimony.

The Madness of Youth

April 1923 •English

High Steppers

March 1926 •English

Perryam is going through a round of bad luck; he is thrown out of school and loses at love. In search of a change, he heads for London, where he meets Audrey Nye, a former jazz baby who has gotten a responsible job on a newspaper. She helps Perryam get hired as a reporter.

Pals First

August 1926 •English

Richard Castleman, master of Winnecrest Hall in Louisiana, goes on a sea voyage recommended by his cousin and physician, Harry Chilton, who thereupon begins romancing Castleman's fiancée, Jeanne Lamont. When word arrives of Castleman's death, Chilton prepares to usurp the fortune and property of the dead man. Danny Rowland, who is found wounded by two wandering crooks, Dominie and The Squirrel, opportunely arrives at the estate seeking food and rest; and because of his resemblance to Castleman, he is welcomed as the master. Dominie is introduced as an English cleric and The Squirrel as an Italian count, while Danny falls in love with Jeanne, who believes him to be her fiancé. Chilton, however, suspects the trio and finally unmasks them. It then develops that Danny actually is Castleman, who had decided to reform the two men who befriended him and to expose the dishonesty of his cousin.

New Lives for Old

February 1925 •English

Olympe is a cabaret dancer who offers her services to France when her country goes to war. She becomes a spy and provides valuable intelligence information during World War I by winning the confidence of a German officer. Hugh Warren is the American soldier who falls for Olympe. She allows him to believe she is a simple peasant and reveals nothing of her career as a spy. The two fall in love and are married, but the villainous German agent De Montinrich reveals to her husband's family that she is a tawdry club dancer. Unable to reveal her role in espionage, Olympe is ostracized by her friends and family. When the French government honors Olympe for her wartime bravery, her family no longer considers her a blemish on their sterling reputation.

Everybody's Acting

October 1926 •English

Doris Poole, whose parents were theatrical people, was orphaned as a child, and four members of the troupe adopted and raised her. When grown, she has become the leading lady in a San Francisco stock-company. She meets and falls in love with Ted, the millionaire son of a rich widow, but she thinks he is only a tax-cab driver. His mother objects to the romance and looks into Doris' past. She learns that her father had murdered, in a fit of jealousy, her mother, and tells Doris what she has found out. The four actors who had raised her had never told her how she happened to become an orphan. They persuade Ted's mother to send him on a voyage to the Orient in order to get him away from Doris. But they neglected to tell the mother they had also booked passage for Doris on the same ship.

The Eternal Sapho

May 1916 •English

A scheme by a beautiful vamp to marry a wealthy young man fails, and the woman returns to her former lover, a sculptor. She is shocked to discover he has committed suicide, and the tragedy catapults her into insanity.

Flaming Youth

November 1923 •English

When Mona Frentiss dies, she has her confidante "Doctor Bobs" watch over her family, especially her youngest daughter Patricia. The family has been raised in a most unconventional manner, with Mona having a much younger lover and the father Ralph keeping his own lover on the side. As Patricia grows older, she attracts the attention of her mother's former lover, the much older (than Patricia, who in the book is in her early to mid teens) Carey Scott. Patricia tempts fate with her wild ways, nearly loses her virtue to a musician aboard an ocean-going boat, and is saved in time by Carey. Realizing that he is the man for her, she settles down into an experimental marriage.

You Find it Everywhere

July 1921 •English

Andrew Gibson inherits problems when his father dies and leaves shares of his piano manufacturing business to his workmen. To add to his troubles, Andrew's girl, Nora Gorodna, is being pursued by José Ferra, one of the workmen; and Lila Normand, a society girl, tricks Andrew into proposing.