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- An adventurous young girl in Florida gets herself lost in the Everglades and finds terror and excitement, as well as the rivalry of two men in love with her.
- Who has reared the perfect child? Who has successfully combated the destiny-shaping factors of heredity and environment with a theoretical code of child-raising warranted never to fail? Mrs. Gretchen Jans, mistress of millions, failed. Her two pretty nieces, Frances and Clarice were taught to sew and mend, economize and retrench, not alone in clothes and money but in thought and emotion as well. "Plug up the fountain of youth," was the harsh, Puritanical code of Gretchen Jans, and Frances paid the penalty with her heartaches. Hence, when Richard Ward fell in love with Frances and Mrs. Jans refused the parental blessing, the young couple did what most young couples do, set off post-haste for the nearest parsonage. And then into the life of Frances came the great change. A comfortable allowance didn't reach. Money ran like rays of sunshine in a golden stream through the fingers of both hands. Richard couldn't keep up the gait. Bills payable increased with a monotonous regularity only equaled by the decrease of his bills receivable. Credit weakened, the specter of poverty grinned through the office door and the riotous waste of the girl who had been denied continued unabated. And then came the second man with his offer of money and the trail of suffering and self-abasement that followed in its wake. It seemed all very innocent to Frances but it was tragedy to Richard.
- The true story of Lord Francis Hope, who inherits the Hope Diamond and marries showgirl May Yohe'. Lord Francis Hope gambles away the family fortune and May Yohe' leaves him--another suspected curse of owning the Hope Diamond.
- The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.
- Musty appropriates a bicycle but proves to be a poor rider, as far as the "safety first" principle is concerned. In attempting to avoid running down a lady intent upon tying her shoelaces in the middle of the sidewalk. Musty crashes through the door of a telegraph office, temporarily wrecking the establishment. Seeing his bicycle, and being in need of a messenger boy, the telegraph operator drafts Musty to fill the job. Our hero is magically provided with an A.D.T. uniform and put to work. To prove he is a real, genuine messenger boy, Musty promptly falls into a deep sleep on the bench. The lady fair finds it necessary to have a lot of long poles taken away from her house and sends for a boy. Musty is awakened with considerable difficulty, and only after unique methods, savoring of the physical rather than the psychological, are applied. On his way to the residence of the lady fair, his bicycle breaks down and he is forced to "get out and get under." While he is lying prone on the roadway, an automobile backs over him and stops with one of the rear wheels resting on Musty's chest. Musty finds this very annoying indeed, and appeals to a passing, cop. The cop, after examining the chauffeur's license and chatting with him for some time, orders him to proceed, and Musty is released from his predicament. Musty goes on to his destination and manages to get the poles through the door by widening the latter with a saw. His next trip is to the home of another lady, and while waiting for her to give him the package he is to deliver, he is subjected to a terrible shock. The lady goes behind a screen, and immediately various bits of feminine wearing apparel are tossed over the screen, alighting at Musty's feet. Musty's face shows his mental agony, but pretty soon the screen falls and shows that the buxom lady of the house has merely been searching a trunk to find the box that Musty is to take away. In the park, a pretty nurse maid persuades the ever-obliging Musty to mind the baby carriage while she talks politics to the park policeman. Musty tires of rocking the carriage and stops. Then he gets a terrible shock, for the infant, who wears long whiskers and weighs nearly two hundred pounds, raises up from the perambulator and commands: "Rock me, ya big bum, rock me." And Musty rocks him, with a rock. Musty is provided with two lively assistants. Speedy Rush and Inna Hurry, who strangely resemble lay figures, but who work beautifully in harmony with the energetic Musty. The three get into trouble with the cop, who pursues them until they fall over a cliff. The audience is not long left in suspense as to their fate, however, for Musty and his pals calmly get up and walk away.
- The flirty proprietor of the Outside Inn catches his bellboy laughing at him and throws him into the street, just in time to be caught by Musty, who is passing by. When Musty learns that the bellboy has been discharged and that there is consequently a vacancy in the hotel organization, he drops him to the sidewalk, enters the inn and applies for the position. Proving himself the lightning bell-boy of the world, he is accepted. Musty soon learns that the grand stairway of the hotel is a trick staircase and that by pulling a lever the stairs will straighten out, converting the stairway into a chute. After descending the incline on his own account, he tries it out on various patrons with satisfactory results. The elevator, operated by hand power, sticks when a corpulent guest acts as cargo and a horse is commandeered to raise the lift. All goes well until a passing farmer inadvertently cuts the rope with his scythe. Then follows a vivid illustration of the descent of man. Musty plays many tricks on the proprietor and the guests, and enjoys waiting on the whims of an actress who stops at the hotel. He explains how the room is lightened by drawing a flame on the gas-jet painted on the wall, and darkened by erasing it. When the actress complains that there is no chair in her room, Musty obligingly paints one on the wall. After numerous amusing episodes, the reel ends in a general scramble, in which, of course Musty gets the worst of it.
- Tom Grayson, an engineer employed in Mexico, quarrels with some Greasers. When they plot to kill him, the plan is overheard by Lake, a promoter of worthless mines who scents an opportunity to make himself solid with the engineer. Accordingly the authorities are informed, and Tom is saved and Lake thereby wins Tom's friendship and regard. Back in the New England village, Judge Grayson, his wife, and their adopted daughter Cecelia make things as pleasant as possible for the little woman next door, who is socially ostracized by the village gossips because nothing is known of her former life and associates. When his work in Mexico is finished Tom returns home and thus meets the woman next door. Lake, hoping to obtain Tom's endorsement in a fraudulent mining venture, visits the Grayson's and one day is introduced to "Miss Ferguson." He acknowledges the introduction with a "Hello, Jenny." The little woman at first denies her identity and then finally admits that she is Jenny Gay, the former actress whose celebrated divorce suit was dragged through the mire of the yellow journals the year before. Tom, however, refuses to lose faith in her and she tells him her unfortunate history; how, when she was starring on Broadway, Lake had been an ardent suitor and had made life miserable with his persecutions. To escape him she married Ben Whittier, a wealthy banker, but found no happiness in the union, owing to her husband's fondness for Lake and his readiness to believe Lake's lies about her. Then Jenny told him of that night in the big hotel which formed the basis of Whittier's divorce proceedings; of how she had returned about midnight and gone to her room when Lake, who was secreted in a closet, suddenly stepped out. Before she could break from his grasp the door was pushed open and Whittier, with two detectives rushed in. After the sensational divorce, Jenny went to this quiet Connecticut town to seek peace and seclusion. At the conclusion of her narrative, they agree that the only thing to do is to wring a confession from Lake. This they plan to do. In the meantime, Tom's father, a retired lawyer, suspects Lake. With the aid of Federal authorities he is able to do this and on the day set, two secret service men arrive. That afternoon Jenny writes a note to Lake telling him that she has changed her mind about marrying him. Tom, Mr. Grayson and the detectives are hid in Jenny's house and, at the proper moment. Tom comes out and forces from Lake a statement of the framed-up divorce. When this is published, the announcement of the coming marriage of Tom Grayson and "the woman next door" is announced.
- Musty enjoys all the comforts of a fine home during the owner's absence, and is happily snoozing when band of desperate burglars arrive, bent on pillaging the mansion. With them they bring a huge packing in which to carry away their loot. Unable to escape through the door, Musty hides in the packing case. Very soon he is smothered beneath a large cargo of pillows, draperies, rugs, furniture, bric-a-brac and other various and sundry articles. The case is then nailed up and carried, Musty and all, to the burglars' den. There Musty is discovered and held a prisoner till morning. The leader of the burglars runs across Willie Work, another hobo, and conceives the idea of a prize-fight between the two. They are taken aboard a large barge and told: "Youse guys are going to battle, and the loser gets shot at sunrise." A three-round bout then follows, during which Musty and Willie introduce a number of bits of pugilistic strategy never before seen in the prize ring. The fray ends at the finish of the third round, and the two battlers leave the barge together.
- Harry Tremaine, a clean-living youth of twenty-one, spends his leisure hours in perfecting an aeroplane motor which he has invented and which he hopes will eventually make his fortune. In his ambition to make his mark in the world, he is encouraged by his mother's old friend, Mrs. Holbrook, to whose daughter, Alice, Harry has been engaged almost since childhood. One night, when Harry is working late at the office in which he is employed as bookkeeper, a telegram arrives for the manager of the concern. Harry learns that the manager is dining at the Café de Paris and takes the message to him there. Thus Harry is first brought in contact with the gay night life of New York. There, too, he first sees Betty Belgrave, a cabaret entertainer, and her dancing partner, Wilbur Lorimer. It is not long afterward that Harry Tremaine receives word that his father, who for a number of years has been leading a hermit's life in the mining country out west, has suddenly died. Still later he learns that instead of using the money which he had thought he was contributing to his father's support, the hermit had saved all of it, and in addition left him a fortune of nearly $200,000. Harry's first thought is that there is no longer any bar to the marriage of himself and Alice, and the wedding day is set. Circumstances again bring Harry into the sphere of Betty Belgrave and her dancing partner, this time as a bashful, awkward youth, but as a young man about town who has plenty of money to spend. The woman has little trouble in conquering Harry. The consequence is that with her wedding day approaching, Alice finds herself more and more neglected by her fiancé. Day by day she sees him less frequently and day by day he becomes more thoroughly enmeshed in Betty's net of fascinations. Finally, on New Year's Eve, comes a complete break between the engaged couple as the result of Harry's escapades. Then, after a few short weeks of riotous living, during which he spends money like water to gratify Betty's whims, and buys thousands of dollars' worth of worthless stocks offered by Wilbur, Harry suddenly awakens to the fact that he is "broke." Naturally, he is deserted by his gay friends, first of all by Betty and Wilbur the parasites. Unable to obtain employment, he is soon reduced to desperate straits. One day Harry calls upon his father's lawyer who gives him a letter left by the hermit "to be delivered to my son when he shall have dissipated his fortune." The letter explains that the father has foreseen the follies of the son and has provided "a way out." Harry is instructed to make his way to the hermit's cabin in the western wilds, and told that there he will find a solution of his problem. After many weeks of weary search, Harry finds the cabin. He is startled to find that from the ceiling of the hut there dangles a hangman's noose. This, then, is "the way out" promised. The shock of this discovery makes the boy a man. He resolves to go back to New York, to fight it out, to show his father's grim old ghost that Harry Tremaine is a man. In New York he rescues a little girl from drowning. She proves to be the daughter of a millionaire and the grateful father helps Harry in the latter's effort to interest capital in his aeroplane motor. A company is formed to manufacture the device, and some time later Harry is in possession of another fortune, but this time it is a fortune which he has earned. Betty learns of his new opulence and again tries to ensnare him, this time without success. In his environment, Harry finds his thoughts by day and his nightly dreams haunted by visions of the noose, that grim bequest left by his prophetic-souled old father. Finally he determines to go to the hut and destroy the noose, to gloat over the memory of his cruel legacy now that he has proved his father's estimate of him wrong. Once he finds himself in the cabin he taunts the memory of his father and then, in a burst of anger, tears the noose from the ceiling of the hut. To his surprise a shower of golden coins pours from the ragged hole thus made in the plaster above his head. In a moment his father's plan is clear to him; when discouraged, he should have tried to take his own life, this second fortune would have come to him. Chastened in spirit, he returns to the city. Again in New York, he learns that Alice is seriously ill. He hurries to her side and they are reunited. The last scenes show us their home some time later. We see them drive happily through the park in their splendid limousine, while from a park bench, Betty, now a derelict, sadly looks after them as the picture fades.
- Travers Gladwin, a young millionaire, returns incognito from abroad with his Japanese servant, Bateato, after cabling his chum Whitney Barnes to meet him that evening at the Gladwin mansion. Al Wilson, a picture thief, arrives from Europe the same afternoon. He has obtained keys to the Gladwin mansion from a dismissed servant of Gladwin's and, parading under the other's name, wins the love of romantic Helen Burton with whom he plans to elope at ten thirty that night. Bateato goes to the mansion at once and excites the suspicions of Phelan, "Officer 666," whom he finally satisfies as to his identity. A few minutes later Whitney Barnes reaches the home, followed shortly after by Travers. This visit is interrupted by the arrival of Helen Burton and her friend, Sadie Small, and Helen explains that she intends that evening to elope with her sweetheart, Travers Gladwin. Amazed at first, Travers scents trouble and then pretends an intimate friendship with Gladwin. Barnes, under the influence of a brilliant idea, takes Sadie aside and advises that she tell her aunt of the proposed elopement. Both girls leave, promising to return at 10:30. Gladwin at once determines upon a plan, brings in "Officer 666," borrows his uniform and, sending Phelan to the kitchen with Bateato, goes into the street, where he purchases a false mustache and returns. Sadie and her aunt call and Gladwin hides, leaving Phelan and Barnes to face the music. After threatening to have them arrested, the two women leave in high dudgeon, the house is darkened and Barnes and Phelan go into the kitchen to entertain themselves in anticipation of Wilson's visit. Promptly at ten, Wilson slips into the house and begins cutting valuable oil paintings from their frames. He is surprised by the sudden appearance of Gladwin in Phelan's uniform and immediately puts the pseudo-policeman to work helping him pack the canvases. Helen arrives and does not recognize Gladwin in his false mustache and policeman's uniform, but when Wilson goes upstairs for a moment, Travers quickly explains the situation, advising Helen to be quiet to avoid scandal. In the meantime the excitable Japanese, Bateato, alarmed at the strange doings, brings a captain and two patrolmen toward the house. Phelan enters the parlor and demands the return of his uniform, explaining the matter to Wilson. Travers dares not tell the truth for fear of implicating Helen for whom he has already formed a strong attachment. Thus Wilson easily brands Gladwin as the real thief. Meantime at Phelan's approach, Helen hides herself in the hallway clothes closet. At this juncture the police enter with the Japanese and Phelan denounces Gladwin. The captain praised Phelan and sends him on his beat. The Japanese, seeing a door partly open, reaches in and drags Helen into the parlor. Barnes, attracted by the noise, enters from the kitchen and a patrolman promptly claps the handcuffs on that unfortunate gentleman, much to his subsequent misery and woe. Helen takes advantage of the confusion to slip into the closet. The situation is further complicated by the arrival of Sadie and her aunt with a half dozen policemen. One of them takes a long look at Wilson, recognizes him as an old offender and steps forward to arrest him. Instantly Wilson throws the room into darkness and jumps unseen into a large chest. The police scamper in all directions, leaving Gladwin alone in the parlor. A moment later Wilson emerges, revolver in hand, and exchanges some pleasantries with Gladwin, who for Helen's sake is anxious that the thief should escape. A fresh wagonload of police arrive and among them Phelan, who, seeing Galdwin at liberty in the parlor, promptly leaps upon him. The captain enters and upbraids Phelan and leaves with Gladwin to search the roof. Wilson takes advantage of the opportunity to step from behind the portieres, chloroform Phelan, don his uniform and toss him into the big chest. Then he calmly walks into the street, informs the wagon-driver that he is wanted inside by the captain, and coolly makes his escape on the driver's seat of the empty patrol. Meanwhile in the library Barnes, still handcuffed, after failing in his desperate effort to embrace Sadie, brings her into the parlor where Travers and Helen are engaged in rescuing the unhappy Phelan. And when Sadie makes a promise to Barnes and Helen to Travers, that wealthy young gentlemen makes another to Phelan, that uniform or no uniform there will always be a job waiting for "666."
- Norma Ellis is humiliated for five years by her husband, Dr. Hugh Ellis, who believes that no housewife is capable of handling household finances, and she finally rebels, proclaiming American women are more often regarded as bonds-women than wives, asks for a joint bank account. When her husband scoffs, Norma renounces all household duties. Ellis begins to acquiesce as the combined responsibilities become overwhelming. Meanwhile, his brother Ned, a cocaine addict, is attacked by a drug-crazed girl, who tries to blind him with acid. During Ned's lengthy surgery, performed by Ellis, Norma discovers that payment is due on a stock option that promises to make them rich. She borrows from David Power, a family friend who is trying to cure drug addiction. After Ned is stopped from getting more cocaine by Power, he tells the doctor that Power and Norma are having an affair. Ellis drives her and her baby away, but after Power cures Ned, he confesses his lie. The couple reconcile and open a joint account.
- Ethel Adams, the only daughter of a wealthy mother, reads of the adventures of a girl who disguises herself as a man and the exciting things that happen to her. The book greatly pleases Ethel, and she's still thinking about it when she chances to read in the paper of a clever crook, "The Spider," leaving a card with a spider engraved upon it behind him after each of his successful crimes. Ethel, who is of a somewhat mischievous disposition, starts to think of the fun of disguising herself as a man and committing robberies against some of his friends and making them believe "The Spider" did them. Of course, she intends to tell them the joke after a little and restore their property to them, then laugh at their discomfiture. While Ethel is revolving this plan in her mind, she sees coming toward her Jack Leslie, a young society amateur detective. Jack is very much in love with Ethel, but she thinks him conceited; she decides to start her scheme on him, thinking of how tricking him would shatter some of his self-satisfaction. A few days later, when Mrs. Adams gives a ball, Ethel is ready. During the evening Ethel's dear friend Miss Ames, one of her intended victims, goes into the garden with her lover. Mr. Harding. As they are in deep conversation, two hands steal out of the shrubbery and softly unclasp Miss Ames' handsome necklace, then disappear with the necklace in their grasp. A few moments later Miss Ames misses her necklace and at the time Harding discovers a card with the engraved spider upon it among the coils of Miss Ames' hair. There is great excitement over the robbery and everyone believes that it has been committed by "The Spider." Jack Leslie is asked to take charge of the case. While he is in his den that same night a sharp whistle sounds from the next room and, rushing in there, he finds all his silver piled in the center of his dining room table with a card from "The Spider" placed ironically on top. It is as if "The Spider" taunted Jack with the proof of how easily he could have stolen the silver and got safely away under Jack's very nose. Ethel is invited to Miss Ames' house for the weekend. Mr. Ames, the father, advertises a reward of $1,000 for the return of the necklace. He receives word that "The Spider'' will come to claim his reward at 12:00. Mr. Ames summons Jack and his daughter's sweetheart, as well as a police detective, who will wait outside the house and the three men determine to sit up in the room beside the safe in which the money is placed. Ethel waits until the house is quiet, then steals down, blows the fumes of a sleeping gas in through a keyhole, and captures the reward, leaving the pearls and "The Spider's" cards in the hands of the men. Waiting in the hall to hear the consternation of the men, Ethel is caught in the hall. Jack immediately phones the police that he has captured the famous crook, but he only inspires laughter.
- Bickel plays straight, with a toupee, as Mr. Snyder who takes his family to the country so that his daughter will forget a certain suitor. The suitor follows. Then Bickel doubles as a comic tramp, with his natural bald dome.
- Musty Suffer, yearning earnestly for a quiet, easy and reposeful job, calls upon his faithful fairy to provide it for him. He is taken to an amusement arcade where he is hypnotized by one of the freaks in the show, provided with a gorgeous uniform in a jiffy and assigned to the job of ticket taker, chief janitor, boot black, "spieler," hat cleaner, target in a shooting gallery and superintendent of an escalator. In addition to these few duties Musty was assigned to run chores and entertain the freaks in the museum. Musty finds great pleasure in working the escalator leading to the moving picture theater but the "bouncing" of patrons who fail to go through the formality of buying tickets is one of his chief difficulties, but one which he overcomes promptly when he discovers the reverse action of the escalator. Musty also has several discouraging adventures with the wild man, the lion, the bearded lady, etc., which escape periodically from the museum or the menagerie, but meets each emergency in some ingenious way.
- Roy Wilson, an ungovernable youth of fast habits, owes considerable gambling-debt money to Graham Madison, an architect of doubtful morals. Roy's father is a competing architect and his sister Jessie is the sweetheart of Carew, Wilson's chief consulting engineer. In addition to his gambling debts, Roy forms an attachment for Madison's mistress Cleo, which involves him more deeply with Madison. Both Wilson and Madison prepare to submit bids for an important railway contract, and Madison, after getting Roy well in his power, compels him on pain of exposure to steal his father's bid. That night Carew asks for Jessie's hand and is refused by Wilson on the grounds of Jessie's extreme youth. When the loss of the plans is discovered Wilson promptly accuses Carew and discharges him. Meanwhile, Roy travels at a fast pace with Cleo, of whom Madison, having gained his end, has tired. When the fastidious lady fancies an expensive necklace Roy, after trying unsuccessfully to borrow the money to purchase the necklace, rifles the wall safe in his father's library. Unluckily, Carew calls at this moment for a clandestine meeting with Jessie to show her a letter he had just received from Madison in which the letter offers him a position. In leaving the house Carew fails to take with him the envelope bearing Madison's name, and this is left on a table where Wilson finds it on his way upstairs to the library. The shock of the robbery kills the frail, old man, who falls to the floor with the envelope clutched tightly in his hand. This, coupled with the word of the butler who had seen Carew leaving the house, weaves a strong chain of circumstantial guilt. Immediately after the theft Roy hurries to Cleo's apartments and offers her the spoils of his shame. She divines the truth and indignantly sends him home. He arrives in the parlor a moment after Carew, who has been quickly apprehended and brought back. The knowledge of his father's death proves too much and Roy breaks down, confessing the whole story. The following day the law lays a heavy hand on Madison, and Carew and Jessie look hopefully forward to a better day.
- Musty works in an automat where the customers steal food using slugs and reaching through the vending doors. Musty smashes them over the head with a mallet, and dumps the bodies down a chute to what appears to be a sausage processor.
- When Bill Fowler decided to wed wealthy widow Isabel Dare of Rye, New York, he gave a bachelor dinner. And the dinner degenerated into a quiet game with sugar for dice until Constable Zack arrived with sleuths galore and landed them everyone safe and sound in the local calaboose. So Christopher Cutting, Bill's friend "The Fixer" put his brain to work, chloroformed Zack and hustled Bill home in time for the wedding. Meantime, Isabel's daughter Dorothy bids her sweetheart Lieutenant Ned Hemmingway, U.S.A. a tearful good-bye; he was going away with William Fowler on a dangerous mission to Mexico. (Diplomat William Fowler and bridegroom Bill Fowler are two different people.) But that didn't deter Bill. He stole the identity of Wm. Fowler and when Constable Zack arrived Bill told his bride that Zack was a special messenger from the President come to escort him to Mexico. Zack escorted him to the calaboose and "The Fixer," fixed it again, this time with cash, not chloroform. One lie begets another. Bill couldn't go home so soon, so "The Fixer" found a scheme. They went to Mexico and sent letters home from Laredo telling of their thrilling adventures and their diplomatic triumphs. Unfortunately, they are captured by bandit general Gomez, and treated ignominiously. They escape and find the real Wm. Fowler is famous. Bill wires the folks back in Rye and they send him a telegram inviting him to a reception in his honor. Unhappily for Bill, the real William Fowler gets the invitation and accepts. Meantime Isabel receives word her former husband may be alive. The former husband looks like the real diplomat. When Bill arrives and gets the ovation the diplomat is left in the cold. Bill is dressed like a major general and no one believes the real agent who is plainly dressed. Isabel, seeing the agent, believes him her former husband and drops at his feet pleading for mercy. Bill sees her and challenges the agent, who accepts. In the course of the duel, "The Fixer" saves Bill by hitting the diplomat with a brick from behind. Isabel then discovers the absence of a birthmark which proves he is not her husband, and the party are faced by the problem of which is the real government agent. Lieutenant Hemingway settles the matter by persuading the diplomat to see Bill's predicament and he departs without disproving Bill. Lieutenant Ned and Dorothy embrace; Bill and Isabel are reconciled and Cutting gets what all good fixers get: nothing.
- After three years of married life, Ethel Spencer bravely tries to convince herself that her husband's indifference and habitual late hours are due to business preoccupation. John Spencer has few scruples. He lies glibly, and his conscience has long ceased to bother him. Ethel prepares for the theater; it's her birthday and John has promised to take her. At the club that night, John meets an old college chum whom he hasn't seen since bachelor days and invites him to "come round one day and meet the wife." Frank Barton, whose friendship with John was never strong, promises indifferent that he will call "one of these days." On the way home John meets another acquaintance, who persuades him to come have a drink at a cabaret. There, John meets its habitués, men and women. One of the women is on more than friendly terms with John, and jokes at the idea of his taking his wife to the theater. After a drink or two, John goes home. Without preliminary excuses, and notwithstanding her reproachful pleading, John gruffly tells his wife that she can go alone to the theater if she wishes. Ethel tearfully removes her finery, and John goes back to the cabaret. The next morning, pleading a weekend business trip to Chicago, John goes off, as Ethel receives an invitation from her old friend Mildred Barry, pressing her to come out to Fairwood with John for the weekend. Ethel goes alone, and in a spirit of mischief Mildred introduces Ethel as Miss Spencer to all the guests. Among them is Frank Barton, and the two are unaware of each other's identity. Frank, in every sense a man's man, is much attracted to Ethel. He loves her deeply from the first introduction and resolves to propose marriage to her. They go out riding together and Frank declares himself. Ethel, bewildered by his tenderness, yields to his embrace and as suddenly repents. Her perplexed companion questions her, and catches the half-whispered reply, "I'm married; I'm Mrs. Spencer." Late that afternoon, Ethel tells Frank of their hostess's joke, and how his kindness made her forget herself. As Ethel begs his forgiveness, a shadow crosses. John Spencer and his lady companion, of the cabaret, have been improving the shining hour at Fairwood, and John has overheard a few remarks which fell from Ethel not highly complementary to himself. Home once again, the husband resolves to punish his wife for her supposed treachery. Frank Barton is summoned to the house. The irate husband, meanwhile, bullying and cursing the butler, vents some of his spite upon that worthy and drives him from the house with oaths and blows. The old valet's heart bleeds for his beloved mistress, and he waits about; he knows his master's black mood will not end well. Frank arrives, and is astonished to confront John and "Miss Spencer." John, maliciously misconstruing his wife's terrified scrutiny of his friend, insults both with a vile accusation. Instantly there's a fight. Frank forces John up against the portieres, and John drops in a heap, dead. A dagger is found neatly embedded in his left side. The police arrive and arrest Frank, who is circumstantially guilty. Frank makes no denial and allows himself to be led away, as the old butler is brought in trembling between two stalwart policemen. Terrified and unable to speak, he looks around the little group until his gaze is fastened on his beloved little mistress. He drops on his knees before her, and between his sobs they hear the words: "Forgive me, I'm sorry it happened, but he was mean to both of us." The old servant is led away to answer justice and society. The future of the widow and her late husband's "friend" can only be happily conjectured.
- Musty hunts wild horses in the bad lands of New Jersey, and by putting salt on one's tail, he catches a fine specimen. He sells it to a farmer after recommending the animal as an educated horse. But the animal refuses to stay in the stable in which it is locked, and breaks away to join the fascinating Musty. Now that Musty has a horse he begins to have ambitions. He wishes for a cabby's suit and a nice sea-going hack, and behold, who suddenly appears but the fairy tramp, Musty's guardian genius. The fairy's wand causes the wished-for raiment and vehicle to become Musty's. At nightfall comes rest for the weary. Musty appropriates a stable over which is a room designed for human occupation. He retires in the latter, but awakens to find his trusty steed in bed with him. In answer to Musty's inquiries as to how he got there, the faithful animal shows how he rigged up a pulley with a plow for a counter-weight. He descends to the ground floor in the same way and Musty soon has him in the harness. Musty gets a slightly inebriated customer, whom he drives almost a quarter of a block to what he assumes is the customer's home. He carries him to the second floor, opens a door and pushes the customer through. The door, it seems, is a false door opening into space, and the customer falls to the ground. Consequently, when Musty comes out of the house he finds the man outside again. He repeats the operation several times, but finally becomes disgusted and hangs the alcoholic one on a telegraph pole, after accepting all his money as remuneration for his services. When the horse finally becomes mutinous and balky, Musty has a brilliant idea and builds a fire under him. The horse moves all right, but only far enough to draw the cab over the flames. Then he balks again. But Musty is undismayed. From the recesses of his cab he fishes a fireman's suit and a hose and extinguishes the blaze. The horse finally starts, and when Musty reaches a convenient point of observation, he mounts to the upper deck of his sea-going hack and sweeps the horizon through his spyglass. While he is thus occupied, a careless autoist strikes the cab, carrying vehicle, horse and all out from under Musty and leaving our hero hanging in a tree. Musty, however, has had the presence of mind to grab the wireless apparatus attached to the hack, and as the picture fades sends out the call of "S.O.S."
- Musty holds down a job in Mole and Kittleton's dime museum. Musty seems to be the sole employee about the place, and whatever is called for by any of the patrons, he has to supply it. He is placed in charge of the cane rack, and of course, cheats so that the customers get no canes. One irascible old fellow complains to the manager, who upbraids Musty for his dishonesty. As soon as the customer leaves the manager congratulates himself on having so business-like an employee. While Musty is engaged in an innocent flirtation, a lad with a ten-foot arm approaches the rack and deliberately places rings over all the canes to which are attached the most handsome prizes. The boss is so incensed at Musty's carelessness that he forces him to stand up against the wall while he practices hatchet throwing, with Musty as the target. The idea of this pastime is to come as close to the target as possible without hitting, and the Boss's hatchet doesn't miss the target. The Arabian Knife Propeller appears on the scene and throws two dozen knives at Musty all at once. The blades stick in the wall so close to Musty as to form the outline of his anatomy against the background. Then Musty is called upon to operate the machine in the moving picture theater. He does so in a unique manner, having much trouble with the film, which insists upon unrolling, tying itself into knots, etc. Musty finds a way out which is satisfactory enough to him, but goes to sleep and the audience walks out after heaping their scorn upon the sleeper's head. Awakening, Musty feels the need of recreation and goes in for some more or less violent exercise with a punching bag. The results are not satisfactory, for in swinging at the bag, Musty collides with the boss, who has suddenly entered the room. His next occupation is "bally-hooing" to attract patrons to throw baseballs at the dodging figure. He gets along fairly well at this until a rough customer uses a brick instead of a ball, placing the poor Ethiopian hors de combat. When the boss complains that this is the fourth one he has lost in a single week and selects Musty to take his place, our hero faints.
- Prologue: John J. Haggleton is the oil king of the world. In his first years while fighting bitterly for success his methods are unscrupulous. His wife suffers as a result and learns to hate his dishonesty. One day, finding written proof of a plot to burn up the oil refinery of a competitor, she leaves him, taking her baby boy and the condemning documents. Lawrence, a competitor of Haggleton, shoots himself as a result of Haggleton's manipulations and another, Moran, ruined, falls into misery. Haggleton's wife dies in poverty, leaving her boy, Philip, in the care of a poor old man named Gentle, who brings him up under an assumed name so that the boy shall never know his father's name. Gentle keeps the documents incriminating Haggleton. The story proper opens in Moran's home. Moran, who is now working in a miserable East Side bakery with his daughter, Jenny, a woman of the streets who has been ruined by Lawrence's son, but who has reformed, is in love with Philip Ames, who is really the son of Haggleton. He in turn is in love, not with Jenny, but with Margaret Lawrence, daughter of the man who committed suicide. She is a nurse in a hospital. Haggleton comes to visit the tenement in which the Morans live and there meets his son, who is calling on Moran. Haggleton does not reveal his identity. He discovers through Gentle the identity of his son and of the hatred his son has been taught to bear against the oil king. Haggleton is struck by the boy's speeches and when shown the horrible conditions of the people living in the tenement, he offers to help them with money, but his son refuses the money, saying that a man in order to make charity effective must not merely hand money to poor people but must understand them as well. Haggleton, in an effort to win back his son, decides to try living as a laborer. He sends orders for his yacht to sail, spreading the rumor that he is on board for a long cruise. Then he starts life over in a tenement without a penny. Haggleton starts work as a kneader in Moran's bake-shop and after studying conditions begins to build up an electrical bakeshop, which will later become a real bread trust. As they prosper, the home of Moran becomes happier, but Moran, inflamed by socialistic ideas, spread about by a few bakers who are thrown out of work by the electrical machinery, nurses anarchistic hatred against men such as Haggleton who ruined him. He doesn't know, however, that Jackson is Haggleton. To this argument Haggleton explains to him that his bread trust may be hurting a few bakers, but benefits the whole East Side. Haggleton learns of the engagement of Philip with Margaret Lawrence. He tries to withhold this marriage as he has much greater plans in mind for his son, and in so doing discloses his real identity. Moran, infuriated, tries to shoot Haggleton, but Philip, who has learned to love him in the past months, stands between Moran and his father and receives the shot. He is taken to the Haggleton home on Fifth Avenue and nursed there by Margaret Lawrence. When his health is restored, Margaret announces her intention of leaving the house, for she thinks she can never bear to marry a son of the man who ruined her father. She is stubborn in her pride, but finally yields when Jenny comes to her and tells her that her own destroyer was none other than Margaret's brother. Margaret softens and henceforth Haggleton, Margaret and Philip devote their lives and huge fortune to the development of really useful charity.
- Larry Brice and his friend Rolliston are suburbanites. Rolliston invites Larry to stay downtown with him and take in the cabarets which Larry, with a pang of misgiving, consents to do, 'phoning home the usual excuse about business. The two friends "do" the various roadhouses, acquiring liquid refreshments and sundry joys en route, winding up finally in a Long Island Palace of Joy. When the confetti-throwing stage is reached, Larry, with splendid aim, bounces a ball of serpentine off the bald head of excitable "Sammy," director of the Italian orchestra. With murder afore-thought, the sensitive musician follows the devious route of the paper missile, arriving at the table of the two friends where reconciliation, wine and spaghetti supplants manslaughter. Larry 'phones his wife, Hetty, that business continues to press, forgetting, however, to shut out the strains of music from the telephone booth. She goes to bed disgusted and some hours later hears her husband arrive with "Sammy" in tow, insisting that the latter take the guest's bedroom. Then Larry promptly falls asleep, awakes in time for the 7:46 and hurries to the office without telling Hetty of his new-found acquaintance. Meanwhile, Carrie, the maid, dirty, slangy, lazy and incompetent, finds the bed disordered, and lifting the covers, screams at the apparition of the sleeping Sammy. Hetty guesses the truth. Sammy forthwith takes his departure, but gets only to the street, where the small boys pelt him unmercifully. Sammy returns and refuses to budge until a suit of clothes is provided. And Hetty, with a wife's freedom, expresses herself clearly to Larry over the telephone, causing that gentleman to rush out. C.O.D. a suit of street clothes for Sammy. In the interim, the suffragette club meets at the Brice home. And then things happen rapidly. The carrier arrives with the clothes; the maid refuses to accept the C.O.D.; Sammy frantically pursues him, beats him up, takes the clothes and is in the act of stealing softly into the house when the suffragettes discover him. He is mauled by four husky women, the constable is called and Hetty again rushes to the rescue, explaining to her friends that Sammy is no burglar. With suggestively-raised eyebrows, the suffragettes march home, making divers and sundry remarks concerning Hetty's conduct. While that unfortunate young woman is carried half fainting to her room, the constable arrives and arrests Sammy. From this plight, Larry, who has just arrived home, saves him. Sammy insists upon staying for supper and Hetty announces the expected arrival of her mother. This causes Larry to hurry Sammy out of the house. They meet Rolliston and in his big racer make another night of it among the roadhouses. In the meantime little Mrs. Rolliston visits Hetty with the information that her husband is also missing, and suggests that Hetty take vengeance. To this end Mrs. Rolliston addresses a love note to Hetty, purporting to come from "Jack," and while concocting their plot are interrupted by the arrival of Larry and Sammy. Hetty slips into a clothes closet, while Mrs. Rolliston slips out of the door. The latter promptly tells her husband, who 'phones Larry of the proposed joke, but forgets to tell him of the letter. When Larry meets Hetty in the dining room, she drops the fake note and he, in a sudden fit of jealousy, creates a family row. Upstairs Sammy has found a pair of Larry's pajamas and goes into the guest's room where the apparition of mother-in-law in bed causes him to flee softly to the nearest room, which chances to be Larry's. That young man meanwhile has gone to Rolliston for an explanation of the note. Hetty, anxious to make up, goes to Larry's room, put her arms around him, and to her horror discovers Sammy. A few minutes later when Larry is returning from Rolliston's, he is made suddenly aware of a terrific racket from the upper bedrooms of his home. Fearing for his wife he rushes up the steps, only to find that Sammy had gotten into mother-in-law's room and had been dealt with in the approved fashion. This settles Sammy, who hurries back to his beloved Broadway, swearing that the commuter's life is no life for him.
- On his brother's death, James Wilbur is appointed guardian of his niece Peggy. As his only child, his one thought was to insure her future happiness. A young man named William Bronson found favor in his estimation. His last wish was when Peggy was of age she should marry William. The uncle also approved of her father's choice. At her boarding school, Peggy, used to having her own way, is continually creating disorder and disturbing the discipline of the classes. Prank follows prank in rapid succession until her uncle is finally requested to take her out of the school. At home, Peggy refuses William's attentions, preferring to make her own choice. With the object of "settling" Peggy in life, Uncle James decrees that he will announce her engagement to William Bronson at her upcoming birthday party. To avoid it, Peggy informs her uncle that she is betrothed to "Mr. Stokes," and shows a photograph on the back of which she had one of her young men friends write, "To darling Peggy." This convinces the uncle that she is in earnest and he is furious. At her party, Richard Carson, a very much "wanted" crook, makes an entry and is almost successful in getting away with some "souvenirs" of the celebration when Peggy comes upon him unexpectedly and by a clever ruse commands him to "throw up your hands." Taken unawares, the thief obeys, and turning around, so frightens Peggy that she drops the improvised weapon, for he is no other than the man whose photograph she has used to put off the hateful engagement to Bronson. At this moment Bronson enters and recognizes Carson as the notorious thief, calls the police and they take charge of Peggy's late fiancé. Despite her willfulness, Peggy has long since experienced a change of heart, and her engagement is duly announced as her uncle intended.
- Book-lover Ethel Lee lives with her father in a little fishing village on the Jersey coast. Beside her books, her only pleasure is the occasional visit of old Cap'n Judson, who brings candies and tales of the big city about which she has often read and dreamed. Ethel's father, Bill Lee, anxious to get her off his hands, forces her to accept the uncouth attention of coarse fisherman Big Jake. At this time, Dick Harvey, the dissolute son of a millionaire ship-owner, arrives home one night more drunk than usual. His father's patience exhausted, he orders Dick to report for work at the docks. Dick reports to none other than Cap'n Judson, and goes off with the skipper, arriving at the fishing village the next day. There the Cap'n makes his customary call on Ethel and her father. Dick and Ethel meet. While the young people are getting interested in each other, old Lee angrily interrupts them, and warns Ethel that unless she marries Big Jake at once, he will drive her from the house. Dick listens in amazement, then tells her that as his wife she'll have the finery and see the sights of which she has dreamed. Ethel and Dick leave for the city to be married. In Dick's apartment, Ethel asks him about the marriage, and he goes out, ostensibly to fetch a parson. He meets his friends and they enjoy a joke and offer to act as minister and witness. The "marriage" performed, Dick's toy is speedily gowned in resplendent city finery. Old Bill Lee finds Ethel's parting message, and asks faithful Cap'n Judson to investigate. The skipper soon acquaints Dick's parents of the "elopement." There's a hurried meeting, a stormy scene, and Dick, professing repentance, promises to restore the girl to her father. Dick's bosom friend Rupert enters the apartment. Ethel recognizes the "witness" of the "wedding ceremony" and welcomes him. He comes to the point rapidly, tells the startled girl he loves her, and attempts to embrace her. When she reminds him she's his friend's wife, he tears the mask of illusion off and recites the tale of the mock marriage. This only enrages Ethel the more, and when Rupert makes another attempt to overcome her, a struggle takes place. Dick enters the scene and strikes the assailant to the ground. He recognizes "his best friend," and sees the hopeless shame on the face of his poor victim, whose devotion he has rewarded with fraud and dishonor. Guiltily, Dick admits the whole truth, and declares that he loves her with his whole soul in spite of the deception, as he really does by now. As an answer to her look of reproach, he rushes out to find a real minister, and hastens back to find that his poor dupe has flown from her gilded cage. Ethel tries vainly to seek her father's forgiveness. The old man drives his daughter from the house. She wanders to a rocky eminence overlooking the sea and prepares to cast herself into it. Dick, rightly guessing that his little prize has returned home, follows her. A hurried glance into her cottage convinces him that she has walked down to the seashore, and he arrives there just as she plunges into the angry waters. He takes the plunge immediately after her. There's a struggle in the water, the lives of both hang on a thread, but with grim determination Dick strikes hard for the shore, where he folds the half-drowned girl in his arms. The marriage ceremony is performed that day, and Ethel's interrupted dream comes true.
- A comedy based on the mixing of two kidnapped babies; one white, one black.
- Young stockbroker Walter Scardon is successful in business and making a comfortable living, but discontented by his desire for great wealth and business standing. His wife Ethel is devoted to him heart and soul. He meets a king of finance, Dudley Hale, and tries to interest him in a big deal which, if successful, will more than treble his own fortune and place him among the businessmen who count. But Dudley Hale has no great faith in Walter's ability and refuses to enter into the deal. They leave the club where they have been talking over the matter, and Walter is walking home, when suddenly Dudley clutches his arm, bidding him look at a woman who is passing in a taxi. Walter sees that the woman is his own wife Ethel. He conceives the idea of using Dudley's decided interest in Ethel to his own advantage, and tells Dudley that the woman is his sister, and invites the financier to call that evening and meet her. Dudley agrees and Walter, leaving him, hurries home. He tells Ethel that she must use every effort to charm Dudley that evening and also that she must pretend to be his sister instead of his wife. Walter believes that if Dudley thinks her a single girl he will be more likely to love her and allow himself, through her influence, to be led into Walter's deal. Ethel is horrified at the idea, but her love for her husband is so unselfish that she agrees to do as he wishes. That evening Dudley calls and Ethel is so charming that he begins to love her whole-heartedly, much to Walter's delight. The two men also talk business and Dudley agrees to think over entering into his host's business scheme. The next day Walter brings Dudley home with him and Ethel is forced to carry on the deception again. This state of affairs lasts a few days and Dudley has almost agreed to join issues with Walter, when he discovers, through seeing her picture in a society journal, that Ethel is Walter's wife, and he reproaches Ethel for having so tricked him. She cannot defend herself without betraying her husband and so permits him to think that she alone is to blame. He leaves her and writes to Walter that the deal is off. When he commands her to write to Dudley and try to make peace with him she also realizes his selfishness and lack of honor in his nature and her love for him begins to die. Ethel refuses to write to Dudley, whereupon her husband is brutal to her. He decides that he must take the initiative himself, and accordingly writes to Dudley a rather affectionate note asking him to call that evening and signs Ethel's name. Dudley visits Ethel and seems very sure of his welcome, the respectfully tender love which he has before shown for her now gives place to passion and when she reproaches him for his presumption he shows her the note which he supposes to have come from her. Ethel denies all knowledge of it. Just as she is about to confess everything Walter, who has been listening to the entire conversation, enters and interrupts her, Dudley then whispers to her that a welcome will await her at his home at any time, then leaves husband and wife together. Now comes phone calls that Walter's option on the mine in which he has invested every cent is shortened. He must put up more money that very night or lose everything he owns. Walter now begs Ethel to obtain money from Dudley at any price. She refuses and will not listen to his commands; thereupon he changes his tactics and pleads with her to save him for the sake of her old love. She remembers how dearly she once cared for him and at last agrees to go to Dudley and ask him for the money. Dudley at first welcomes Ethel very passionately, but she has now determined on frankness at any cost and so tells him the whole truth. He realizes that he has misjudged her and gives her the money for Walter just because he loves her. Walter, who has followed Ethel to the house unknown to her, overhears her confession, but does not know that Dudley has given her the money. He breaks in and storms and makes himself general disagreeable and when he is shown the check his manner changes and he fawns upon Dudley. Walter now has gained his point, so tells his wife that she had better return home with him, but it is now Ethel's turn to voice her feelings. She tells Walter that he has killed her love for him and that her affections have been won by Dudley. For one moment Dudley and Ethel gaze into each other's eyes, each reading the love in the other's soul, then they part, Ethel returning to her girlhood home where she means to wait until she is free to marry the man she loves.
- Mr. Carr is a kleptomaniac and his two daughters, Madge and Joan, are to be married to Mr. Cluney and Dr. Willoughby, respectively. Pretty Nell Jones, a light-fingered maid, is engaged that afternoon by Mrs. Carr after promising her sweetheart, Jack Doogan, a crook, that she will assist him to do one last job. Peculiar and mysterious things begin to happen in the Carr home with the arrival of the happy bridegrooms-to-be. A ruby suddenly disappears from the library table, into Nell's shoe, but the empty box is discovered by Cluney in his overcoat pocket a few minutes later. The family promptly suspects Nell, and Cluney telephones for a detective. While he is in the act of 'phoning, Nell slips the jewel back into the box where it is discovered by Mr. Carr just as Cluney lays down the 'phone. Cluney is stunned by the discovery and confides in Dr. Willoughby, who unsympathetically informs Cluney that he evidently suffers from unconscious kleptomania. The situation is further complicated by the arrival of Nell's sweetheart, Jack, whom she tells of the expected detective. This dignitary is met by Nell who, after deftly stripping him of star and watch, introduces him to Jack as Mr. Cluney. Jack sends him away on a mysterious mission and Nell then introduces Jack to the family as the detective from central headquarters. Cluney confides to him that he suspects himself of being a kleptomaniac and asks that Jack keep a close eye on him. Complications set in thick and fast. With two kleptomaniacs and two real crooks and a double wedding pending. Mrs. Carr has her hands full. Wedding presents disappear and reappear in the most astonishing way. A burly investor leaves $10,000 in steel stock as security for a loan and when he returns with cash to redeem his collateral, both stock and money disappear into Jack Doogan's pocket. This leads to the visit of a wagon-load of police but before the captain can read his search-warrant, even that vanishes through Doogan's nimble fingers into Mr. Carr's side pocket. Ever cocksure Dr. Willoughby shares the general hysteria and finds himself possessed of the stock securities but unable to replace them without openly branding himself a thief. The return of the detective adds a touch of drama to the evening. With an automobile liberally filled with movable valuables of all kinds ready for departure, Jack draws his gun and under its cover makes his escape, hurrying to the upper rooms of the building with faithful Nell at his heels. Believing him to have jumped through an open window, the police scatter out-of-doors and a second later Dr. Willoughby stops Jack and Nell in a hallway at the point of his revolver. This Jack deftly wrenches from the doctor's hand and again has the company at his mercy. But Nell longs for peace and the good-will of her erstwhile employers and so prevails upon Jack to throw away his gun. Then follow explanations and forgiveness. Jack shows his marriage license and the minister ends an exciting evening with a triple wedding.
- Fleeing from New York after election frauds McQuire and Olson, strong-arm politicians, are pursued by female detective Ruby Swift. The politicians elude her, purchase an ancient automobile, and arrive in the rural community of Hicktown just in time for the yearly mayoralty election. Ruby trails them and is on the scene when they put their big-city political knowledge to use in stealing the election. The politicians adopt suffrage as their party and defeat one Franklin Bond, the crusty mayor who has become so hard shelled in his small bailiwick that his defeat is easy at their hands. Ruby poses as an adventuress, is enlisted by the politicians to help them "trim" the town and is present when they steal the ballot boxes and win the election, but does not know where they have hidden the ballots. The daughter of the mayor loves the candidate opposing her father and gets him to withdraw, leaving her father a supposedly-easy field. Later when the ballot boxes are stolen, a rival suitor for the mayor's daughter puts the blame on the young candidate who has withdrawn, and he is sent to jail. Ruby, as secretary to the politicians, causes both to fall in love with her, hoping their rivalry will part them and reveal the hidden ballot boxes. Jealous over Ruby, the politicians quarrel, and not even the suffragette Chief of Police can reconcile them. How Ruby takes advantage of the quarrel and brings them to justice is the climax of this five-reel comedy.
- Musty gets a job in a grocery store. A female customer makes him show her everything in the place, then buys a five-cent package of crackers. For revenge, Musty eats the artificial grapes on her hat. She catches him at it, throws a basket of apples in his face and leaves. Then a sissy-boy buys a ball of yarn for his knitting, and Musty, disgusted at the customer's effeminate qualities, puts a lit firecracker in the package, with startling results. He meets his match when a cowboy-desperado enters and forces him to give up half the contents of the store for five cents. Soon a drummer happens along. Musty advises the proprietor of the store not to buy from him. This awakens the drummer's ire and he throws a handful of crumpled crackers at Musty's face. Musty, however, has not been idle, and when the drummer puts on his hat to leave, he finds that Musty has filled it with milk. After the drummer's departure, Musty decides to have lunch. By mistake he fills his stomach with Tabasco sauce. Naturally he craves water. In trying to get a sprinkling can which is suspended from the ceiling, he pulls down ceiling and all and is consequently discharged. Leaving the grocery store, Musty goes to a barber shop for a shave where he is attended by the unconversational barber, who wears a gag for the protection of his patrons. Musty gets the shave, but the barber puts hair-restorer on his face instead of toilet water. When the barber learns that Musty has no money to pay for his services, an altercation ensues, during which the barber is arrested and Musty escapes. Musty next visits a thirst emporium. The proprietor chases a rough customer into the street, and Musty takes charge of the bar and free lunch counter. His attempts at serving free soup to a tough customer are disastrous, and he receives considerable rough handling. During his activities in the saloon he gets his beard saturated with gasoline, and when he gets too near the fire over which the free lunch is steaming an explosion occurs which causes him considerable discomfort, but which also rids him of the troublesome whiskers. Disgusted with his experiences, Musty goes his way.
- Ethel Graham is courted by Owen Marston and Victor La Rue. Ethel accepts Owen's proposal of marriage. After their wedding Ethel and Owen give a masked ball. Victor is one of the guests and he makes use of the opportunity afforded to square accounts with Owen, whom he hates. Although Ethel is masked, Victor picks her out and asks her to accompany him to the conservatory, where, by agreement, they unmask. Ethel is surprised to find her companion to be Victor. He proceeds to make love to her; she indignantly leaves him and goes into the garden. Victor follows, and from the conservatory door he sees her meet a much-excited young man. He tells her that he is being pursued by detectives and asks her to hide him. She consents and takes him into her boudoir by way of the window. Victor sees this action and returns to the dance. Ethel procures for the stranger a monk's costume and escorts him to the dance, instructing him to leave the house when the guests unmask and to hide in the garage at the rear of the house until morning, when she will aid him further. Victor joins Ethel later in the evening and asks her to again accompany him to the conservatory. She flatly refuses but consents when he threatens to inform Owen of what he saw. Meanwhile, Owen notices the strange occurrence; out of curiosity he follows--and sees Victor trying to embrace Ethel. He orders Victor from the house and demands an explanation from Ethel. She tells him she has done no wrong but cannot explain, for the time being. Owen loses some of his confidence in his wife. The following morning Ethel takes the youth from his hiding place and drives him to a deserted house. During her absence, Owen finds the strange man's hat in the bureau drawer in her bedroom and jumps to the conclusion that his wife is untrue. Ethel's father, Mr. Graham, calls to see the young couple and hears from Owen what has come between them. Upon being quizzed by the two men when she returns, Ethel maintains she is innocent, and is loath to explain. The next day Owen and her father decide to follow her and question the chauffeur where he had driven his wife and the strange man. The chauffeur gives him the information and they direct him to drive to the deserted house. Ethel arrives at the deserted house, but finds she is alone. Victor tracks Ethel in his auto to the hiding place. He follows her into the house, and finding her in the room alone, attacks her. Ethel struggles and is saved when the stranger enters and combats Victor. During the struggle Victor shoots the young man and leaves. Victor, on leaving the house, encounters Owen Marston and Mr. Graham. Victor draws his revolver and attempts to shoot Owen, but Owen is quick to defend himself and the bullet takes the life of Victor. Owen and Ethel's father then enter the deserted house. Ethel, hearing them enter and fearing that they may be the detectives, assists the wounded young man into a clothes closet just as they enter. They find Ethel with her hair a mes and demand to know all. Ethel is unable to speak. Owen hears a noise from within the closet and directs that Mr. Graham open the door. Upon doing so the young fugitive falls out face downward on the floor. Mr. Graham turns the face up and makes an exclamation. The "other man" proves to be Ethel's brother, whom Mr. Graham disowned. The young man, realizing that death is close at hand, hurriedly explains to Owen and his father the reason of Ethel's keeping her secret, merely to keep him out of the hands of the law and the hands of those who might turn him over to justice. The brother dies, and Owen and his wife are reconciled.
- Bickel is an Italian who marries, then is supposed to be killed while trying to blow a safe. His wife marries his nephew and he enters their room at the hotel as a burglar.
- After a comfortable night's rest in a convenient henhouse, Musty and his friend Willie Work set out in search of adventure. They select a mansion with the intention of burglary, but a militant sawbuck frightens them away. They are summoned by Madame Cayenne, a jealously-guarded wife who promises them a fine lunch if they will mail a letter to her lover. They agree and the lunch is served. Just as they begin to eat, Monsieur Cayenne returns. Musty dives out of the second-floor window and hangs from the sill. Willie, who fails to escape, is introduced as Madame's brother from Kokomo, and royally entertained. The lunch is served to him alone, although he is loyal to his friend and makes numerous attempts to slip various dainties to Musty, who remains hanging by his hands from the sill. Willie particularly enjoys the nut course, and uses Musty's head to crack the shells. Even the water in the finger bowls appeals to him after he has flavored it with sugar and lemon. At last he takes his departure and goes to sleep on the lawn of the house in which he has been entertained. Morning comes and Willie wakes. He discovers that Musty has been hanging all night from a window only a few feet above the ground. The two of them set out together, but Willie spies a free lunch sign and decamps. Musty spies a beautiful maiden dressing in front of a window. The maiden, who is not so beautiful when she turns her face toward one, sees him peeping and hurls a water pitcher which strikes Musty on the head. Musty takes this as a gentle hint to leave, and so resumes his travels. Evening brings him to a lodging house, which advertises lodging for three cents and up. Musty enters and is given a resting place on a rope. The same rope is occupied by others whose snoring prevents our hero from slumbering. He complains to the attendant who induces sleep by hitting Musty over the head with a stuffed club. When the gentle dawn appears Musty makes his way into a private room, to escape the attendant who is putting everybody out in far from gentle fashion. Even here, however, he finds he cannot escape, for a pile-driver descends upon his head, knocking him into the exit chute, through which he is rushed into the street, where he collides with a laborer engaged in mixing mortar. The workman is precipitated into his own product, and hastily decamps.
- Things happen fast in the appropriately named town of While-U-Wait. Food, dry-cleaning, even marriage, all in minutes. Be very careful what you order.
- Broadway actor Lyle, is playing one-night stands in the West. One afternoon he drops into a small theatre where a repertoire company of the 10-20-30 sort is playing. He is struck with the beauty and talent of Ruth Darrell, a young member of the company, and sees in her just the type demanded by a new play in which he is to be featured the following season. He takes steps to meet the girl, arranges with his New York manager for an interview with her, and the following autumn finds her playing in his support in one of the new Broadway successes. Here she is seen by Lord, a wealthy manufacturer of woolen goods, who falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, in spite of his maiden sister's protests. Ruth accepts him. Ruth is a happy, carefree woman, and has earned the title of "Our Lady of Laughter." Lord, who is a hard-headed business man, is in great financial difficulties because he has spent a huge sum in filling a government contract, for which he finds his business demanding most of his time. One night she gives a dinner to her former friends of the stage, including Lyle, Banks, the Broadway manager, and her old friends of the theatrical boarding-house, whom prominent among are the Marvelous Sylvesters. Lord and his sister Jane are shocked by the theatrical people's antics and insists that Ruth sever all connections with her former friends. This awakens her spirit and when she continues to find herself deprived of the company of her husband because of his application to business she goes back upon the stage and plays m support of Lyle. In the meantime, Lord, pressed more and more by his creditors, has made arrangements with bank president Robbins, for a loan to be made on the date when a number of his notes shall fall due. Cole, head of the woolen trust, sees an opportunity to wreck Lord's business completely. He brings pressure to bear on Robbins, and together they play to disappoint Lord at the last moment. When his notes fall due the loan from the bank will not be forthcoming. One night Lord goes to the theatre to see his wife play. Lyle notices him in the audience, and being half drunk, plays the love scenes with Ruth with more-than-ordinary ardor. Lord notices this and becomes furious. When the play is over, Lord makes his way to Ruth's dressing room. Meanwhile Lyle follows Ruth to her dressing room and has her in his arms when Lord enters; how they are positioned, Lyle is unable to see that she is resisting him. Mad with jealousy, he tears Lyle from her and knocks him to the floor. Ruth tries to explain, but he throws her aside and bursts out of the dressing room. Ruth, realizing that her love for the old theatrical life has come between her and her husband, deserts the stage and seeks forgetfulness in a new environment. Lord buries himself deeper than ever in his business affairs. Banks, who has taken a liking to Lord, learns from Lyle in one of the latter's tipsy confidential moods that Ruth was entirely innocent of any wrong in connection with the dressing room episode. He carries this information to Lord and finally succeeds in convincing him that she was not at fault. Sometime later we find Ruth a telephone operator. Accidentally cutting in on one of the lines, she hears one of Cole's henchmen talking to his chief, and in the conversation her husband's name is mentioned. She learns of the plot to double-cross him in the matter of the loan. She immediately sends him word of the impending disaster by messenger boy. Bank happens to be in Lord's office when the boy arrives with the news. He knows of a secret affair which banker Robbins had with an actress, and hastens to Robbins' office, threatening him with the exposure and scandal unless he carries through the loan as originally planned. Meantime, Lord has gone direct to Cole. Banks finds the banker more in fear of Cole and the money trust than he is of scandal. Robbins becomes defiant, and Banks is forced to leave without having accomplished his purpose. Lord, however, meets with better success at Cole's office. He threatens the woolen magnate with prosecution for criminal conspiracy unless he instructs Robbins to make the loan as agreed. Cole hesitates. Lord seizes him by the throat and makes him 'phone to Robbins to make the loan. This is done and the situation is saved for Lord. Naturally his first impulse is to thank and reward the unknown telephone operator who supplied him with a knowledge of the plot. He calls at the station mentioned by the messenger boy, only to find that her relief is on duty. The other operator, however, gives him the address of his benefactress and he seeks her there. When he is brought into her presence he finds himself face-to-face with his own wife, and they are reunited.
- Musty Suffer's misadventures working as a delivery boy include delivering to a house where no one is home, suffering back pain and providing a card cheat with a getaway.
- Musty Suffer gets a job as caddy, but performs so poorly that he doesn't hold it long. So he decides to tee off on his own account. He finds that the clubs are too small and calls upon his famous lucky horseshoe for aid, wishing for larger clubs. A fairy tramp appears and grants his wish. Even then his game is not satisfactory, but he solves the difficulty by wishing for a larger ball, which he gets. He knocks the ball into the clubhouse, ruining the club members' dinner, and later on gets into difficulties with a waiter, who breaks one of the clubs across his fat body. Stomach pains naturally result, and when Musty sees an advertisement offering free treatment and free board to hook-worm victims, he applies for treatment and gets it. And it is some treatment. He is mauled, pounded, beaten, pummeled, kicked, thrown about, walked upon and otherwise maltreated until the "hook-worm" is forced to give up the ghost. Then, after trapping the hands of his "doctors" in the viselike fingerprint machine. Musty appropriates one of the chief doctors' cigars and makes his departure.
- Musty goes for a day's fishing, but bites are scarce and he whiles away the time reading an exciting story entitled "The Bold, Bad Pirate." He goes to sleep sitting on the edge of a bridge and dreams of hidden treasure and dark deeds on the Spanish Main. He is awakened by a boat which passes under the bridge catching his feet and pulling him aboard the craft. The oarsman is highly indignant at Musty's unceremonious embarkation and lands him violently ashore. Musty is much impressed by his dream. He locates a spot which reminds him of the place where he buried a chest of gold in his dream and starts to dig for the hidden pieces of eight. He is interrupted by a cop, who arrests him. The cop calls the police patrol, a wheelbarrow affair, and Musty is trundled off to jail. Arraigned before the captain, he is given the third degree, but refuses to tell his secret. Finally, when confronted with a loaded cannon, Musty is alarmed by the sputtering of the fuse and tells his story. He is cast into a cell. Musty, like all model prisoners, awaits his opportunity to escape. He finds that his cot is very springy and by jumping on it succeeds in having himself hurled as if from a catapult through the roof. He makes himself a false mustache of grass and so passes the guard. He hurries to a costumer's for a disguise and after donning it hastens back to the place where he was digging in the street when arrested. No sooner has he started to dig when he is again arrested. He tries to get away, and cleverly induces his captors to get in the push patrol. Then he upsets it and runs, but collides with a telegraph pole, falls and is recaptured. In the station he breaks away from the cops again, hides by sitting on the captain's bench. He whacks the cops with the captain's gavel, placing them completely hors de combat, and once more is free. Musty goes back to the costumer's and rents a suit of armor, which he dons. No more is it upon his back, however, than his back begins to itch. What did King Arthur do in a case like this? We don't know, but the costumer found a way to relieve our hero. Musty then hurries back to his hole in the street, more determined than ever to find the hidden treasure. But, alas, that pestiferous copper is always on the job. Musty finds a way to get out of the armor without being seen and goes back to his digging. The copper, however, gets a great shock when the armor, in which he thinks Musty is still encased, suddenly comes to life and flees. After a long chase the officer regains possession of his cast steel captive and takes it to the station. Can openers, crowbars and other devices are employed to open the armor, but in vain. Finally one of the cops hits it with a sledge-hammer. It falls to pieces, revealing no one on the interior. Meanwhile Musty continues to dig. He breaks a water main and is caught in the deluge. This is the last straw and he gives up his treasure seeking in disgust.
- Musty is enjoying a nap in the middle of a country road when along comes Silly Billy with his wheelbarrow full of hay. He loads Musty into his one-man-power pushmobile, covers him up with hay and resumes the journey. Pretty soon he passes a well and stops for a drink. While he is drinking, Musty awakens and departs. Billy refreshed by his draught, is very strong, and when he seizes the handles of his lightened vehicle, it flies into the air, descending upon the head of the unlucky Musty and completely knocking him out. Musty is discovered by some passing soldiers and interned as a suspicious character, but when he sees that his guards pass through the grating of his cell by merely bending aside the flexible bars, our noble young hero loses no time in making his escape. Tired of aimless wandering, Musty seats himself on a convenient stump and wishes for a good "soft" job. A fairy tramp suddenly appears before him and leads him to a huge signboard which announces that Dr. Hickory and Dr. Nut are looking for a refined young man as a subject in their experiments with the power of imagination. After mysteriously changing clothes with a tastily attired clothier's dummy, Musty gets the job. Dr. Hickory and Dr. Nut, assisted by their charming young lady helper, put Musty through a fine course of sprouts. He is seated before a splendid dinner, but when he turns his head the plates become empty as if by magic. The two doctors congratulate Musty on his splendid appetite. "You've eaten it all," they say, "Now drink," referring him to a punch howl which fills automatically with tempting liquid before his very eyes. He fills one small glass and sees the punch bowl empty. While gazing in wonder at the bowl, his glass changes to a flatiron, much to his disgust. He is put to bed and immediately awakened, told that he has slept twelve hours and that it is now time for breakfast. Delighted, he takes his place at the table and seizes a coffee pot which suddenly takes on the appearance of a live goose. He is then treated to an imaginary game of pool, in which be shows great dexterity, and a psychological sleigh ride, which amuses him hugely, but nearly freezes him to death. Then Dr. Hickey tells him he'll show him his future wife. His hair is carefully combed and he is hit over the head with a stuffed club. While he is semi-conscious the imagination specialists urge him to look through a pair of field glasses. Through the lenses he sees a vision of his old friend, Dippy Mary, busily engaged in massaging a lawn with curry comb and brush. Then Dr. Hickory hits him in the head with an axe, and when Musty awakes he finds himself in the road beside the shattered remains of Silly Billy's wheelbarrow.
- Amy Cary, owner of a controlling interest in the Peoples Gas Company, of which her uncle, Peter Cary, is president, is practical but sentimental. It is indefinitely understood that she is engaged to marry Norman Van Aulsten, whose intriguing father is vice-president of the company. Van Aulsten, Sr., has secretly purchased worthless Suburban Lighting Company stock and plans to unload it at an exorbitant price on the People's Gas Company, depending on his son to induce Amy to vote approval of his plan. Amy goes to Trout Lake Camp to spend the summer, where she meets a chum, Helen Nelson, who invites her brother Bob, a young attorney, to join her. Young Van Aulsten also is a visitor, paying considerable attention to Amy Cary, but clandestinely making love to, and deceiving to the point of defiling, the daughter of Johnson, the camp guide. Amy's uncle, innocently falling into Van Aulsten's scheme to unload the worthless lighting company stock on the People's Gas Company, writes, asking Amy her opinion regarding it. Her reply brings him to the camp also, where he is quickly followed by Van Aulsten, Sr. Nelson fathoms Van Aulsten's intentions regarding the worthless stock, and also sees that Van Aulsten is depending on his son's marriage to Amy to further his machinations. He invokes the aid of his sister's sweetheart, who invites Amy to go for a row with him. She steps into the boat, Nelson quickly follows, leaving his willing friend ashore. Nelson talks plainly to Amy, telling her he is taking her to her uncle who has gone to a nearby island for a fishing trip, and that he purposes telling her uncle about Van Aulsten's scheme. He apparently arouses her ire by advising her not to marry young Van Aulsten. Arrived at the island they are surprised not to find Amy's uncle, who had returned to the camp for forgotten fishing tackle. The situation is tense when they discover that their boat has gone adrift. Meanwhile Amy's absence has occasioned alarm, and when Bob's friend tells of the proposed trip to the island, a rescue party is made up of Amy's uncle, Van Aulsten and his son. Arrived there they find Amy and Bob trying to prepare a belated meal. Nelson is asked to leave while her uncle and Van Aulsten urge Amy to get ready to got at once with them to the city, where a meeting of the Gas Company stockholders is scheduled the next day. Bob suspects their intentions, and promptly sets their boat adrift also. When this is discovered, there is general indignation in which Amy apparently joins. Bob is berated, but excites Amy's sentimental nature again when he takes to the water for a long, perilous swim, in an attempt to recover their boat. "Isn't he a hero?" she asks of young Van Aulsten. "I'd like to see you do anything as brave as that." The marooned party is finally rescued by Bob's relief expeditions and taken back to the camp, where, as they land, Johnson the guide, attempts to shoot young Van Aulsten. Amy prevents the tragedy, but scorns young Van Aulsten when she learns of his behavior toward Johnson's daughter. In rapid sequence, a happy termination of the situation is reached, but the bankrupt lighting company's stock is still on the market.
- Mrs. O'Brien, newly rich, vainly aspires to social prominence, an ambition in which her common, chess-loving husband does not sympathize. Pretty Mary Ellen, the daughter, and a Japanese butler constitute the household. One day Mrs. O'Brien sends out invitations to a party which the Van Dusens and Van Astorbilts refuse to attend. While she is mourning this loss, an automobile breaks down in front of the house, and a slender young man who introduces himself as Lord Algernon Ste. Clair seeks refuge, while his car awaits the repairman. Mrs. O'Brien, scenting a noble match, promptly invites him to stay for the party. Meanwhile a rough-looking character alights from an automobile, and after a careful inspection of the house, rejoins his friends and disappears. An hour later, immaculately groomed, he enters the club of which O'Brien is a member, and finding the solitary old Irishman playing a lonesome game of chess, offers himself for partner. In this way he obtains an invitation to attend Mary Ellen's party, in due time the guests arrive, consisting of the good-hearted but illiterate Flanagans, their two children and the stranger. There immediately commences a vigorous suit for the hand of pretty Mary Ellen on the part of Lord Algy and the stranger. Mary Ellen shows her preference for the stranger. That night weird things happen. The stranger who has been invited to spend the night, slips into the library in time to see O'Brien much excited over the appearance of a white hand that has deftly poked through the portieres in search of the electric switch. In another instant the stranger throws O'Brien to the floor, and Lord Algy in hand, stands over them. There is a scuffle and the stranger disappears, gun in hand, through the French window. An hour later Lord Algy, in his room, cautiously draws a string of pearls from his pocket, only to turn and face the gun of the stranger, who raises his head from back of Lord Algy's bed. There follows explanations and the stranger shows his badge as a government secret service agent, long in search of the crook known as Lord Algy. O'Brien rejoices and Mary Ellen slips her hand into that of the "stranger's," while Mrs. O'Brien, thoroughly disgusted, hurls a volume of "Who's Who in Society" into the waste basket.