Acting
Aside from the fact that Polly had red hair in abundance, she was not otherwise an exceptional child, save for one thing. She was willing to work and slave, if need be, to keep her baby brother, affectionately termed "The Lump," from being sent to the poor house. So she did housework and prepared breakfasts for John Ruffin, an attorney, and Hon. Gedge-Tompkins. John Ruffin's sister, Lady Osterly, has separated from her husband, and he holds their child. When Lady Osterly calls on Ruffin she is struck with the remarkable resemblance Polly bears to her own child. Ruffin and Lady Osterly formulate a plan to come into possession of her daughter, by using Polly as a substitute.
After the death of her father, a young girl goes to live with her uncle in Kentucky. She immediately comes into conflict with her uncle's shrewish wife.
When Gawne finds his brother dying and hears that the killer has run off with his brother's wife, he swears revenge.
Little orphaned Kate lives happily in a New England lighthouse with its old keepers, Philemon, Peter and Captain Bartholomew. When Kate falls sick, the prudish Philemon hires Miss Summerville, a live-in nurse, to care for her, but is concerned about possible gossip. To alleviate the situation, each keeper and Dr. Carlyle propose to Miss Summerville, but she rejects them all. After hearing that Captain Peyton, a lighthouse inspector, is scheduled to arrive, Miss Summerville makes sudden plans to depart without explanation. At the urging of Carlyle, she agrees to stay, but tries to avoid Peyton by turning off the lighthouse beacon.
Dorothy Phillips was starred as Elinor Crawford, a small-town girl who becomes a reporter on a big-city newspaper -- and immediately plunges into the "Bohemian" lifestyle. Assigned to interview a condemned murderer, Elinor must first obtain permission from criminal lawyer Evan Klavert (William Stowell), who happens to hail from Elinor's hometown and who prudishly disapproves of her current mode of living.
Concerned about the failing health of Rhoda Tuttle, his fiancée, John DeWitt takes her to the lavish Arizona home of his friends, Jack and Katherine Newman. Although the Newmans try to cheer Rhoda, who has lost her parents in a train wreck, she remains listless and melancholy. While walking in the desert, Rhoda is bitten by a tarantula but is saved by Kut-le, a Yale-educated Indian employed as a superintendent on Newman's irrigation project. Because of his strong belief in the curative effects of life in the desert, Kut-le kidnaps Rhoda and forces her to live in a manner far removed from the comforts and confinements of civilization.
Ex-convict Dale Revenal arrives at Dudley Appleton's ranch bearing a letter of introduction from John Silver, Appleton's old friend. Appleton hires Dale, who, through his winning manner, soon wins the respect of the ranch hands and the love of the ranch owner's daughter Mary Jane. Believing himself unworthy of her, Dale tells Mary Jane that he has a wife and child in Arizona, and she reluctantly agrees to marry Jack Nelda, a local rancher. Nelda realizes that Mary Jane is still in love with Dale and plots with Bessie Dupont and her brother Pinto to kill him.
Nouveau riche Isidore Lechat, who lives in a castle in the south of France, believes that business is the most important thing, but remains attached to his children. Lechat, who does not let his wife appear at banquets because of her slovenly appearance, begins an affair in Paris with Celeste St. Jean, a friend of his dissolute son Xavier. Lechat offers to pay Xavier's debts if he gets his friend's father, the Minister of War, to lift restrictions on the operation of a mine in French Africa which Lechat optioned.
Gubernatorial candidate Walter Croyden is in love with Beatrice, but he acts obnoxiously when he drinks, so she flees to Europe to re-evaluate the relationship.
Against the wishes of Doctor Neighbor, the guardian who also loves her, Hazel, who is due to inherit a fortune when she turns 21, marries district attorney Hamilton Rogers, a man more devoted to Hazel's future bank account than to her.
During the days of the California missions, Jose Garcia becomes friends with Luis Lopez, a local Robin Hood determined to redistribute among the poor the loot of the rich. Inspired by Luis, Jose sets out to rob the home of wealthy landowner Don Ortega. On the way, however, Jose gets lost in the desert and is nearly dead when he is found by Don Ortega's aristocratic cousin, Castro Arrellanes, and Castro's daughter Carmen, who take him in and nurse him back to health. Jose quickly falls in love with Carmen, and as a result, renounces his plan of robbing the rich. Then, he learns that Luis has made plans to break into Don Ortega's house.
In Mexico, a poor Yaqui Indian loses his family through the actions of a racist Mexican officer named Martinez.
Eve Edgarton decides to devote her life solely to her love of botany, but unexpectedly falls in love with a man who shares none of her intellectual interests.
Sylvia Hamilton rehabilitates an alcoholic attorney and marries him. When World War I breaks out, she is persuaded to help the German cause and later commits suicide rather than compromise her husbands career.
The daughter of a disowned upper class Bostonian finds acceptance in Parisian society.
Rosarita, a young relative of the powerful Doña Perfecta in the small Spanish village of Orbajosa, has been betrothed since infancy to her cousin, Pepe Rey Don Jose, although the two have never met. When Pepe comes to visit Rosarita, she immediately falls in love with him, but his offhand remark about the lack of enterprise in the small town alienates Doña Perfecta, and the old woman becomes determined to prevent the marriage.
An important customer at Armande's, where Iva Seldon works as a model, is Billy Ravensworth, who purchases expensive gowns for a heartless vampire named Rita Challoner. When Billy pays for a number of gowns with a bad check, Iva is sent to Rita's home to collect the finery, and there she meets Bertrand Seldon, whom she recognizes as her own father, a society man who had deserted his wife years earlier and never acknowledged Iva. Rita learns that Billy is poor and breaks off their affair, after which Iva persuades him to pose as her fiancé so that she might enter society. Billy is content to maintain the masquerade in exchange for Iva's money, but soon finds himself jealous over her apparent romance with Bertrand. Iva agrees to accompany Bertrand on a drive, but the car plunges down a cliff, whereupon she reveals her identity. Before his death, Bertrand at last recognizes his daughter, and with his fortune, she and Billy begin a new life.
Wracked with illness and discarded by a wealthy and unscrupulous aristocrat, Yvonne Lamour seeks out her former sweetheart Anatole in order to beg him to care for her infant daughter Yvonne. She finds him in a monastery, now Pere Anatole, having joined to ease the pain of her leaving him. Soon after, Yvonne dies and little Yvonne grows to adulthood and falls in love with Jean Duval, a young violinist. When the war devastates the land, Anatole flees to America, taking Jean and Yvonne with him. There, beset by poverty, Jean endeavors to earn a living by playing the violin, but fails. In desperation, he pawns his violin to buy food and falls victim to the charms of Sonia Maroff, a wealthy woman whose fancy he has captured.
Archie, a man well past the age of forty-five proposes to Mildred, a young and pretty girl and is rejected. Fred, her youthful lover then enters and does the same thing and is accepted. As Fred leaves the house, it is very windy and a young lady passing by gets some dust in her eyes. He tries to assist and from Mildred's window it appears that he is embracing he young lady.
Under an assumed name, Phineas courts a widow and makes love to his own wife. He lands in court with a Breach of Promise suit looming big. He confesses, whispers in his wife's ear, and all is forgiven.
