Writing
Mirandy, the daughter of a laundress, scrubs floors in an opera house. Before she can marry the handsome organist for the opera, she decides she must improve her social standing.
A Scots-Irish lad comes to America hoping to find his fortune. On the sea voyage he meets and falls for a lovely young girl, but they are parted on arrival. Years later, in the Kentucky town where he has settled and prospered, he meets the girl again, and both sparks and complications arise.
When a wealthy young lady loses her inheritance, she decides to apply for work in disguise. In prim and proper working girl attire she becomes the respectable companion of a woman looking to reform her wayward nephew.
When cowboy Nick McCredie notices in a second-hand book an inscription to "Emily, the prettiest girl in school," he writes to her and learns that she is a lonely Eastern farm girl living with her grandmother. Instead of sending his own picture to her, Nick encloses a photo of his handsome friend Pen Walton.
A pretty young girl from the country arrives in New York, hoping to become a Broadway star. She achieves that goal, but when she hears untrue stories that she became a star because she's the mistress of her show's wealthy backer, she leaves the show and joins a traveling stock company. Page Brookins, a farmer who doesn't know who she really is, sees one of her shows, meets her, they fall in love and plan to be married. However, her wealthy backer in New York hears about it and sets out to break up the engagement and bring her back to New York.
A young bank clerk wants to marry her, but Nell Fanshawe decides that soda clerk John Stanley is the one for her. Because John does not have enough money to marry, however, Nell encourages him to go to New York, where he becomes a successful antique salesman for Jellaby and Co. Steve Ratling, a vindictive discharged salesman, convinces John to gamble the $300 he took in on a large sale, because he didn't get a deserved raise. After John loses the money, he disappears, leaving a note to Jellaby saying that his pocket was picked, but that he will repay the money.
During World War I, young Dorothy Grant comes home from finishing school and informs her parents that she is going to contribute to the war effort by organizing a "Girls Aviation Corps". She has uniforms made and hires a veteran of the Spanish-American War to teach her "cadets" military routines and drills. Her father owns a munitions factory and is always telling her to be on the lookout for spies. She convinces herself that the family butler, Williams, is a spy because he cuts his grapefruit in an odd way. It turns out that Williams isn't a spy but the people whom Dorothy least suspects are in fact spies, and they discover that Dorothy knows the password to get into the factory after hours.
Trying to support her twin sisters on her own, Jane Neill lands a job working for a millionaire, but problems soon arise for the young girl when she declines the marriage proposal of the always-trustworthy Micky and falls in love with the millionaire's spoiled, lazy nephew. After she inherits the millionaire's estate along with much heartache, Jane finally comes to her senses and goes back to the ever-faithful Micky.
Vi Marchmont (Viola Dana) is a spoiled rich girl who has thirteen lovers. Her Aunt Letitia (Kate Lester) wants her to halt her flirtatious ways and has picked Clyde Van Ness (Theodore Von Eltz) as the right one out of the bunch -- not that Vi agrees. Aunt Letitia sends her off to the country, along with Van Ness and the gardener, Richard Hardy (Jack Mulhall). Vi winds up falling for the gardener, much to her aunt's horror, and in spite of the class differences, he becomes her fourteenth lover.
Missy, the heiress to her uncle's fortune, resolves to make atonement for the innocent lives lost when her uncle's box factory burns down because of his criminal carelessness. After her uncle dies, Missy disguises herself as an employee of the new factory and does settlement work where she meets Rupert Bawlf and his wife Cynthia. Rupert's friends Oliver Cloyne and Dr. Paton observe Rupert's infatuation with Missy and tell her that Rupert is the subject of gossip in society circles. Cloyne persuades Missy to wed him and avert scandal for the Bawlfs, and promises to divorce her later. After the honeymoon, Cloyne discovers Missy is an heiress. He kisses her twice and declares that if he kisses her a third time it will mean that he plans to keep her. Rupert is rejected by Missy and repents. Cloyne rescues Missy from a fire and gives her a third kiss that signifies their mutual love.
Opera singer Julia Montfort (Irene Rich) returns to the stage when her husband, Verdugo Montford (Josef Swickard) loses his job...and then gives him work secretly paid for by herself. When a temperamental artist Babette Hermann (Pauline Garon) reveals the secret, Verdugo becomes disillusioned. Later, though, his faith in his wife is restored.
The Winthrops have been drifting apart gradually, Douglas devoted to his business and Constance to her social life. For the sake of their small daughter Rosie, they decide to make reparations, with Douglas agreeing to spend more time at home and Constance giving up her socializing. Mrs. Dunbar, a widow with a grudge against Constance, decides to thwart the couple's reconciliation.
Lord Anthony Crackenthorpe engages the help of a zoologist's widow to help him write a book about his favorite subject, spiders. She moves into his mansion with her impetuous daughter Peggy. Anthony's mother is very worried that her son, heir to the Crackenthorpe estate may become involved with Peggy. She asks her younger son Jimmy to keep company with the young girl.
A silent film version of the Kern-Bolton-Wodehouse "Princess Theatre" musical. The story concerns an engaged young man, Bill, whose ex-fiancée arrives unexpectedly on his wedding day. Meanwhile, comic complications arise because of a couple of crooks, the bride's mother dislikes the groom, and the nuptials are called off. Bill works to convince his old flame that he was not worthy to marry her; but his clumsy efforts do not make him look good to his new fiancée.
Because of a storm wealthy Diana Webster and Jimmy Harrison, her Aunt Sue's fiancé, must stay all night at a country hotel. Getting a single room, they pretend they are married to satisfy the concerns of the hotel manager though Jimmy sleeps on a cot in the hall. Another hotel guest, Bruce Terring misconstrues the situation and later when he meets Diana his scandalous interpretation of her escapade infuriates the young woman. She decides to teach him a lesson and show him that "seeing is not always believing" by placing him in a similar unusual position. She hires an acting couple to frame a badger game on Bruce, but they double-cross her, forcing Diana into an extorting scheme from which Bruce must rescue her, resulting in a snappy but happy ending for Bruce and Diana.
Living in the New York slums with her lazy father, Bessie takes imaginary voyages to "Dream Valley" on a "yacht" she has built in the backyard. Gilbert Byfield, posing as a poor man while completing his book, falls in love with Bessie and secretly arranges for her to spend a month at the Byfield country estate.
Joan Doubleday is a shy spinster, who has been engaged to Monty Wade for 12 years, is secretly adored by Peter Flagg. Her young niece, Jerry, arrives and sets out to capture Monty. On the wedding day, Jerry announces that the grooms have exchanged places and that Peter will marry Joan. A quarrel prevents preparations for the wedding, but Jerry finally convinces Joan that she was meant for Peter.
When stern Judge McClure gets into an argument with his younger brother John, a physical fight ensues in which the judge apparently kills John. In fear of the consequences, he runs off to the West and hires guide Cal Nelson to take him far into the desert. Along the way they meet Mary Jackson, and the judge, overcome by heat prostration, babbles out his secret.
Romance and Arabella is a 1919 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Walter Edwards and starring Constance Talmadge, Harrison Ford, and Monte Blue.
When shipping clerk Arthur McArney falls in love with pretty stenographer Elsa Owenson, he finds himself in stiff competition with a fat but wealthy broker named Sankey. Elsa's expensive tastes lead Arthur to spend a week's salary on an evening's entertainment, part with his watch to pay their taxicab fare, and borrow money from his friends to buy her extravagant gifts. Finally, Arthur is forced to take on odd jobs and night duty, which so impresses his employer, Hallet, that he gives the clerk a small raise. After Arthur spends $200 on the proper attire to wear to a lavish Halloween party, Hallet calls him to the office that evening, and Elsa attends the affair with Sankey. To reward his employee's dedication, Hallet promotes Arthur to the post of branch manager. Elsa accepts Arthur's marriage proposal with the promise that she will henceforth economize.