
Albert Ray
Directing
Biography
Albert Ray, born in New Rochelle, NY, attended Townsend Harris Hall and City College of New York. He spent summer vacations as a member of the Vitagraph stock company, on 14th St. in New York City. He appeared in summer stock in White Plains (NY), Florida and the Harlem Opera House in New York City. He directed short subjects for Pathe on the East Coast, went to Hollywood in 1915 and directed Ben Turpin pictures for the Vogue Film Co. and then Sunshine Comedies for Fox. He also acted opposite Ruth Clifford and Mildred Harris at Universal and co-starred with Elinor Fair at Fox. His first feature-length film as director was Scrap Iron (1921) starring Charles Ray (his cousin) for First National, and altogether he directed nine of his cousin's comedies for the studio. He returned to Fox and directed the "Helen and Warren" series and 19 features.
Known For

Jane breaks into the film business while also reviving the flagging career of her film director uncle and getting him hooked up with his secretary.
Keep Smiling

Thirteen years after a dinner party in which the thirteenth guest failed to arrive, the remaining guests are being murdered one by one, and their bodies being placed at the same dinner table in the appropriate seats they occupied thirteen years prior.
The Thirteenth Guest

When jockey Jimmie Driscoll, responsible for making Jim Richardson's horses winners, is fired for being too heavy, he goes to the home of the late Judge Bell, the father of local horse racing. Jimmy is in love with the Judge's daughter Joy, who was left nearly penniless when her father died. Joy's brother Harry writes to her pleading that because he desperately needs money, she should enter the aging Vagabond, the last of the Bell racehorses, in the upcoming annual event. Convinced by crooked bookmaker Spike Bradley that Vagabond will win at twenty-to-one odds, Harry mortgages his half of the house for gambling money. Jimmie discovers that although Vagabond runs horribly on normal turf, she is a "mudder," meaning that she goes into a wild dash on wet ground. After Jimmie and Joy pray for rain, Bradley, learning of Vagabond's condition, threatens the jockey, but Jimmie, riding Vagabond himself in in the rain, wins the race and afterward, Joy's love.
Vagabond Luck

An eccentric wealthy family facing bankruptcy schemes to steal an inheritance, but an alcoholic ex-actor they take in for Christmas charity complicates their plan.
The Cheaters

Newspaperman (Whalen) looks into the deaths of bond-carriers while romancing a show girl (Rogers).
While New York Sleeps

A young woman of humble origins hides her family's lack of wealth and prestige from her boarding school friends.
Home

The Jones family encounters new theories of childrearing when an author arrives in town to lecture on the topic.
Everybody's Baby

A murder is committed aboard a cruise ship just before it sinks in a storm. The survivors, including the killer, land on a mysterious jungle island.
The Intruder

Rival newspaper reporters Pat Morgan and Ted Rand find themselves unraveling the mystery behind the death of a millionaire philanthropist who fell from his penthouse balcony. When it is discovered that the plunge was not an accident, the building's residents come under suspicion. Soon, the body count begins to mount as three more murders occur by strangulation.
A Shriek in the Night

In Jedda, Persia, American consul George Gage, known as a woman hater, is shocked when his newly arrived assistant, "Billie Baxter," whom he assumes will be a man, turns out to be an attractive woman. Despite his formerly anti-female leanings, George finds himself falling in love with Billie and is jealous when his womanizing friend, Brad Wilson, arrives in Jedda and makes a play for her. At the same time, when the ruling Pasha, Abdul Mustapha, meets Billie, he also becomes smitten and tries to have her brought to his harem. Despite their rivalry, George and Brad join forces and save Billie from the Pasha, after which she decides that George is the man she loves and wants to marry. Considered a lost film.
Woman Wise

An adaptation of Madame Bovary transported to Rye, New York in the 1930's. All characters have been renamed.
Unholy Love

When a waiter makes a lucky hit and wins a benefit prizefight, gamblers rig some fights for him; but a reporter arranges for a real boxer to put him in his place.
Winner Take All

When the fiendish Sinclair Sable arranges the kidnapping of the beautiful Benecia Beamish, only the members of the Beer and Bicycle Club can save her.
Stolen by Gypsies or Beer and Bicycles

Nightclub entertainer Violet La Tour collapses during a performance in Sagebrush, Texas, and is taken to the ranch of Lon Dixon. They fall in love and are married. Feeling deserted when Lon joins a posse in search of rustlers, she returns to New York. There, she is wooed by her agent, Maurice Kane, but confirms her love for Lon when he comes to claim her.
Call of the West

Jeff arrives in town to see the Sheriff only to find him just killed. The culprit is Clay Wheeler. When Jeff becomes friendly with Letty, Clay sends his man Ortega to kill him. Jeff foils the attempt and gets him to confess that Clay was the killer. With only old-timers Lafe and Bill to help, Jeff heads after Clay and his gang.
Lawless Land

A tailor tries to pass himself off in high society by wearing some of his rich customer's clothes.
A Tailor-Made Man

College hero Charles Stanton fails miserably as an insurance agent; so he becomes a lifeguard, saves an injured swimmer and is rewarded for his valor.
None But the Brave

An operative from the Wells Fargo company goes undercover to trap a crooked sheriff and his equally nefarious hirelings in this standard B-Western from A.W. Hackel's low-budget Supreme Pictures Corp.
Undercover Man

A secretary (Gloria Stuart) solves a murder for her boyfriend (Michael Whalen) in the district attorney's office.
Island in the Sky

A dancing gigolo gets involved with a wealthy lady and her young step-daughter, and murder is the result.