Acting
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
When all Broadway shows are shut down during the Depression, a trio of desperate showgirls scheme to bilk a repugnant high society man of his money to keep their show going.
Edward Campbell, known as Checkers, is a racetrack tout. Determined to reform himself, he foreswears gambling, but must take it up once more in order to save someone he loves from disaster.
Big Steve Halloway, gambler and proprietor of New York's Horseshoe Cabaret, is in desperate need of money. He arranges for his fellow bookies, especially Sorrowful Jones, to each pay him $1,000 for his racehorse, Dream Prince, to lose. With all bets being placed at the window, Sorrowful encounters a gambler, having lost $500, wanting to place his bet but unable to come up with $20. Instead, he places his little girl, Marthy Jane, as security, or in bookie's terms a "marker". "Marky", as she comes to be known, winds up under the care of Sorrowful Jones and his lady friend, singer Bangles Carson.
Sam Bisbee is an inventor whose works (e.g., a keyhole finder for drunks) have brought him only poverty. His daughter is in love with the son of the town snob. Events conspire to ruin his bullet-proof tire just as success seems near. Another of his inventions prohibits him from committing suicide, so Sam decides to go on living.
"In the Gay Nineties New York had grown up into bustles and balloon Sleeves ... but The Bowery had grown younger, louder and more rowdy until it was known as the 'Livest Mile on the face of the globe' ... the cradle of men who were later to be famous.
A swindler scams a newspaper reporter-photographer and then, not realizing where the man is employed, applies for a job at his newspaper.
Bedford Mills, wounded in France, meets aristocratic Helen Jessop at a party given by her father for returning war heroes in his Fifth Avenue home. Bedford falls violently in love with Helen, but discovering that he is only a poor bank clerk she insists that he must first become a man of importance. He decides that, in view of the soaring prices of shoes, he will refuse to wear shoes on the street. Causing a sensation, he is arrested and then released, but all New York reads of his exploits.
Adam Larey becomes a fugitive from justice when he escapes after being blamed for a crime he did not commit. He wanders into the desert wastelands and joins an outlaw gang who prey on gold prospectors. Years later, he meets his wife and her gold-prospecting father as they have come there seeking their fortune, and not knowing the danger of the treacherous desert wastes, the poisoned-water holes and the outlaw bands of marauders who roam the desert in search of the gold found by others. He comes to their aid and, eventually, manges to clear his name of the false charge against him.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more male friends than can be imagined. One is a vicious escaped criminal on the way to see 'his' girl, unaware she hasn't exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.
World War I, October 1918. The more than 500 men of the 77th Infantry Division of the United States Army, who have been recruited in New York City and trained in Yaphank, are sent to France, to help break down the German defenses located in the Argonne forest…
After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.
Molly O, a young girl abandoned by her wealthy painter father, David King, after her mother's death; she endures an orphanage and a cruel boardinghouse before her father, remorseful and famous, unknowingly adopts the impostor niece of the orphanage matron instead, leading to Molly's return as a maid in his home, ultimately revealing her true identity and reuniting them. Version destroyed by fire.
One woman faces many trials on the road to romance after unwittingly marrying a bigamist, then a carnival barker, and then falling for a young engineer.
For the sake of a woman, Robert Morton serves a prison sentence and is disowned by his father, Henry. He is freed after several years and arrives in San Francisco, California, where he meets Camille Balishaw in a Barbary Coast saloon. She offers Robert shelter and aids in his rehabilitation, but his prison record prevents him from holding a job. After Camille and Robert are married, he finds another job and gradually regains his self-respect. Henry has a change of heart and seeks out Robert, asking him to return home, but without Camille. Robert remains loyal to his wife, forcing Henry to relent as he realizes the depth of their love.
Upon being released from prison, Lawrence Hilliard takes the name of John Smith and looks for work, and falls in love with Irene Mason, a social secretary, but is reluctant to tell her about his past.
A New York tramp falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt.
A daughter of the slums has a little brother and makes a brave attempt to earn enough for both herself and Jimmy after her father is sent to jail on a fake charge trumped-up by "Nifty" Mendez, who is very anxious to get her in his toils. Betty escapes from the city and Nifty. On the road Jimmy is struck by Rodney Channing's motor. The injury is not serious but Jimmy must remain in Channing's home for some time. During the visit, love grows up between Channing and Betty, who is now of course very happy. But a newspaper announcement and the author send Nifty again into her life and simultaneously with his entrance comes the exit of happiness.
When he loses both his wife and child, Montgomery Rogers adopts his servants' little girl and raises her as his own. Completely unaware of her origins, Emerie grows up to be a first class snob. Her socially ambitious aunt takes her to Europe to become engaged to Brooks Fitzroy, an impoverished lord (Cyril Chadwick). On the voyage back she encounters a young man, Dick Clarke who is working for his passage.
