Florence Lawrence

An unprecedented anthology of never-before-told true stories by and about some of Hollywood's most interesting stars, legends, and wannabes, and takes readers inside Hollywood's inner sanctum to show how casting decisions are made, who makes them, and who has the final word.

The careers of D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Charlie Chaplin are chronicled culminating in the formation of United Artists and 1919.

A farmer's widow takes on the land and her late husband's tempestuous son.

Wealthy widow Mrs. Bramson notices that her maid is distracted, and when she learns the girl's fiancé, Danny, is the reason, she summons him in. Mrs. Bramson's niece Olivia takes a liking to Danny, and comes to believe that he may have been involved in the disappearance of a local woman.

Hard-working, henpecked Ambrose Ambrose Wolfinger takes off from work to go to a wrestling match with catastrophic consequences.

In the 1860s, Mary Marlowe defies her father's wishes to marry a British lord and runs away with clerk John Carlton as he heads West to make his fortune. Mary and John endure the difficult journey and settle into a small cabin, then face the hostilities of a cattle rustling gang, as well as the tragic loss of their only son. With Mary's help, John defeats the gang, which propels him to political power that, over the years, gradually erodes the once-happy marriage.

The Great McGonigle and his troupe of third-rate vaudevillians manage to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors and the sheriff.

A New York fashion model finds herself being pursued by a poor but honest garage mechanic and a rich philanderer.

When Peaceful Patton goes to work at the Martini ranch he is mistaken for the notorious outlaw the Hard Hombre. This enables him to force the ranchers to divide up the water rights. But he is in trouble when his mother arrives and exposes the hoax.

After he's accused of a series of stagecoach robberies, an innocent man has to find the real crooks.

Bank clerk Vincent Forrest loses his savings in a gambling den run by Madame Zoe and her provider, Van Merton. Forrest's wife Ann begins an affair with Merton when she discovers that Forrest is infatuated with Madame Zoe. Ann loses heavily gambling, but Vincent soon realizes what is happening in time to save his wife and to restore her happiness.

A rejected suitor rebuffs the woman he loves after the death of her husband.

A spurned suitor threatens to kill Margie's sweetheart if she does not give him up.

A young doctor is jealous of one of his patient's romantic interest in his nurse.

When a fireman rescues his long-lost sister-in-law he mistakes her for his wife when she dies, and contemplates suicide until he learns the truth.

Early movie star Florence Lawrence appears in this dramatic farce, in which the police pay a famous burglar to save the life of a child thought to be trapped inside a bank’s time-lock safe. Also stars King Baggot and Owen Moore (Mary Pickford’s first husband).

An abused wife who takes a desperate stand against her husband. Following her violent reaction, the husband reforms his behavior

Jane thinks she has witnessed a murder and the suspect is arrested; she later learns the truth and saves him from hanging.

A maid loves her employer, sacrificing her own happiness in order to insure his.

A shopgirl assumes the guilt of her mother and is sent to prison.

When an infirm husband learns of the dire circumstances his wife must endure, he makes every effort to bring himself back to health.

A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.

Biographical drama, adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

Mrs. Wharton, a dashing widow, gives a party at her beautiful villa in honor of the presentation to her of a handsome diamond necklace by her fiancé. During the evening bridge participated in by a number of the guests, among whom is Myrtle Vane. Miss Vane is playing in wretched luck, and is advised several times by Mrs. Wharton to desist, but she still plays on in the vain hopes of the tide of fortune turning, until at last, in the extreme of desperation, she stakes her all and loses. Shame and disgrace stare her in the face. What can she do to recoup her depleted fortune? As one of the guests there is Professor Francois Paracelsus, the eminent palmister, who of course, was called upon to read the palms of those present. Sheets of paper were prepared and each imprinted their hand on a sheet to be read by the erudite soothsayer at his leisure, and so were left on the drawing room table.

During the American Revolution, a young soldier carrying a crucial message to General Washington is spotted and pursued by a group of enemy soldiers. He takes refuge with a civilian family, but is soon detected. The family and their neighbors must then make plans to see that the important message gets through after all.

A royal woman rejects her arranged marriage. The cardinal hatches a plan: the suitor will shave and change clothes. He arranges with 4 clowns to stage an attack on the princess which he easily repels. It works; the princess falls for him, especially when the cardinal arranges his arrest.

Mons. Flamant, a typical roué of the French nobility, is surrounded by all the pleasures and pastimes his fabulous wealth can procure. In a quest of diversion he visits the art rooms, just as a young girl enters with a magnificent piece of sculpture and places it on sale. The roué is so impressed with the work and the girl that he purchases it at once and follows her to the atelier, where he learns that she is the maid of the sculptress, whom he sees and at once falls passionately in love with her, but when he learns that she is totally blind, his feelings change to one of deepest pity.

A short film based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was the first film to dramatize the ill-fated romance between Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt.

Ruthless bandit Bill Preston rules a terrorizing frontier gang. Frontier girl Nellie Carson loves him despite his cruelty, but he abandons her wounded after a dispute. When a kind mountain girl who offered Nellie aid is kidnapped by Bill, Nellie rescues her from his camp out of jealousy and pity. During their escape, a dropped gun alerts the gang. As they flee on one horse, Nellie shields the mountain girl and takes multiple bullets. A sympathetic bandit kills Bill, stopping the pursuit. Nellie tragically dies from her wounds just as they reach safety at the mountain cabin.

Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.

A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her faith is real, and strong, and her former love doesn't like this.

A mother punishes her son for eating a plate of cream puffs, unaware that the daughter really did it. As the daughter watches the punishment, she feels guilty, and confesses her misdeed.

A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.

George Redfeather, the hero of this subject, returns from Carlisle, where he not only graduated with high honors, but was also the star of the college football team. At a reception given in his honor by Lieut. Penrose, an Indian agent, the civilized brave meets Gladys, the lieutenant's daughter, and falls desperately in love with her.

Mr. Jones at the Ball is a 1908 American silent short comedy film, part of the once-popular Biograph series centered around the titular Jones and his long-suffering wife. In this film, Jones rips his suit pants and chaos ensues.

A young female boarding house tenant becomes an unwanted object of male attention.

"Fine feathers make fine birds", and handsome gowns make handsome women. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.

The amateur dramatic society chooses the Joneses' residence as the location of its next meeting, and both Joneses catch 'the acting bug' in this split-reel subject.

A woman is scarred in an accident and refuses to stand in the way of her lover's marriage to another.

Bachelor Reggie writes his uncle that he has a wife and child, but then must produce them when the uncle visits.

A group of collegiates decide to go for a splash. A lunatic, having escaped from a nearby asylum, heads for the surf, brandishing a knife. Innocent seaside fun becomes a struggle against a maniac on the water.

Mr. Jones, since his last escapade, had made strenuous efforts to amend the reputation he had gained in the eyes of the ladies of the Temperance League. But Oh! the ordeal, for such it was, was telling on him, and his pent-up spirits were threatening ebullition, when at last the chance comes. The league arranges to attend a three-days' convention out of town, and when Mrs. Jones departs, Jones sends a note to Smith, telling him to bring the gang, and they would have a "Prayer Meeting," enjoining him not to forget the "fixings." Well, the gang are not long in putting in an appearance, for they feel that every minute's delay is a chunk lost from a golden opportunity for fun.

The story tells of the young widowed mother of two children who is forced by extreme poverty to part with one of her children, a baby girl, by placing it in a basket on the door steps of a wealthy banker. Before leaving the baby the poor mother takes one of its little shoes to keep as a memento.

A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.

Sisters guarding their house from a burglar set upon stealing their daddy's money.

A bored Lady Helen goes slumming as a domestic in a boarding house. There she falls in love with a sensitive young musician. The other women in the house are jealous, and accuse her of trying to steal the musician's violin. Lady Helen retreats to her own home, and arranges a position for the musician which allows them to be together.

Out-of-work, Tim steals a sandwich, then knocks out the policeman who chases him. He changes into the policeman's uniform, and is approached by a wife who needs help with her drunken husband.

A few of us have had the chance to read our own obituary notice, but it fell to the lot of John Goodhusband the rare privilege of viewing his own elegiac cinerary floral offerings, and at the time John was anything but a "dead one."

Mrs. Kendrick borrows a jeweled necklace from a friend for an important social event. The necklace is stolen, and Mr. Kendrick goes into debt to replace it. The thief discovers it's costume jewelry, but the Kendricks never learns the truth; Husband and wife struggle for years to pay off the huge debt.

Antonine, a worthless, good-for-nothing scoundrel, demands money of his cousin Galora, an energetic, provident husband and father. His demands are met with a positive rebuff, and when he becomes insistent be is forcibly ejected by Galora. As he leaves the tenement he vows to get even, and lies in wait until Galora has gone out on business. Climbing to the fifth floor, on which the Galoras live, he watches his chance, which comes when Mrs. Galora goes for an instant to visit a neighbor on the same floor. Darting into the apartment and raising the window he perceives the awful result of a drop to the ground, five stories below, and so evolves a plan that is dastardly in the extreme. Taking the infant child from the cradle, and placing it in a basket he lets it out with a short rope, the end of which he secures by letting the sash down on it, so that to raise the window would precipitate the baby to destruction.

Millionaire Edward Ross fakes bankruptcy during a dinner party to test his fawning friends, who immediately abandon him. Disillusioned, he leaves his wealthy life to work as a factory porter and find true friendship among the working class. When a factory overseer insults a worker named Jennie, Edward defends her by knocking the man down, sparking a close bond between them. Edward later falls severely ill and penniless, prompting Jennie to secretly sell her beautiful blonde hair to buy him food and medicine. Touched by her profound sacrifice, Edward recovers, reveals his true wealth, and marries her, bringing her into his world of luxury.

Adaptation of a poem written by Thomas Hood.

Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.

D.W. Griffith film about an elderly father who grows tired of seeing his son bring home beautiful women so he gets a makeover and heads out on the prowl.

A young couple must endure a tedious visit from their aunt until their friend offers to find a way to make her leave.

A Boer woman and her daughter are captured by Zulu warriors.

Pretty Miss Chrysanthemum has but little to say as to the disposal of her heart, at least, such is the custom in Japan. Her parents attend to that for her. However, pretty little O Yama Sum had a will of her own, and casting tradition to the winds, insisted upon making her own choice. The Grand Daimio has long loved the pretty O Yama and presents himself before her mother in quest of her hand. His offer is scorned by O Yama, for she loves another, a low-born but worthy warrior.

Gertrude chooses Jim over Jack, which makes Jack very jealous. Later Jim dies, and Jack marries Gertrude. He finds himself once again very jealous of the late Lucky Jim.

A bitter feud between the Wilkinson and Caulfield families turns tragic when the Colonel’s young son is killed. Despite the hatred, Bobby Wilkinson and Nellie Caulfield secretly remain lovers for 10 years and eventually elope, leading Colonel Wilkinson to disown his son. Two years later, Bobby's family faces a bleak Christmas with their infant boy. Desperate for food, their loyal servant steals a turkey from the Colonel’s estate. The Colonel tracks the thief to Bobby’s home, intent on confrontation. However, seeing his baby grandson melts his anger, ending the generational feud over a shared Christmas dinner.

An early short featuring Florence Lawrence.