Van Dyke Brooke
2021
The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln
Van Dyke Brooke
This thrilling story of the days of '61 and '65 shows a scene in the woods and our hero doing sentry duty. His work has been tiresome, his strength is about given out and he sits down to rest. He falls asleep and is awakened by the general and a squad of soldiers, who come unexpectedly upon him, place him under arrest and march him off to the guardhouse. He is later brought to the general's headquarters, where he is tried for his laxity. The buttons are torn from his uniform and he is otherwise degraded and sentenced to be shot. In the guardhouse the man sits meditating over the fate in store for him. He is visited by the chaplain, who consoles him as best he can. As a last resort the prisoner determines to write home and have his wife intercede in his behalf. She succeeds in getting a reprieve in a thrilling manner.
The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln
It Happened to Adele
Van Dyke Brooke
Gladys Leslie, Carey L. Hastings
Adele has grown up in a tenement, but she longs for greater things. She gets her chance at the stage when her mother runs into an old friend, Blanche. Blanche has been working steadily in the theater, and she helps Adele get work. The young girl finds romance with Vincent Harvey, an aspiring composer. One day Adele suffers an accidental fall out of a window.
It Happened to Adele
Straight Is the Way
Robert G. Vignola
Matt Moore, Mabel Bert
Bob Carter and "Loot" Follet, are two thieves who locate themselves in the unused part of the New Hampshire home of Aunt Mehitable and her niece Dorcas. Loan shark Jonathan Squoggs presses Mehitable for payment of the mortgage, and the two crooks decide to help the ladies when they consult their Ouija board to find a hidden treasure. Finding the treasure reveals a surprise thief and a chance for new lives for the crooks, Dorcas, and Mehitable.
Straight Is the Way
John Rance, Gentleman
Van Dyke Brooke
Norma Talmadge, Antonio Moreno
A young woman, Lesbia (Norma Talmadge), who has a summer flirtation with a young doctor named John Rance (Antonio Moreno). She then throws him over. Later his best friend returns from a tour of the world with his new wife, the very same Lesbia.
John Rance, Gentleman
Under the Daisies
Van Dyke Brooke
Norma Talmadge, Van Dyke Brooke
There are many things to admire besides settings and acting in the feature play "Under the Daisies," and perhaps the foremost is the affecting poem on which it is based. It chiefly concerns the bad conduct of a dramatic critic-it is about time his villainy is shown up on the screen-who starts on his downward path by cynical observations on the agonizing efforts of an unsuccessful playwright. As nearly all well-known dramatists of to-day have found their way into one of the most trying of professions through channels of criticism, the selective taste of one serving to determine how much an what kind of creative work of the other will be suited to the tastes of a mixed audience, the playwright in this case is of a theatrical kind, one who uses a pen or pencil in writing and gazes at vacancy in search of inspiration. A very large proportion of authors in real life do nothing of the kind. Perhaps that is why the dramatist in the story failed to make a hit.
Under the Daisies
The Bachelor's Baby, or How It All Happened
Van Dyke Brooke
L. Rogers Lytton, Rosemary Theby
Left destitute by the death of her young husband, Ethel Wynne lives with her old nurse, Hester O'Brien, a laundress. During the day Ethel works as a clerk in a toy store, leaving her babies in the care of Hester, and in the evenings, helps out by doing ironing and housework. One day, while she is at the store, Harley Clarke, a wealthy bachelor, comes in with a group of boys and lets them select whatever toys they fancy. It is his birthday, and. seeing the children hungrily eyeing the window display, he has decided to celebrate the day by treating them. Ethel is very much impressed by Mr. Clarke's evident kindliness, and after he has left the shop, she gets his name and address from Mayme, the girl who waits on him. When she arrives home, she finds Hester very sick and is obliged to call a doctor, who has her taken to the hospital. Ethel is now in a sorry plight. She has no one to take care of the baby while she is away at work, and no means of supporting herself at home.
The Bachelor's Baby, or How It All Happened
The Mouse and the Lion
Van Dyke Brooke
Van Dyke Brooke, Leo Delaney
John Burling, a detective, rounds up some members of the Night Hawk gang. Bill Hanks, the chief, swears to get even with him. Tim, a little street waif, entering the saloon where the gang are consulting with Maime, a female accomplice, overhears some of their threats. He is discovered and kicked out of the place by Hanks. The next day, Tim, half starving, picks up a purse in the street which he has seen a lady drop. He is tempted to steal it, but in the end gives it back to her. Burling sees this, is struck with the boy's honesty, and being in need of a page boy, hires him and dubs him "Buttons."' Maime visits Burling and leaves him an address to come to investigate a robbery which has occurred at her home. Tim recognizes her as she goes out, follows her and has his suspicions confirmed by seeing her with one of the gang on the street. He goes to warn his master, but Burling has already gone.
The Mouse and the Lion
A Helpful (?) Sisterhood
Van Dyke Brooke
Norma Talmadge, Mary Maurice
This is a very crudely made morality tale of a young college girl who is made a fuss of by a society sorority because she happens to have known a woman in society. She is very flattered and despite being in over her head in terms of financially keeping up with her wealthier sisters, she schemes how to do just that, stooping to theft.
A Helpful (?) Sisterhood
Mrs. 'Enry 'Awkins
Van Dyke Brooke, Maurice Costello
Maurice Costello, Norma Talmadge
Noah Clayton, an old coster, who has made a bit of money, lives with his daughter Liza. He is very cranky and very gouty. Henry Hawkins, a young coster, and Bill Brown, a teacher of boxing, and an ex-pugilist, are both in love with Liza. Old Clayton favors Bill, because he is well off. Liza likes Henry, and they meet down near the old church and do their love-making. Bill lays siege to Liza, offering her presents, which she refuses. At last he offers to take her to a music hall and she yields and goes with him. There they are seen by Hawkins, who becomes furiously jealous and upbraids Liza. She loses her temper and claims the right to do as she likes. Henry on this swears he will fight Bill, and Liza tells him not to be a fool, that Bill could lick him with one hand, and they part in anger. Hawkins meets Bill and challenges him. The result is a foregone conclusion. Poor Hawkins is knocked out and laid up in bed for repairs, tended by his landlady.
Mrs. 'Enry 'Awkins
Sawdust and Salome
Van Dyke Brooke
Norma Talmadge, Van Dyke Brooke
A rich swell travels out West to escape marrying a social climber. There, he meets and marries a bareback rider from traveling circus. Bringing her home, his family's pernicious double-standards are revealed.
Sawdust and Salome
