The First Distiller

Some Steamer Scooping

February 1914 •English

The Baron Lafitte is in love with and proposes to Adelaide Burton, daughter of Andrew Burton, a wealthy manufacturer. Clara Lane, a newspaper reporter, has been assigned to watch the movements of the Baron. She is further instructed to make a scoop of their movements. Tom Drake is in love with Clara, and is her persistent follower throughout.

Too Much Burglar

November 1914 •English

An exceptionally capable girl, Trixie Joyce, proves a great help, to her mother, a widow with a large family of girls. They receive a proposition from Henrietta Joyce, Mrs. Joyce's wealthy sister-in-law, to take Trixie as a companion, feed and clothe her and in place of wages, send her mother an allowance sufficient to support the rest of the family. Both realize it is the solution of a hard problem, and Trixie accepts the offer. Henrietta is close-fisted and selfish in money matters, but she also has a strain of morbidly-romantic sentiment in her nature, so the largest part of Trixie's work is reading aloud to her mistress quantities of swashbuckling, mid-Victorian novels.

The Gallant Hussar

August 1928 •German

The daughter of an American millionaire falls in love with a Hungarian hussar officer during a visit to the Austrian Empire.

Her Circus Man

March 1921 •English

A lost silent short comedy.

Finders Keepers

January 1921 •English

Amy Lindel, a church choir singer, goes to the city to pursue a singing career, but finds herself only able to get cabaret gigs. She then becomes entangled in a situation involving stolen diamonds, and is saved by the "good guy" whom she later marries.

A Nine O'Clock Town

July 1918 •English

David Clary runs a sleepy little dry-goods store in a sleepy little town. A vamp from the big city shows up, intent on taking Clary for everything he's worth by a combination of seduction and blackmail. But the day is saved by the ingenuity of David's corset model.

Wives and Other Wives

December 1918 •English

Assuming the worst Geoffrey Challoner impulsively storms out of the house when he sees his new wife Robin reading old love letters. In his absence, Norman Craig, planning with his wife to lease an upstairs apartment owned by Judge Corcoran, wanders into the Challoners' apartment. Robin, mistaking him for a burglar, shoots him and then runs for a doctor. Returning, Geoffrey again rashly makes assumptions and immediately files for divorce. Mrs. Craig and Norman, who had merely fainted, are invited to Judge Corcoran's weekend home along with the Challoners, whom the judge hopes to reunite. Following a bewildering series of misadventures, including an attempted robbery by the maid and the chauffeur, Geoffrey learns that the love letters were his own, and the young couple are reconciled.

The Post-Impressionists

May 1913 •English

Dick Carew, the son of a soap-maker, and Dorothy Wilton, the daughter of a lawyer, meet in Paris, where they have gone from America to imbibe an atmosphere sicklied with artistic buncomb by the Cubists. The young man, visiting a cabaret, the meeting place of frowsy post-impressionists, is impressed with their windy theories, mainly denunciations of everything that common sense and decency understand. Dick is just ignorant enough about art to be impressed with this buncomb, and takes Dorothy to the Cubist.

Sweeney's Dream

July 1913 •English

While many men think they can manage a hotel, a theater, or a newspaper, they are in the minority compared with those low-browed addle-pates who believe they could run the government.

What Happened to Jones

March 1915 •English

Jones is a traveling salesman -- or drummer, as they were known in those days -- who peddles Bibles and playing cards at a discount. Along with Professor Goodly, he goes to a prize fight which is raided by the police. The two men wind up at a boarding school for young ladies where Jones is mistaken for the Bishop of Timbuctoo.

What Happened to Jones

August 1920 •English

Heeding the pleas of Bobbie Brown, Jimmie Jones packs his trunk full of liquor to present to his desperate friend and hops on a train. Upon his arrival, Jones discovers that his cargo has been purloined in transit, and while attempting to replenish his supplies by bargaining with the local bootlegger, is detected by the local sheriff.

Captain Barnacle's Legacy

September 1912 •English

Captain Barnacle receives a letter telling him that Mr. Markham, a South African whose life he saved some years ago, has died, leaving him a legacy in money and some property and jewels in South Africa. The will stipulates that he shall visit the property in person.

His Sister's Children

September 1911 •English

Harry Burton's sister and her husband are suddenly called away for a few days on business and telegraph him to come to their home and take care of their two little boys, "Toddie and Budge." He at once complies, and is soon with the children, assuming his duties as "governor." Helen Manton, stopping in the same town, thinks a great deal of Harry Burton, and naturally he of her.

All on Account of Checkers

March 1912 •English

Smith & Smith, publishers, in a letter, notify Professor Bernard that they will accept his latest story if he will alter the enclosed paragraph: "Marry me and I will do away with my wife as I did her father." The absent-minded professor leaves this paragraph on his study table while he goes to the store to secure some cloth for his wife. The Professor, however, is very absent-minded, and forgets his mission when he meets a group of firemen who induce him to play a game of checkers. In the meantime, Ellen, the cook, is having her troubles with the butcher boy, who brings liver instead of chops, as ordered.

Neighbors

July 1918 •English

Comedy of a school marm teaching a social climber some life lessons.

A Self-Made Widow

July 1917 •English

On the promise of marriage, Sylvia Smith, a simple girl from Lone Meadows, follows her lover to the city only to discover that he already has a wife.

Pants

September 1917 •English

Little Betty has a luxurious home, an army of servants and the costliest of toys. But she hasn't what a child wants most of all, other children to play with. The result is that she runs away and joins a group of children from the ghetto district on the beach. In play she exchanges clothing with a little boy. That evening Betty doesn't return home. Her maiden aunt, an over-zealous guardian, is frantic. She notifies the police. The same evening the father of the boy, who has lost his position and is facing starvation, decides to turn burglar. He steals into the home of Betty's father. The household is awakened and the intruder captured.

Americký souboj

January 1913 •Czech

Rozvedená paní

January 1913 •Czech

The Aviator

December 1929 •English

Brooks, a publisher and his publicist decide to boost the sales of a wartime book of flying experiences. They credit the book to popular author Robert Street, who is completely ignorant about aviation. Robert gets into all sorts of trouble in attempting to carry on the ruse, saving his friend's business but also attracting the attention of aviation-mad Grace Douglas. At first, he is able to carry out simple publicity events, but when he accidentally starts up an aircraft, his incredible aerobatics end with a landing in a haystack. When a race is staged between him and French ace Major Jules Gaillard, it ends with Robert confessing he is no pilot, but still winning Grace's heart. Considered a lost film.