Humanitarian Roberta induces her father to hire former convict, Bill, as his gardener. When she leaves on vacation, Bill steals her jewelry and eventually sells a brooch to her boyfriend, Richard, who unknowingly gives it to her as a present.
Amos Kerran and his wife live a traditional, old-fashioned life on a Connecticut farm, while their son and daughter, Arthur and Maybelle, are successes in New York society. The children want to invite their parents to the city at Christmastime but are ashamed of their unrefined appearance.
When Madge, a clerk in a flower shop, is sent to a bachelor's apartment to deliver and arrange a bouquet, she discovers a guest, young and handsome Bradley Lane, taking a bath. She loses her job and becomes a playgirl until Bradley, her true love, asks her to marry him.
Jack Breen and his wife, Lizzie, are professional crooks, who live in a fine house and set themselves up as belonging to the best. Breen gets his living by various means, including begging. He dresses in ragged clothes and picks up crusts in the street, which he pretends to eat, thereby exciting the sympathy of passers-by.
The Simpsons go for a picnic in the woods. After luncheon, while mother and father enjoy a nap, Betty, their beautiful daughter, strolls away, picking flowers. When near a hillside, Betty sees a snake and screams. She starts to run away, but bumps into Billy Gilwater. He kills the snake and Betty calls him a hero.
Sue's father has chosen Percy; Sue's mother has chosen Patterson, while Sue has chosen Jack. Mother and father decide that they can never be reconciled while each champions a candidate for their daughter's hand.
Dorothy Danesbridge is spoiled by her father and aunt, and through the influence of Phyllis, an old school friend and an ardent suffragette, becomes interested in Women's Suffrage.
On account of an urgent business call, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie hurriedly close their summer home at Hudsoncliff and leave with their daughter, Jane, for the city. Bob, their son, decides to visit his parents at Hudsoncliff with his friend, Ralph Lyons. Bob and Ralph find the house locked up and, after some reconnoitering, enter through a window. Ralph hurts his ankle and is unable to attend a dance that evening, so Bob goes instead. Jane, on her arrival in the city, finds she has left her necklace in the safe at their summer home, and leaves a note for her mother, saying she is going back for it.
The manager of a small town hotel installs a cabaret in an attempt to achieve the standard set by restaurants in the large cities. His effort is ludicrous because of the fact that his talent is all recruited from the help in the hotel. Roscoe, the cook, is forced to appear in a dress suit and when Al St. John appears from the bar there is a lively rivalry between the two for the applause of the crowd. Mabel, the waitress, vies with a professional dancer from the city. Into this setting comes William Jefferson, a polished sharper, who takes the innocent Mabel by storm.
Young and pretty, Margery Dean, companion to Mrs. Sawyer, a wealthy lady, chances to meet Jack Drislane, a young clerk. It is raining hard; she has not an umbrella; he secures one and escorts her home. He is duly impressed when she enters a large brownstone mansion, particularly as the girl does not enlighten him as to her real social position; Later, they see each other again in passing autos and then Jack, who has been unable to forget Margery, asks permission to call, neglecting to mention, however, that he is a working man and not a wealthy idler.
On the way to Sunday school, Edgar meets the lady of his heart--and his hated rival. The Sunday-school lesson on David and Goliath so intrigues Edgar that he sees himself as David, saving the entire school, sweetheart and rival included, from Goliath's sword. Edgar's answer to the teacher's question proves his straying thoughts. As a result he is placed on the platform, where he sees himself descending to the "lower regions" as the "worst boy in the school." Edgar's Sunday adventures end with him at peace with the world, after two helpings of pie.
Returning to his father's cattle ranch after the excitement of serving in combat overseas, Bud McGraw becomes restless, and his father decides to send him to an old friend who commands the Border Police in Texas. On the way he meets Peggy Hughes, accompanying her Uncle Graham, a customs inspector, and he retrieves her hat from the rails of a train. At the headquarters, numerous scrapes and fights win him the admiration of, and friendship with, the men. Lazaro, a Secret Service agent, invites Mrs. Graham and Peggy, who are staying at the border station, for an automobile ride, and they are captured by bandits and held for ransom. Bud and his pals deliver the ransom and discover that Lazaro is the bandit chief. Lazaro refuses to release Peggy, but a jealous rival, Nita de Garma, causes his downfall and shoots him as the Border Police arrive to rescue the party.
The sinister mesmerist Svengali hypnotizes two characters, then dies abruptly in a Trilby segment from David Henderson's Aladdin, Jr. burlesque. Lost.
The sinister mesmerist Svengali hypnotizes a group of people and compels them to perform various humorous acts in a Trilby segment from David Henderson's Aladdin, Jr. burlesque. Lost.
The Leigh Sisters perform a risqué Trilby-inspired dance with an umbrella. Scene from David Henderson's Aladdin, Jr. burlesque. Lost.
Satirical silent movie based on the play Macbeth written in 1916 by Peter Pan creator and playwright J. M. Barrie as a parody of the American entertainment industry. The film was made by the newly created British Actors Film Company in response to news that American filmmaker D. W. Griffith intended to honor the 300th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death by producing of a film version of the play. It was subtitled A Suggestion for the Artists of the Future. It was screened at a charity benefit attended by the royal family, but was not widely distributed, and no copies are known to survive.
Mary Sundale is a young woman who spurns her childhood sweetheart to attach herself to a large group of riotous, semi-artistic young people and becomes infatuated with a superficial poet and critic. One night this poet becomes too bold in his advances and is thrashed by the man who has been rejected. On a later night, the group holds a party in a dirigible. The ship crashes and fear grips the revelers. Mary, now disgusted with the group and all it represents, mends her manner of living and plans a future with the man who has always sincerely loved her. A lost film.
William Lowry rescues Claudia Royce from a burning building, and upon hearing that her parents are trying to force her to accept millionaire Leland, whom she does not love, he proposes a marriage of convenience to himself. She accepts, and Bill arranges a fake ceremony; but when she falls in love with Davidge, Bill refuses her a "divorce." Later, Bill gets rich in the manufacture of a patented fireman's pole, and when he buys a house for Claudia she realizes her love for him and they are legally married.
Patricia Parker, on the advice of her father, leaves her life as a chorus girl for the bucolic surroundings of Silas Wainwright, an old friend of her father's.
Rosie Cooper is a cashier in a cheap restaurant and among those she favors is ... Smith, the bakery boy. Rose is a 'wise kid' all right, but it takes her some time to see through a shiny young thin model gent... The girl entertains his advances because he means romance to her. But he proves his shallow character and Rosie is glad to turn to Jimmy, the bakery youth.