Popular Plays and Players Inc.
My Madonna 1915
Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert. Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest.
The Tigress 1914
Heroine Stella is not a "tigress" at all, but instead a loving wife and mother. All this changes when the despotic and rapacious Governor of Euturia, whose sexual overtures have been spurned by Stella, orders that her husband be executed and her child kidnapped.
The Weakness of Strength 1916
Through a real estate purchase Daniel Gaynor acquires all rights in the waterway leading from Moose River to the mill. The original owner has never made use of his rights, but Gaynor, whose one thought is to get power, refuses to allow logs to be floated down the river running through his property. The men resent this injustice, and there is a fight between Gaynor and Bill Jackson, Bill representing the lumbermen.
The Empress 1917
After the success of his painting "The Empress," artist DeBaudry (William Morse) takes his model, Nedra (Doris Kenyon), to a roadhouse and, unbeknownst to her, registers them as Mr. and Mrs. The roadhouse proprietor, who is also a part-time blackmailer, takes a photo of them together.
The Iron Woman 1916
Steel mill owner Sarah Maitland has raised her two children, Blair and Nannie, to be honest and caring, however Blair disappoints her when he seduces the wife of his best friend and breaks up her marriage. No one is happy but it takes a near fatal accident to set things right.
The Vampire 1915
The Vampire is a surviving 1915 silent film drama directed by Alice Guy and starring Olga Petrova. It is one of Petrova's and Guy's few surviving silent films.
The Devil at His Elbow 1916
Young mechanical engineer John Ashton is trying to complete the plans for a new submarine. Under pressure to meet a deadline he has been leaning on whiskey to handle the stress which his friend Robert Gray warns him against, but to no avail. His fiancée, Grace, telephones wanting him to take a break and attend a dinner party with her. Against his better judgement and still drinking he accepts but nods off while getting ready. What follows are booze infused visions of loss and degradation so horrifying that upon awaking he swears off "the devil at his elbow”!
The Ragged Earl 1914
The Ragged Earl was produced by Popular Plays and Players, a New York-based firm specializing in five-reel theatrical adaptations. Repeating his stage role, Andrew Mack essays the title character, a brawling Irish boy of a few centuries back. While swashbuckling his way through the Auld Sod, the Ragged Earl meets the aristocratic Kathleen Fitzmorris (Ormi Hawley), who is disguised as a boy to escape an arranged marriage with the wealthy but decrepit Lord Wildbrook (Edward Peil Sr.). Entering into the spirit of things, our hero disguises himself as Wildbrook, escorts Kathleen back home, and marries her himself, right under the noses of her unsuspecting parents.
The Waiting Soul 1917
This morality play of the starts off with Grace Vaughn running off with married man Dudley Kent (Wyndham Standing). While sailing to England, they meet Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove. Mrs. Hargrove tries to talk Grace out of ruining her life, but the girl won't listen. After a few months, Kent leaves Grace and she gets mixed up with a woman who runs a house of ill repute.
The Eternal Question 1916
Pierre Felix, a couturier, makes a $25,000 bet with Ralph Courtland that he can take a girl from the streets, dress her appropriately, and within three months have her accepted into society.
The Black Butterfly 1916
Sonia Smirnov, a Paris opera singer known as "The Black Butterfly", starts an affair with young Alan Hall. Hall, however, is still pining over his previous lover, a young peasant girl.
Michael Strogoff 1914
The Russian Czar sends his trusted confidant, Michael Strogoff, to warn his brother the Grand Duke of a Tartar rebellion that will be led by Feofar Khan and Ivan Ogareff. Calling himself Nicholas Korpanoff, Strogoff poses as a trader to journey to warn the Grand Duke. On his way he meets Nadia Fedorova, a young girl trying to join her father Wassili, a political activist who has been exiled to Siberia. Strogoff is captured by the Tartars, who don't believe he is a trader and threaten to torture Strogoff's mother Marfa unless he reveals his true identity.
Heart of a Painted Woman 1915
Young Martha Redmond, a poor girl from a small town, leaves to find a singing career in New York City. She doesn't find success as a singer, but finds a job as a model for a prominent artist, and soon becomes his mistress. When her lover throws her over to marry the daughter of a wealthy man, she becomes a "fallen women", a plaything for wealthy playboys. She meets Barrett, a millionaire's son, and begins to wonder if she might have a future with him, but it seems like he'll turn out to be just like "all the others".
The Soul Market 1916
Having made public her disdain for wealthy men, musical comedy actress Elaine Elton is nonetheless ardently pursued by a handsome young millionaire who, for her sake, poses as his own chauffeur. A romance blossoms, but Elaine cannot accept the handsome millionaire's marriage proposal; she has already promised to marry a powerful producer who has threatened to blacklist her from Broadway if she refuses to become his bride.
Extravagance 1916
Raised in the lap of luxury, Norma Russell is ill-prepared for her father's financial reverses. In exchange for a $25,000 loan, Norma's dad promises her hand in marriage to bank president Howard Dundore.
A Woman's Fight 1916
Story of a factory worker who is fired because she tries to protect one of her fellow employees from the lusty advances of their boss. She then joins forces with a crook and becomes his mistress. Although she winds up in jail because he stashed some of his stolen goods at her home, she escapes by flirting with the warden and then drugging him.