Martha Sleeper – MRQE

Skinner’s Big Idea

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Back in the late teens, Bryant Washburn starred in a successful series based on the “Skinner” stories by Henry Irving Dodge. After the success of Reginald Denny’s Skinner’s Dress Suit (1926), Washburn returned to the fold with Skinner’s Big Idea in 1928. As before, the star plays Skinner, a young businessman on the way up. Now a partner in his business firm, Skinner is ordered by his boss to fire two of the older employees. Feeling beholden to the old fellows, he decides to save their jobs by enlivening their work performance. To do this, he hires cute, vivacious secretary Dorothy (Martha Sleeper), whose presence “rejuvenates” the two geezers. Naturally, Mrs. Skinner (Ethel Grey Terry) suspects the worst — until the last reel, of course.

Bad Boy

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In this two-reeler, Jimmy Jump wants to please both of his parents, but they disagree about everything. His father wants him to act more manly, although Jimmy gets his sensitivity from his mother. He wants to wed his girlfriend, and so accepts a job at his father’s iron foundry, but does not excel there. Next, Jimmy goes to a tough dance-hall to impress his girl. A highlight is his parody of an Isadora Duncan dance.

Spitfire

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Dirt-poor mountain girl Trigger Hicks is a loner. Her faith-healing is mistaken for witchcraft by the community. She falls for an engineer building a dam, who protects her.

The Bells of St. Mary’s

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Father O’Malley is sent to St. Mary’s, a run-down parochial school on the verge of condemnation. He and Sister Benedict work together in an attempt to save the school, though their differing methods often lead to good-natured disagreements.

Great God Gold

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Greed, ambition and hunger-for-power drive John Hart, a New-York-City stock-market broker, into crooked dealings and deception, but he doesn’t realize that those he ruined will seek vengeance. He meets his match and downfall when his path crosses with a reporter, Phil Stuart; a girl, Marcia Harper, and a man-with-a-gun from a family he ruined.

Broken Dreams

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Medical intern Robert Morley is distraught after his wife dies in childbirth. He’s resentful of his new son and wants nothing to do with him. He leaves the child with his aunt and uncle and heads off to Europe to pursue his medical studies. Morley returns to his hometown six years later, now a successful doctor and engaged to be married to a beautiful socialite. He also feels differently about the boy and attempts to gain custody from his aunt and uncle.

Huddle

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, works in a smoky steel mill in Gary, Indiana. He wins a company scholarship which will enable him to attend Yale college. Over the four years of his college career he learns about football, love, and class prejudice.

Danger Street

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Danger Street (1928)

Fluttering Hearts

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Defying her father’s wishes, a young woman runs off to a sale at store. She’s pursued by a policeman, but wins him over with the help of a friendly millionaire. In the mean time, her father tries to retrieve a compromising letter.

Crazy Like a Fox

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Two rich capitalists want to marry their children, but they don’t like the idea at all. She tries to run away, and meets him at the station. They fall in love, unbeknownst to their real identities, and decide each on their own that they have to wreck their parents plan.