William H. Strauss

Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.

An ex-con uses his street smarts to become a successful photojournalist.

A young racing driver combines the best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in the race. He triumphs over the other contestants, incidentally winning the girl of his heart.

Searching for headlines at any cost, an unscrupulous newspaper owner forces his editor to print a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a woman involved.

Despite his talent as a musician, a city boy decides to become a boxer. He's successful as a fighter — much to the dismay of his father. When gangsters try to buy a piece of him, he begins to have second thoughts.

Club pianist Ted Mason writes a love song for Beth Barton. A rival named Goldie steals the song for her husband, Steve, to publish. Beth faces unfair blame from her friends and teacher because of the popular song. Ted proves he wrote it by creating an even better song, exposing the theft, and winning Beth back.

Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.

So This is Love? was another early Frank Capra production for fledgling Columbia Pictures. The hero, dress designer Jerry McGuire (William Collier Jr.), is tired of being considered a wimp. After business hours, Jerry secretly takes boxing lessons, enabling him to knock the stuffings out of his burly rival Spike Mullins (Johnnie Walker). Jerry's newfound pugilistic skills wins him the affections of store clerk Hilda Jensen (Shirley Mason), who's just car-razy about "cave men." Filmed in a fast three weeks, So This is Love? was completed before Frank Capra's Matinee Idol but released afterward. Leading lady Shirley Mason was the sister of Viola Dana, who starred in Capra's initial Columbia effort, That Certain Thing.

Nora, a department store clerk, is determined to succeed on the basis of her brain power despite her attractive ankles. She gets a job as model at the shop of McGuire and Goldberg, and they announce that Nora may be given a trip abroad if she persuades their financer to lend the partners additional funds. The financer, Hornsbee, becomes presumptuous, leading to an encounter between him and Barney, Nora's young suitor; and she is ultimately glad to accept Barney's modest attentions.

A hustling public relations man promotes a series of fads.

Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.

A press agent helps a honky tonk spot draw a new elite patronage but a troublemaker arrives on the scene as well and disrupts the romance between the male and female stars.

Isadore "Izzy" Goldberg changes his name to I. Patrick Murphy because his store is in an Irish-neighborhood in New York City. He meets Eileen Cohannigan, the daughter of a meat-packer, and he tells her he is Irish and a romance begins. When America enters World War I, "Izzy" enlists, is sent to France, and is wounded while engaged in a heroic rescue during a big battle. While recovering in an overseas hospital, he writes Eileen and tells her he is Jewish and not Irish. Returning home, he is parading with his regiment and he sees Eileen with Robert O'Malley, his old rival. He thinks she has thrown him over because he is Jewish. An Irish lodge comes to bestow an honor on the man they think is Patrick Murphy, an Irish hero. But O'Malley tells them his real name is Goldberg. But Eileen tels him it is he she loves, and they head for the marriage-license bureau.

Model Jacqueline Lee meets Barker Garrison, a wealthy bachelor. Scheming to give her a life of luxury, he invents an old lady who leaves her fortune to Jacqueline. At a party given by Jacqueline, Garrison's intoxicated friend Rupert Lewis--who knows of the scheme--confesses his love for Jacqueline; rejected, he proposes a toast to "the old lady in Rio de Janeiro ... Barker Garrison"; and discovering the truth, Jacqueline disappears. Meanwhile, Garrison travels over Europe in search of her, and later, in New York, while motoring, he sees a girl fall beneath the wheels of a car and finds her to be Jacqueline. When she recovers, he learns that she has become a famous actress under an assumed name. Perceiving that he loves her, she promises never to leave him.

Sally, a girl of the tenements, is being raised by three bachelor foster-fathers, a pawnbroker, an organ-grinder and a peddler, and is very happy preparing their meals and keeping the house, while the old men bask in the attention she gives them. However, this happy home is broken up when Sally wealthy aunt appears on the scene and takes Sally back to her luxurious penthouse in order to give her the advantages of money and social position. But Sally's heart is back across the river with her plumber sweetheart, Jimmie Adams.

Mary Malloy works as a scullery maid in a hotel. She meets reporter Bob Norton, who soon falls in love with her. When Mary learns that one of her friends is to be evicted, she pawns an old silver goblet with her family crest in order to get money to forestall the eviction. The pawnbrokers, realizing how valuable the goblet is, hatch a scheme to use Mary as a patsy while they substitute fake pearls for the real thing. Bob, however, becomes suspicious.

The neighborly "feud" between a Jewish and an Irish families escalates when two of their youngsters fall in love.

Story about four generations in a family of musicians.

A young Jewish man works in his father's jewelry business, but he doesn't like it at all--he wants to be an entertainer, something he knows that his father would never approve of. He comes up with a scheme to put on his own show in a theater and show his father that he can be a success, but things don't work out quite as well as he planned.

Honey Skinner is proud of her successful husband. When he tells her he's going to ask for a raise, she knows he'll get it. He asks his boss just as their big client announces he's not renewing his contract. He doesn't get the raise, but he's too embarrassed to tell his wife the truth. She starts making plans to spend that extra $10 a week; the first thing is a new dress suit for him and a new outfit for her so they can fit in at a swanky party. They're the hit of the party, and Honey is embraced by the 'smart set.' Meanwhile, business is bad and Skinner loses his job. The tailor is after him for payment on the suit, and Honey is still spending the salary he doesn't have.

Intending that her son, Herbert, marry debutante Mildred Vane, Mrs. Consuelo Carter is most dismayed when she learns that Herbert has fallen in love with Pat Murray, a model in Darrow's dress shop. Pat's emphatic refusal to take Mrs. Carter's "suggestion" that she give up Herbert leads to her being fired, and she reluctantly accepts Herbert's invitation to weekend at the Carter country home. Finally realizing the hopelessness of the situation, Pat makes a spectacle of herself at a party; but Herbert is not fooled, and their love triumphs.

The DVD for this film bears the title "The Lure of Hollywood". Marian Nixon plays a girl who doesn't want to settle for second best. She is offered chance to be a model and jumps at it. Her boyfriend is upset--he just wants to marry her and settle down to a life of domestic bliss. But she has stars in her eyes--and soon learns to use publicity to create a new movie star persona. Throughout all this, the sappy boyfriend is always waiting nearby--hoping that she'll come to her senses and give up this new life.