Roscoe Karns
Birthday: 1891-09-06
Place of Birth: San Bernardino, California, USA
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many comedies and crime thrillers in the 1930s and 1940s. Though he appeared in numerous silent films, such as Wings and Beggars of Life, his career didn't really take off until sound arrived. Arguably his best-known film role was the annoying bus passenger Oscar Shapeley, who tries to pick up Claudette Colbert in the Oscar-winning comedy It Happened One Night (1934), quickly followed by one of his best performances as the boozy press agent Owen O'Malley in Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century. (Six years later, he co-starred as one of the reporters in another Hawks classic, His Girl Friday.) In 1937, Paramount teamed him with Lynne Overman as a pair of laconic private eyes in two B comedy-mysteries, Murder Goes to College and Partners in Crime. From 1950 to 1954, Karns played the title role in the popular DuMont Television Network series Rocky King, Inside Detective. His son, character actor Todd Karns, also appeared in that series. From 1959 to 1962, Karns was cast as Admiral Walter Shafer in seventy-three of the ninety-five episodes of the CBS military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper in the title role of a United States Navy physician, and Abby Dalton as nurse Martha Hale. His final film was another Hawks comedy, Man's Favorite Sport?, in 1964. Karns was born in San Bernardino, California, and died in Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Roscoe Karns, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Movies
It Happened One Night
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up s...
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His Girl Friday
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star...
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The Family Honor
Beverly Tucker, the daughter of an impoverished aristocratic Southern family, has scraped together h...
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Woman of the Year
Rival reporters Sam Craig and Tess Harding fall in love and get married, only to find their relation...
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Twentieth Century
A temperamental Broadway producer trains an untutored actress, but when she becomes a star, she prov...
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The Ten Commandments
The first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receip...
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Petticoat Politics
Pa Higgins has decided to retire but winds up being forced to run for mayor. Ladd is both boyfriend ...
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Alice in Wonderland
In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderla...
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You Can't Escape Forever
A demoted reporter (George Brent) and his girlfriend (Brenda Marshall) seek to expose a crime kingpi...
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Moran of the Marines
After getting into a fight with a drunkard, Mike Moran spends 10 days on the rock pile and is disinh...
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Footsteps in the Dark
A high-society gent has a secret life - he writes murder mysteries and hangs out with the police att...
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You and Me
Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in...
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They Drive by Night
Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck b...
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Man's Favorite Sport?
Roger Willoughby is a renowned fishing expert, who, unbeknownst to his friends, co-workers, or boss,...
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Devil's Cargo
John Calvert takes over as the Falcon in this Poverty-Row continuation of the film series....
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Her Own Money
After five years of marriage, Mildred comes to the realization that her husband, Lew, is going nowhe...
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Night After Night
A former boxer purchases a classy speakeasy and falls in love with a wealthy society girl....
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Wings in the Dark
In his dedicated pursuit of technology that will aid pilots to safely "fly blind" during adverse con...
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Double Alibi
A man's ex-wife is found murdered, and he finds himself to be the prime suspect....
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A Lady's Profession
A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse....
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Laughing Sinners
Ivy Stevens is a cafe entertainer in love with a shifty salesman who deserts her. In attempting to c...
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Four Hours to Kill!
A detective who has "four hours to kill" before delivering his prisoner, an escaped killer, spends t...
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Other Men's Daughters
Dorothy Kane leaves home after being denounced by her father, a businessman, who is dictatorial with...
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If I Had a Million
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Today We Live
Two lovers are living together and are not married; they had made a promise as children to get marri...
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This Thing Called Love
A romance runs into difficulties because the girl has seen a great deal of the turbulence in her sis...
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Alibi Ike
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One Sunday Afternoon
Middle-aged dentist Biff Grimes reminisces about his unrequited love for beautiful Virginia Brush an...
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Saturday's Children
An inventor and his bride get testy in the city as they try to make ends meet....
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Front Page Woman
Ace reporter Curt Devlin and fellow reporter Ellen Garfield love one another, but Curt believes wome...
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New York Nights
Show girl Jill Deverne is married to song writer Fred Deverne, and everyone is involved in the Broad...
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Week-End Marriage
In this comedy, a hard-working husband loses his job and his wife becomes the bread winner....
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Win That Girl
A gridiron rivalry between two colleges is entering its third generation, and the Norton family (fat...
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A Tragedy at Midnight
The host of a whodunit radio show finds himself involved in his own mystery when he awakens to find ...
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Avalanche
Two T-men track a tax evader and his money to an Idaho ski resort, where a raven tends bar....
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The Inside Story
A collection agent arrives in a small town with $1000 for a local farmer. Whilst waiting for the far...
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That's Right – You're Wrong
J. D. Forbes, head of the almost-bankrupt Four Star Studios in Hollywood contacts band leader Kay Ky...
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Cain and Mabel
A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt....
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Two Against the World
A socialite finds herself involved in a murder trial that is prosecuted by her boyfriend....
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Safety in Numbers
Before handing over a large inheritance, a guardian hires three chorus girls to educate his charge a...
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My Son, The Hero
Learning that his long-unseen son is soon to arrive for a visit, a small-time con-man enlists the he...
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Thanks for the Memory
Steve Merrick is an out of work writer who stays home and plays house husband while his wife goes to...
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Shoot the Works
The story of seedy sideshow barker Nicky, who uses everyone he meets to get ahead. Nicky isn't even ...
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Speed to Spare
Stunt driver Cliff Jordan takes a job with his old pal Jerry McGee, branch manager of an express tru...
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Riding High
No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High ...
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Two-Fisted
A fast-talking boxing manager and the somewhat hapless fighter he manages happen to run into a young...
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The Woman in Red
A professional equestrian marries a polo player from a once-wealthy family, only to face the scorn o...
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On Such a Night
When her husband is accused of murder, an actress tries to prove his innocence....
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Ladies Must Live
A small town farmer, who happens to be very wealthy, meets and falls for an actress, but his friends...
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Three Married Men
Jennie Mullins and her fiancé Peter Cary are happily in love but their families are miserable about ...
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Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Ta...
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Tip-Off Girls
A federal agent goes after a hijacking ring that uses beautiful women to help it hijack the rigs of ...
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I Sell Anything
Auctioneer Spot Cash Cutler is planning the scam of a lifetime, but will he get burned?...
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Partners in Crime
Detective Hank Hyer investigates a blackmail case involving a candidate for mayor....
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Troopers Three
Eddie Haskins, a wisecracking young man, teams up with two ham-acrobats known as 'Bugs & Sunny', and...
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Lawyer Man
Idealistic attorney Anton Adam makes headlines when he successfully prosecutes a prominent New York ...
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The Crooked Circle
A group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occ...
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The Shopworn Angel
Shortly after the United States enters World War I in 1917, a Broadway actress agrees to let a naive...
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That's My Man
A poor young man is finally able to achieve his dream of running a horse at the track, but when he s...
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Murder Goes to College
The policy-racket reaches it lean, bony fingers into the ivy-towers of a large university and the un...
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King of Chinatown
A Chinese-American surgeon faces a moral dilemma after operating on the mob boss in charge of vice a...
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Dangerous to Know
Racketeer Steve Recka, art patron and political power-maker, rules his town and Madame Lan Ying, his...
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One Way to Love
A Chicago team of radio scriptwriters must split up when he takes a job with his bride-to-be's fathe...
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Man Trouble
A hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in love ...
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The Women in His Life
An immensely successful criminal lawyer is blindsided when he learns that his new case involves his ...
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One Way Passage
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pac...
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Vigilantes of Boomtown
The ranch of Red Ryder (Allan Lane) and his aunt, The Duchess (Martha Wentworth), is being used as t...
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Copy
On a slow news day, the wisecracking staff of a newspaper write articles about the serious safety is...
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Hi, Good Lookin'!
An usher at a radio station studio pretends to be an executive at the station in order to help a pre...
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The Flying Fleet
Six friends, all hoping to become aviators, are to graduate the next day from the United States Nava...
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The Gorilla
A series of murders that take place in an old, dark mansion are suspected of being committed by an a...
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The Life of the Party
An attorney is thrust into wild adventures by an attractive young woman....
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Old Acquaintance
Two writers, friends since childhood, fight over their books and lives....
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Dancing Co-Ed
After discovering his star dancer is expecting and can't perform, film producer H.W. Workman and his...
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I Ring Doorbells
Set at a major newspaper, this crime drama centers on a fellow who returns to newspaper reporting af...
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Dirigible
Dirigible commander Jack Braden and Navy pilot 'Frisky' Pierce fight over the glory associated with ...
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Everything's on Ice
Comedy about a little girl who's uncle makes her an ice skating star, only to take all of her money....
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Under-Cover Man
When his father is murdered, erstwhile conman Nick Darrow asks the cops if he can go undercover to f...
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The Gay Vagabond
Farce of identical twins and a wife who takes up real estate business....
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Yokel Boy
A film company hires a gangster to mock himself holding up a bank, but he succeeds too well and make...
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The Jazz Singer
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects...
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The Trail of '98
Fortune hunters from all over the country rushing to the Klondike in 1897 to seek their fortunes in ...
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The Roadhouse Murder
After he stumbles across a murder, a young reporter devises an elaborate scene to keep his newspaper...
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You'd Be Surprised
A diamond is stolen at a houseboat party given by the district attorney. He gives the thief a chance...
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Woman Trap
A gangland murder is the motivating factor of this fast-moving crime drama. George Murphy stars as r...
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Clarence
The title character is a resourceful young man who knows a whole little about a whole lot of things,...
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Stage Door Canteen
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars o...
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Minstrel Man
Unusually elaborate for a PRC film, Minstrel Man is a lively musical drama built around the talents ...
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The Navy Way
The experiences of a disparate group of young men as they make their way through Navy boot camp....
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Road to Happiness
A struggling singer, devoted to his young son, fears the child's super-spoiled, unloving but wealthy...
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Wings
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fig...
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Ladies of the Big House
A woman tries to save her husband from the electric chair after both are sent to prison for a murder...
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Onionhead
An irresponsible student enlists in the Coast Guard expecting to sit out World War II....
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Gambling Ship
Tired of the dangerous life as gambling boss, Ace Corbin 'retires' from the racket and travels cross...
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They Call It Sin
A young, innocent small-town church organist is thrown out of her home, told she was adopted, and th...
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Stowaway
On her first night as a dockside dancer, Mary Foster loses her job when she tries to fend of the adv...
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Jazz Mad
A composer and his daughter emigrate to America in the hope that he can sell his symphony. But he me...
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Grand Slam
A Russian waiter in New York City becomes a national celebrity after he develops a "system" for winn...
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The Vanishing Pioneer
A western settlement of pioneer descendants is threatened with the loss of its water supply through ...
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Come On, Marines!
"Lucky" Davis, a ladies-man and a devil-may-care U. S. Marine Sergeant, is leading a Marine-squadron...
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His Butler's Sister
Aspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway....
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Border Flight
Frances Farmer's second film is a typical B-programmer from the Paramount lot of 1936--up and coming...
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Half Shot at Sunrise
After his wife walks out on him, obnoxious Roscoe takes his son to the movies and creates havoc in t...
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Left Over Ladies
Two married couples are involved in divorce proceedings; Patricia and Ronny, who are still in love w...
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Warming Up
Bert, a pitcher for a baseball team in a small town, is given the opportunity to try out for a team ...
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Little Accident
On the day before his second wedding, a man finds out that his bride-to-be has had a baby....
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The Costello Case
An Irish policeman handles gangsters, a mystery woman and a wise-guy reporter....
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Beau Sabreur
The film is about a desert-bound member of the French Foreign Legion who exposes a betrayer to the L...
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The Midnight Express
Wastrel son of a railroad magnate, Jack's father becomes frustrated with his son's wild ways. To pro...
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Scandal Street
Joe McKnight temporarily leaves his fiancée, Nora Langdon, for an expedition in a South American jun...
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The Desert Bride
Captain Maurice de Florimont, a French Army intelligence officer, is captured by Arab nationalists w...
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The Trouper
Working as a wardrobe girl in a cheap traveling stock company, Mamie Judd secretly loves Jenks, the ...
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Beggars of Life
After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond....
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Many a Slip
Comedy centering on the question of whether a man's wife is or isn't pregnant....
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A Western Governor's Humanity
The son of the sheriff of Arizona Territory is an outlaw. When he's captured and sentenced to hang h...
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A Species of Mexican Man
A simple born man rises to power in Mexico but when the country is torn by war he travels to the US ...
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From Champion to Tramp
Shirley Christy, Champion Mile Runner of the World, has become a tramp and finds himself in the moun...
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Mr. Carlson of Arizona
Mr. Carlson of Arizona comes to New York where he is summarily swindled out of his funds and deserte...
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Poor Relations
Dorothy Perkins, the eldest daughter of a simple, wholesome country family, leaves for the big city ...
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The Overland Limited
David Barton (Malcolm McGregor) is a train engineer with big ideas who falls in love with beautiful ...
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The Man Tamer
A young woman becomes a lion tamer in a circus. The circus manager is in love with her, but she only...
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Ritzy
Touring America as Harrington Smith, the Duke of Westborough visits the Brown Iron Works at Ivor Cit...
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Conquering the Woman
Wealthy, spoiled society girl Judith Stafford accepts a marriage proposal from rich European Count H...
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