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Melvyn Mayo (right).
Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
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Jim West — Gambler
(1915) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Wilbert Melville
Cast: Melvin Mayo [Jim West], Dorothy Barrett [Kate West], Helen Eddy (Helen Jerome Eddy), Robert Gray (R. Henry Grey), Edythe Sterling, Leon C. Shumway (Lee Shumway)
Lubin Manufacturing Company production; distributed by [?] V-L-S-E, Incorporated or The General Film Company, Incorporated? / Produced by Siegmund Lubin. From a screen story by Wilbert Melville. / Released 6 October 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Jim West is the keeper of a gambling house. His wife, Kate, objects to his calling, but to no avail. Among the habitués of Jim’s place is Stephen Morey. One night Morey loses all his money, and as a last resort, pawns his valuable ring with West. After losing this money too, Morey goes to a side room and kills himself. Jim slips the ring back in the dead man’s pocket, and with an attendant carries the body out to the alley, so that no stigma shall be attached to his place. Kate finds out about the suicide and says that Jim must choose between her and the gaming table. Jim refuses, so Kate leaves with her daughter, Helen. Jim is despondent after Kate has gone. The police raid his place, and he is sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Stephen Morey’s wife dies, and gives her son, Frank, his father’s ring, warning him never to gamble. Frank leaves with relatives for the west. In prison Jim takes up religion, under the chaplain’s influence, and Kate writes to him that she will take him back only when he has proved himself to be a man. With the idea of winning his wife back as his prime purpose in life, Jim enters the ministry after his release. The years pass. Jim gets a call to a church in the same city where his wife resides. Frank is cashier of a bank there, and in love with Jim’s daughter. While in the bank to deposit the church funds, Jim meets Frank, sees the ring upon his finger, and knows he is the son of the man who killed himself years ago. Jim also learns that Frank is following in his father’s footsteps, and that the young man is under heavy obligations to a set of gamblers. Jim learns the location of the gambling house, and decides to save the boy as reparation for the past. It is night; Frank has taken the bank’s money in a determination to win back all he has lost. Jim meets him in front of the gambling house, and tries to persuade the boy not to enter. Frank is obdurate, so Jim accompanies him inside to see that he gets a square deal, first removing his ministerial vest. The gamblers win all of Frank’s money again, and Jim, with the old fever back, removes his coat, and gets into the game to win for Frank. He wins back all of the boy’s money. A fight ensues, and Jim escapes with Frank, but forgets his coat. The gamblers find it, and the letters in the pocket disclose the owner. They swear vengeance upon the minister. On the outside, Jim gives Frank the money to square accounts with the bank, and the boy promises to bring his sweetheart to church with him on Sunday. Frank and Helen meet Jim before the Sunday services, and there is a joyful reunion between father and daughter. Jim tells Helen he will accompany her home to see Kate after the services. As Jim preaches from his pulpit, the gamblers enter, and denounce him as a gambler before the congregation, exhibiting the coat as evidence. Helen rushes home and tells Kate she has found her father, but only to learn that he is still a gambler. At these words, Frank breaks his silence, and confesses to Kate how Jim gambled to save him. The elders of the church have a trial, and Jim, in disgrace, is dismissed from the church. As he walks away, a disheartened man, with all hope gone of ever seeing his wife again, he suddenly stares ahead in amazement, for there is Kate with outstretched arms.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 21 October 2022.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 237 : Website-IMDb.
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