The cynical wit of screenwriter Anita Loos winds through what is both a dramatic and satirical silent feature. Rose Eastman (Bessie Love) runs a little shop in a town where most people are working for publisher James Stevens (Carl Stockdale). One of his employees is Rose's uncle, known as "Lazy Joe" (Max Davidson), who has some odd notion that he is a downtrodden laborer. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the influence of a socialist writer, Rudolph Creig (George Beranger), who happens to be in love with Rose. Rose, who is pretty fired up over working-man's rights herself, falls in love with Jack Stevens (Roy Stewart), not realizing that he's the rich publisher's son. Through his laziness, Uncle Joe starts a fire at work and is jailed, and Rose demands that he be released. The publisher takes a paternal interest in Lola (Tina Rossi), a child Rose has been nursing, but Rudolph believes that some sort of exploitation must be involved. By the end of the film all is resolved -- Uncle Joe is given a position where he won't be causing any fires, Rudolph gets a nice advance from the publisher, who has bought his book, and Rose finds that having a wealthy fiancé is not such a bad thing after all.
by Janiss Garza
synopsis
