Show People (1928)

I needed a laugh last night and I got a hundred. I watched Show People: a silent film spoofing the making of silent films and the phony stars who star in them—one of the funniest movies, silent or sound, that I’ve ever seen.

Within the Law (1923)

The law today is the rich man’s law. The courts are the rich man’s courts. Lawyers speak not of courts of justice, but of courts of law, and this law can be twisted by hirelings schooled in deft evasion for the service of any rogue who is able to pay the lawyer’s price. This system becomes the rich man’s tool.


With a little tweaking, these could be the words of a current New York Times columnist. But they’re not. They’re part of a fictional op-ed; part of a script. When Mary Turner reads these words in a magazine, she’s inspired by them. If men can get rich on the backs of others, all within the letter of the law, then so can she.