Reel Life (1914-1915)

Six REEL LIFE THE GANGSTERS OF NEW YORK A CAST NOW CONTINENTAL Porkey Dugan . . ...H. B. Walthall ON BROADWAY FEATURE FILM Biff Dugan (his elder brother) . NEW YORK Jimmie Dugan (his kid brother) .. . . . . Master O. Child lessie Dugan (his sister) . Hennessy (the district leader) . Cora Drew . Billy Drew (her brother) . Henry Davis (the reformer) . Spike Golden (a rival gangster) . . . Mrs. Murphy (a neighbor) . . Miss B. Craig Spot the Spy . LIFE in the crowded East Side of the Metropolis and < the great need for relief of the overcongestion is faithfully depicted in this photodrama, which is being shown as a theatrical attraction at Weber’s Thea¬ tre, Broadway and Thirty-first St., New York City. A secondary truth which this motion picture tells in a forcible way is that capital punish¬ ment, far from destroying the in¬ centive to crime, really serves to in¬ flame the criminally inclined. In a crowded tenement in the lower East Side lives the Dugan family. The older brother, Biff, is the leader of the Dugan gang, of which the younger brother, Porkey, is a member. The sister Jess, a by-product of sweatshop slavery, although emaciated in body, has sufficient strength of char¬ acter to disapprove of her brothers’ means of earning a living. Fresh from the country, Billy Drew and Cora Drew come to the city. They have letters of introduc¬ tion to Henry Davis, a practical re¬ former, who conducts a home. While they are talking to Davis the members of the Dugan gang decide to amuse themselves by rough¬ housing the mission. They enter on mischief bent. The police, scenting trouble, rush to aid Davis, who dis¬ misses them without entering a complaint against the roisterers. The Drews settle down across the hall from the Du¬ gans. Cora meets Porkey and is attracted to him, but refuses to have anything to do with him because she realizes he is a gangster. The Dugan gang has for its rival the Golden gang, headed by Spike Golden. Spike annoys Cora, who is rescued by Porkey. Both the Dugan gang and the Golden gang are plan¬ ning to hold balls. Selling tickets for the so-called balls by intimidation is a scheme frequently used by gang¬ sters to raise money. Both the gangs try to sell tickets to the same storekeeper. The Golden gang, which comes first, sells several tickets. All this time the malign influ¬ ence of the gangsters is working on the country boy who finally joins the gang after he has been taken home intoxicated. His sister, Cora, is ill, and is tended by Jess Dugan. When the second gang comes to sell their tickets to the merchant, the police rush in and all are arrested, in¬ cluding the country youth, who gets thirty days. The Spike Golden gang holds its dance, a typical East Side affair. Poorly dressed couples jostle each other in a little smoke-filled room in the throes of what takes the place of the turkey trot and tango on the East Side. Biff and his gang hear of the dance, and decide to get re¬ venge by breaking it up. Arming themselves with revolv¬ ers, they descend upon the dance. A gang fight follows. The gunmen hiding behind buildings and tele¬ phone poles shoot at each other. Golden’s gang is defeated. Golden swears revenge. When the gangs meet again the fight continues, and Golden is killed. Biff happens along, and is arrested by the police. A revolver purposely placed to “frame him up” by members of the Golden gang acts as testimony, and Biff is sent to the electric chair. Porkey, when released after a short term, swears revenge for his broth¬ er’s life. He finds that while he was in jail, his sister, Jess, has died from the sweatshop conditions, under which she worked, and that Cora Drew, disgusted with city condi¬ tions, has returned to the country. Porkey returns to his gang, and they round up one of the rival gang¬ sters, whom they believe is respon¬ sible for the perjured testimony against Biff. The other gangsters hold the suspected man in a little room and send for Porkey to come and kill him. The suspense is very tense, as Porkey is summoned. The messenger delivers to him a big knife to use as a weapon. Porkey starts after the perjurer, but the influence of Cora and the re¬ former affects him. When he comes face to face with the enemy, he dismisses the other gangsters, saying that the two will fight it out face to face in a locked room. There he purposely permits the other to escape after the gang has left the pair alone for what they supposed would be a fight to the death. A year afterward Porkey is a changed man. He and Cora are living in the country, driving the cows home at the close of day. The gangster has forever deserted his old companions and environment for a wholesome life. In many ways, “The Gangsters of New York” is an unusual photodrama. Its theme and setting make it worthy of attention, and it shows, unusually vividly, the evils of over-population.