Daniel Gilfether

Who Pays? was a series of twelve three-reel dramas, released between March and July 1915. Henry King and Ruth Roland starred in each episode, playing different roles each time, with a variety of supporting players who varied from one episode to another. Each episode told a complete and individual story, but they were all inter-related by a uniform theme. Although there were no cliff-hanger endings, each episode did, in fact, end with a challenge to the audience: Who was responsible for the misfortune of the principal characters? The titles of the twelve episodes were: #1: The Price of Fame; #2: The Pursuit of Pleasure; #3: When Justice Sleeps; #4: The Love Liar; #5: Unto Herself Alone; #6: Houses of Glass; #7: Blue Blood and Yellow; #8: Today and Tomorrow; #9: For the Commonwealth; #10: Pomp of Earth; #11: The Fruit of Folly; #12: Toil and Tyranny.

Harry Wentworth is the profligate son of a ranch owner. His father is tired of Harry's irresponsible drinking and gambling and banishes him from home. Harry becomes a sailor, but right away gets in trouble with the captain. The hard work does him good, however, and when he feels he's had enough of the captain's brutality, he escapes overboard with a couple of friends, whom he takes to his father's ranch. Back home he discovers that his father is in danger of losing his ranch to scheming lawyer Jim Martin. Martin is in love with Ethel Crandall, the sister of gambler Ralph Crandall.

Joyce Tolliver, whose nickname is Muggsy, plays baseball, fights and swears with boys, and is severely punished by her elders. When she grows up, she is disguised as a boy, and sent to live with a wealthy old uncle, Leslie Bolton, who hates women. Her ruse works perfectly until she falls in love. When Bolton e discovers that his supposed nephew is really his niece, he orders her out, but after he realizes that he cannot get along without her, he sends for her to return.

Shouts of joy and the clapping of many tiny hands welcomed the arrival of the big birthday cake. For this was Little Mary's birthday. To celebrate all Mary's little friends had been invited and the big event which preceded the supper and the cutting of the cake was a performance of Cinderella and the affair of the glass slipper. Little Mary forgot to leave at the hour of 12, and when she was called away by the fairy she dropped her glass slipper on the stair. Of course, to every one's amazement, when the Prince went looking for the owner of the slipper, the only one whom it fitted was Little Mary.

Jilted on her wedding day, Maud Wainwright becomes a confirmed man-hater. Homesteading in the Southwest, she ignores the attentions of both bandit "Three Gun Smith" and Sheriff Steve Kennedy. When Smith's gang accidentally knocks over Maud's cabin, the men take her to Smith's cabin while they rebuild her dwelling. There, Maud discovers a mail pouch and believing that it was stolen by Smith, reports him to the sheriff, who persuades her to assist him in arresting the bandit. After Smith is captured, Maud discovers papers that prove he is actually a secret service agent and that the sheriff is the real bandit. Riding to Smith's rescue, Maud prevents him from being lynched at the hands of vigilantes and then proclaims her love for him.

Rich young playboy Gregory Kirkland reads a newspaper story about a daring robbery, and bets his friends that he can steal a famous diamond tiara, The Sultana, from its designer and then secretly return it without being caught. Robert Sautrelle, who designed the tiara, visits Kirkland's home, and Gregory does indeed steal it. However, he gets cold feet before he returns it and convinces a woman he knows, Virginia Lowndes, to return it. Unfortunately, things don't work out exactly as Gregory had planned.

In March 1916, Pathé released a short feature entitled Little Mary Sunshine, starring a four-year-old Marie Osborne. This was one of the first features ever directed by King and it was so successful that Pathé asked the original production company, Balboa, for five more features with the same child wonder. All were produced during the second half of 1916, and only three of them survive today – one being Twin Kiddies, which shows the amazing progress King had made since the first film in the series. Of course, the story is thin, the ending quite abrupt, and the opening sequences rather long. Yet, the direction is much more subtle, alternating between shots of different size, suggesting that King was mastering the art of composition.

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Little Nan Griffing whiles away the hours on her parents' farm with Simple Simon Magee, an adult with the mind of a child. While rummaging through the attic one day, Nan discovers a costume that was worn by her mother Ethel when she was on the stage and begs to be taught to dance. Ethel complies, but the lessons are soon interrupted by several horrified members of the local church society.

Alice, a little newsgirl known as "Sticks", spends her time fighting for her territory against a lot of tough kids.

Myrtle Gross escapes her abusive, alcoholic husband, Jim, taking their baby to Alaska with money and a ticket stolen from Tom Winters. She builds a new life, but years later, her past resurfaces when Jim, having traced her, arrives to confront her, threatening her new existence.

Erma Desmond leaves her uncle and aunt to visit a friend, Phyllis, in the city. There, she finds work as the companion to the highly temperamental Mrs. Stanley. Mrs. Stanley has terrorized her husband to such an extent that he has gone away for a few months, purportedly to take their daughter to school, but mainly to get some peace. The servants, however, are still victims of her terrible fits until the day she decides to head for Reno to get a divorce.

Through negotiations with the neighboring monarch, the King of Zollenstein arranges for his son to marry the Princess of Saxonia, but later discovers that the prince already has wed Lady Maulfrey Le Fay in secret.