A Beast of Society - Production & Contact Info

A Beast of Society (1916)
Short | Short, Drama

A Beast of Society (1916)

Short | Short, Drama

Better than all else, Jason Foley loves his wife, Cora. Prosperous up to this time, he has indulged her whims, gratified her most extravagant wants. They have one child, Elsie, a girl of six years. Cora, raised by a selfish, ...See moreBetter than all else, Jason Foley loves his wife, Cora. Prosperous up to this time, he has indulged her whims, gratified her most extravagant wants. They have one child, Elsie, a girl of six years. Cora, raised by a selfish, pleasure-loving aunt, has fallen into her ways. The instant Jason attempts to retrench the young wife commences to be dissatisfied. The woman's discontent makes room for the attentions of Giles Luther. Jason's business partner, who is infatuated with her. Luther ruins his partner financially, and Cora is furious. She blames it all on her husband, believing him to be stupid, weak and inefficient. Jason and his wife are forced to move to a small, modest home. Cora is sullen and unresigned to her poverty. Then Luther comes to her and secretly furnishes her with money which the woman, under the vague pretext of being a loan, accepts. Soon after Jason makes the discovery that his one-time partner, Luther, was back of the pool which reduced him to poverty. Suspicion, not only of Luther, but of his wife, grips him. He remembers his wife's hand in urging him into the pool. Jason hastens home: he arrives in time to catch a fleeting glimpse of Giles Luther scurrying away. He breaks into the house in time to catch Cora in a suspicious action, as though she were hiding something. It is the money Luther has left her. Jason demands an explanation, to be shown what it is she is concealing. Refused, he tears her aside and brings the money out. For the first time Cora seems vaguely to realize her position, and the possibility oi losing Jason, and more than all, her child. She pleads for forgiveness, for her child to remain with her, or at least to be allowed to take it. Jason refuses. Luther takes her, but the years that follow are sorrowful, painful for the girl Jason disappears. He moves to another city and assumes another name. Years later finds Elsie, a girl of seventeen, with a wonderful gift for the violin. Jason has plodded along, with poor success financially. Elsie, to assist, has taken up playing in one of the fashionable restaurants. Jason has brought her up to believe her mother dead. Luther finds it necessary to the enlarging of his profession to move to the city where live Jason and his daughter. Time comes when the pair, visiting the fashionable café, see Elsie. Cora is enchanted by the girl's playing, while Luther becomes infatuated with her beauty. Cora makes the girl's acquaintance and finally takes her under her wing as a protégé. Luther takes advantage of this to win the girl's trust and friendship. Too late, Cora is made aware of his real intent, to desert her and secure Elsie for himself. Both Cora and Luther are unaware of the girl's identity. Jason is shocked when his daughter tells him the name of the woman who is interested in her, and he tries to dissuade her from associating with the woman. Jason learns through young Fred Larson, Elsie's sweetheart, that she has accompanied Luther to his studios of an evening after work. Thoroughly aroused, Jason sets out alone to bring his daughter home. Cora has suspected Luther, also. Preceding the above action, the maid has brought to her an odd pin, found upon the floor. Elsie had worn the pin there. Cora recognized it as one which belonged to her husband. Cora hastens to the café where Elsie plays. It is late. Elsie has left. Through one of the waiters she learns that Luther accompanied the girl. She speeds to Luther's studios and intrudes at the moment when it would seem that the man would gain his ends by brute force. In the struggle that follows, Cora kills him. Jason Foley enters on the instant. Elsie goes from Cora's arms to those of her father. The woman looks from the dead body of Luther to Jason, her eyes pleading silence as to who she is. Her arms go out suggestively in longing, and then, shielding her face, she begs Jason to hurry the girl away. Jason understands something of what has happened. He knows that Cora knows her own child. Jason leaves the place with Elsie, and places her in the arms of the boy she loves, a good man. The mother love is too strong, and later Cora again seeks out the girl. There is a suggestion that Cora and Foley will come to an understanding later. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
4 cast members

Name	Known for
Herbert Barrington Jason Foley Jason Foley See fewer	T'Other Dear Charmer (1918)
Douglas Gerrard Giles Luther Giles Luther See fewer	Polly Put the Kettle On (1917)
Louise Vale Cora Foley Cora Foley See fewer	Jane Eyre (1915)
Betty Schade Elsie Foley Elsie Foley See fewer	Bare Fists (1919)