Will E. Sheerer

20 two reels episodic dramatic serial now lost. (1) Liquor and the Law (1915); (2) The Tenement House Evil (1915); (3) The Traction Grab (1915); (4) The Power of the People (1916); (5) Grinding Life Down (1916); (6) The Railroad Monopoly (1916); (7) America Saved from War (1916); (8) Old King Coal (1916); (9) The Insurance Swindlers (1916); (10) The Harbor Transportation Trust (1916); (11) The Illegal Bucket Shops (1916); (12) The Milk Battle (1916); (13) The Powder Trust and the War (1916); (14) The Iron Ring (1916); (15) The Patent Medicine Danger (1916); (16) The Pirates of Finance (1916); (17) Queen of the Prophets (1916); (18) The Hidden City of Crime (1916); (19) The Photo Badger Game (1916); and (20) The Final Conquest (1916).

The Girl Stage Driver plays like a one-reeler stretched into two. When the stagecoach driver is murdered by the El Paso Kid and his sidekick, Ruth takes up her father’s reins. On the road, she too fall preys to the bandits, who steal the stage’s gold cargo. The sheriff, Ruth’s sweetheart, rescues her, but he is taken captive by the desperados. The plucky Ruth rescues him once, and then again. Finally, with the help of a posse, the badmen are rounded up for good. Motion Picture News complained that the plot has “a little too much escaping and recapturing” but praised the Arizona settings.

A girl is given an electrical charge, which causes metal objects to be attracted to her.

Johnson, a pharmacist, makes an illicit traffic in cocaine and morphine, which he cleverly sells through his drug counter to a select clientele. In his richly furnished office, the head of the Kurson Chemical Company counts the receipts of Kurson Consumption Cure, a patented drug that contains a large amount of morphine.

John Sprague, a promising young minister, wins the love and hand of a simple country girl, Margaret. Her father does not view the match favorably because of Sprague's rather advanced ideas on social relations and pleasure. He had earlier encouraged an amateur theatrical performance in which Margaret had made a success as Juliet.

Billiard nut Michael McCue arrives home intoxicated where his wife greets him with a shower of knives, forks and plates, which he skillfully dodges before she slams the door on him. He nods off on the hall sofa into a most beautiful if fantastical dream. He is back in the billiard parlor with his trusty cue and the pair go through some mad adventures until he is awoken by his wife, sorry for her harsh treatment.

A lost film. "The Beaten Path" was a 3-reel 3000-foot film produced by the Eclair company in the United States. The film was directed by O.A.C. Lund, and starred Barbara Tennant, O.A.C. Lund, Alec B. Francis, Julia Stuart, Will E. Sheerer. It premiered in August of 1913. Plot summary from "Moving Picture World", August 23, 1913: "This three-reel picture has many big situations in it. In the cast are some of the company's best players: Alec Francis, Julia Stuart, Barbara Tennant, Will Sherer, O.A.C. Lund, Hector Dion, and others. The story is of a family feud between two families, the heads of which quarrel over a boundary line. The main scenes are laid about large mansions, but there are others in an atmosphere of the Northwest, in primitive surroundings. "The Beaten Path" is a real feature."

An orphan in early 19th century England escapes the poorhouse only to fall among a gang of pickpockets in London.