Al Franklin Thomas

The Yellow Arm is a 1921 American silent action serial directed by Bertram Millhauser.

Nora, a girl of the lower East Side of New York City, marries a rising ward politician. A child is born. They are happy, but the young politician is running for office against the old ward boss and has to be out every night. The wife becomes jealous of a certain woman. Nora's child dies. Things get worse for her as jealousy and the seeming neglect of her husband increase. She finally leaves him and becomes a model for a noted painter. The husband finds where she is, but makes no attempt to force her to return to him, though he still loves her. One of the artist's friends, a magnate in the motion picture business, promises her a chance. Her rise to stardom is quick. The climax of the story is a struggle between the old love and the new fame. She does not know that the politician has become a first-class lawyer. Finding that the old love and the new fame are not incompatible, she is reunited with her husband.

Brakeman Jack Foster is the hero of the story. A happily married father of two, his lack of caution while following his dangerous calling is a constant source of worry to his wife and to his close friend conductor Jim Stevens. Jim trying to point out the risks Jack is continually running tells him stories about what leads to a wreck, how the brakeman lost his leg, another man an eye, and how a third man was knocked from the roof of a boxcar when making a coupling. Lesson learned Jack becomes a model of caution and efficiency.

Having made public her disdain for wealthy men, musical comedy actress Elaine Elton is nonetheless ardently pursued by a handsome young millionaire who, for her sake, poses as his own chauffeur. A romance blossoms, but Elaine cannot accept the handsome millionaire's marriage proposal; she has already promised to marry a powerful producer who has threatened to blacklist her from Broadway if she refuses to become his bride.