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  • The Return of John Boston (1916)
  • Short | Short, Drama
The Return of John Boston (1916)
Short | Short, Drama
Gordon Edwards is an unsuccessful writer, until a friend suggests a solution; use a nom-de-plume, for when editors see his name on a script they immediately return it without reading it. So he sends, under the name of John Boston, another ...See moreGordon Edwards is an unsuccessful writer, until a friend suggests a solution; use a nom-de-plume, for when editors see his name on a script they immediately return it without reading it. So he sends, under the name of John Boston, another script, and this is purchased. Under the name of John Boston, he does extremely well. One day crossing the ferry, he sees a man about to commit suicide, stops him, finds he is a clerk out of work by the name of Williams, takes him to his home, and makes him his secretary. Williams, who has been sworn to secrecy as to the identity of John Boston, really knows more of the business affairs of John Boston, than does Gordon Edwards, the real "John Boston." As Boston's fame increases, the publishers send him an invitation to a fashionable reception, and urges him to accept it. Hating society, Gordon Edwards coerces Williams into impersonating John Boston. John Boston, in the person of Williams, is a social hit. He meets and becomes attracted to Edith Bates, and upon Miss Bates telling him she was leaving to spend the summer at Coronado, Williams suggests to his employer Edwards, that they also visit the resort. There Edwards meets informally a girl, whose hobby is painting, who gives her name as Mirian Lee, but who is really Edith Bates. A love affair develops, and Edwards proposes. She puts off her answer until the next day. That night when she gets back to her hotel, where Williams is waiting with her father and mother. Her father receives a telegram calling them back to the city and she is forced to leave without seeing Edwards. From the city, she writes Edwards a note, telling him how it occurred, but Edwards, after a vain search for "Miriam Lee," leaves also for the city, and Edith's letter is returned to her. Meeting a friend who is going to the war as a correspondent Edwards decides to go with him, instructing Williams, his secretary, to attend to the social duties of "John Boston." On the battlefield, Edwards is wounded and left for dead. Reports of his death are published in the papers and Edith Bates reads them and is nearly broken-hearted, but Williams, as John Boston, makes a rapid-fire courtship and Edith, strongly urged by her mother, and believing Edwards dead, accepts. On the day on which they are to be married. Edwards, who has been picked up and nursed back to health, arrives in America and stops at a bank to cash a check. They inform him he has not enough balance to meet the check. Remembering having had fifteen thousand in the bank, he realizes something is wrong. He investigates and finds that Williams has taken the money. He is shown a newspaper by the cashier announcing the marriage of John Boston and Edith Bates to take place that afternoon. Realizing his secretary's duplicity, he resolves to stop his marriage to the girl, whom, of course, he does not imagine could be Miriam Lee. He arrives at the house as the couple are at the altar. He faces Williams, and the latter breaks down. Then Edwards turns and sees "Miriam Lee" before him. She is holding out her arms to him, and. realizing that she believed him dead and that she still loves him, they are in each other's arms as the picture fades. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less
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Director
Jack Byrne
Writers
James Douglass (scenario) | Millard K. Wilson (scenario)
Producer
Siegmund Lubin (producer)
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Status
Edit Released
Updated Jun 29, 1916
Release date
Jun 29, 1916 (United States)

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