A Wife by Proxy

A Wife by Proxy

50 mins | Drama | Jan. 6, 1917

The film opens in Ireland, as a dying Patrick McNairne tells his daughter Jerry to go to New York and look up Norton Burbeck, a wealthy young man whose life Patrick had saved some time earlier (the surviving print, largely complete, lacks the second page insert of a letter explaining the full background). The affable Burbeck is due to inherit his uncle’s fortune provided he’s married by November; if not, the inheritance will go to his cousin Howard Curtis. An adventuress, Beatrice Gaden, and her husband Dick are in cahoots with Curtis: Beatrice pretends to be single in order to string Norton along up to the November date, at which time Curtis will come into the money and give a share to his unscrupulous partners.

A Wife by Proxy

50 mins | Drama | Jan. 6, 1917

A Wife by Proxy
The film opens in Ireland, as a dying Patrick McNairne tells his daughter Jerry to go to New York and look up Norton Burbeck, a wealthy young man whose life Patrick had saved some time earlier (the surviving print, largely complete, lacks the second page insert of a letter explaining the full background). The affable Burbeck is due to inherit his uncle’s fortune provided he’s married by November; if not, the inheritance will go to his cousin Howard Curtis. An adventuress, Beatrice Gaden, and her husband Dick are in cahoots with Curtis: Beatrice pretends to be single in order to string Norton along up to the November date, at which time Curtis will come into the money and give a share to his unscrupulous partners.
Producers Columbia Pictures
Original title A Wife by Proxy
Directors John Collins
Writers John B. Clymer, Charles Logue, June Mathis

Cast

Mabel Taliaferro

as Jerry McNairne

Robert Walker

as Norton Burbeck

Sally Crute

as Beatrice Gaden

Fred Jones

as Frederick Gaden

Yale Benner

as Howard Curtis

George D. Melville

as Timothy McNairn

Ricca Allen

as Scraggs (housekeeper)

Jerome N. Wilson

as Guyler (Burbeck's lawyer)

Edward Mack

as Flynn (the butler)