The Helpful (?) Sisterhood (1914)

• 55%
• 1914
• Drama
• Van Dyke Brooke
• Norma Talmadge
• Mary Maurice
• Mary Weirman

Mary, a poor but well-born girl, is invited to join a sorority club in the high school she attends, while her chum, Sophie, is ignored. Mary is flattered by the attention, accepts the invitation and gradually drifts away from her former friends. The spirit of snobbishness and unrest enters her life, and in her attempt to keep up with her richer companions, who are purse-proud and pretentious, she changes from a lovable girl into a discontented one. A sorority dance is arranged and Mary, unable to pay the assessment for the dance, steals the amount from one of the members of the club, in order to keep up with her new associates. The other members are so self-centered they do not realize the influence of their false pretenses and mistaken ideas of true worth. They are entirely unaware of the demoralizing effects of their example. Having taken the first step, Mary is still further tempted when she finds a new gown for the dance to be an impossibility. While shopping with a club member, she steals a pair of stockings and a roll of silk. A house detective sees her commit the theft, taking the two terrified girls into the manager's office. The silent partner of the firm is the father of the girl from whom Mary has first stolen. He investigates Mary's actions by gentle questions. She breaks down and sobbingly confesses that she did not wish the girls of the sorority to be ashamed of her. The father understands the situation. He takes the two girls with him to the sorority rooms, where he explains Mary's temptations and their false notions of the real standards of life, also explaining that character is the only criterion of personal superiority. The girls are convinced of their error, forgive Mary and dissolve the sorority. Mary once more becomes a normal sweet girl with wholesome surroundings.