The Peril of the Dance Hall (1913)

• 75%
• 1913
• Drama
• Guy Coombs
• Alice Hollister
• Hal Clements

After the death of his wife Pablo Florenti, an Italian, takes his little daughter, Pepita, and embarks for America, where he secures employment as a common laborer. Reaching young womanhood, Pepita becomes a typical American girl and is a source of joy to her father. One morning the old man meets with an accident while on his way to work and is assisted to his home by Ralph, a young motor-cyclist policeman. Ralph thus makes the acquaintance of Pepita. Pepita has refused several invitations to visit a public dance hall, knowing her father's objections. Her acquaintance with the honest police officer causes her to temporarily forget the affair, but there comes a day when her girlfriends prevail upon her to accompany them to the hall. That night she informs her father of her purpose, and when he protests she upbraids him and flounces from the room. As the evening progresses, Pablo is unable to shake off his apprehensions, and he makes his way to the dance hall. When the odd character appears in the hall he is made the subject of derision and his anxious inquiries for Pepita are met with ridicule. Suddenly he hears a voice and breaking away from his tormentors he seizes his daughter. The place is suddenly clothed in darkness, when the officers of the law arrive to close the hall. Shots are fired, only the flashes indicating the turmoil. When the lights are turned on it is found that Pablo is seriously wounded. When, later, Pepita realizes the consequences of her conduct, she makes her old father happy by promising never to go to such a place again, and still happier by pledging her troth to the young policeman.