The Great Adventure (1918)

Ragna Jansen, affectionately called "Rags" by her high school chums in Middletown, is assured that she will win instant fame and fortune on Broadway, but when she and her aunt arrive in New York, they find that success does not come so easily. Billy Blake, who is an understudy for Sheen, the leading man in a Broadway show, takes an interest in Rags and helps her to secure a position in the chorus. When Sheen and his wife, the leading lady, quarrel, the wife quits the show and Rags is given the part. She captivates the audience and attracts the leading man, but Billy and actress Hazel Lee, aware of the shallowness of Sheen's character, conspire to prevent the romance. Rags, however, witnesses Sheen's foolishness herself. On a canoeing jaunt, Sheen's inability to swim leads to his public humiliation when Rags, in an impulsive publicity stunt, throws herself in the water, only to find herself forced to rescue the drowning actor. Sheen, disgusted, leaves the show, and Billy wins the leading role as well as Rags's heart.