Remembrance Wall

Title: Damaged Goods

Date: 1915

Distributor: American Film Mfg. Co.

Director: Thomas Ricketts

Cast: Richard Bennett, Adrienne Morrison, Maud Milton, Olive Templeton, Josephine Ditt, Jacqueline Moore, Florence Short, Louis Bennison, John Steppling, William Bertram, George Ferguson, Mrs. Lester, Charlotte Burton.

Summary: Law school graduate George Dupont is seduced a married friend of the family. The experience awakens him sexually. George begins a romance with a seamstress, but his family pushes him into proposing to Henriette Locke, the daughter of a prominent politician. After he becomes a partner in his future father-in-law’s firm, George catches syphilis from a prostitute he bedded after a night of drinking with friends. Despondent, George is about to kill himself when the prostitute comes to him. When she caught syphilis from a well-to-do man, she decided to infect other upper class men until she got help from Dr. Clifford. George sees Dr. Clifford, who warns George not to marry during the two years of treatment. Pressured to marry, George goes to a quack who promises a quick cure. George and Henriette marry and have a child who has syphilis. Henriette leaves and George walks into the sea.

Notes: Some scenes were shot in a Los Angeles hospital, showing actual syphilis patients.