Pay Day (1918)

Metro comedians Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew, after reading over an assortment of scenarios, decide to film a melodrama entitled Pay-Day , in which Sidney plays the role of the dapper but evil Kirke Brentwood. Although Kirke is wealthy, he forces Doris Fenton, the poor working girl who hopes to marry him, to steal for him, and while she serves time for the crime, he blithely marries another woman, Isabel. Upon Doris' release, she returns to Kirke just as he is strangling Isabel, and his accusation sends Doris to prison for life. After five years, she escapes and confronts Kirke, who has married yet another woman, Ruth. Softening, Doris suggests that they forget the past, but after kissing him, she reveals that she has leprosy and that they must both spend the rest of their days together in a leper colony. Back in their office, the Drews are informed by Metro president Richard A. Rowland that the film would be a huge financial success and should be produced.