David Garrick (1916)

In mid-eighteenth century London, actor David Garrick, who is bringing about the acceptance of the stage among the aristocracy, falls in love for the first time with a woman watching him play "Romeo" at the Drury Lane Theatre. He fails to learn her identity, and, after searching for weeks, despairs of finding her. Soon after, Simon Ingot, a wealthy tradesman, offers Garrick money to leave England, because his daughter Ada has fallen in love with the actor. Garrick refuses the money, and after giving his word as an actor that he will not marry any man's daughter unless her father asks with hat in hand, offers to cure Ada's fascination at a dinner party. Although Garrick discovers that Ada is the woman whom he loves, he honors his promise and behaves like a drunkard until she orders him to leave. When the story is told in a tavern, Ada's rejected suitor, dissolute Squire Richard Chivy, hears it and then tells Ada while he is half-intoxicated. Ada visits Garrick in his rooms where Ingot finds her, but after he realizes Garrick's true character, he consents to their marriage.