The Trick that Failed 1909

Directed by D.W. Griffith

Nellie is a struggling artist whose paintings lie unsold. Billy, a successful painter, loves her, but she tells him that she cannot marry until she sells her paintings. Billy recruits his friends to buy her paintings. At first she is excited by the sudden success, but when she learns the truth, Nellie leaves her sweetheart to accept the proposal of a rival painter.