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Just
before Christmas, the editor of the Morgan's Creek newspaper anxiously
calls Governor McGinty to announce some astonishing news. Although
McGinty is impatient, the editor begins to relate a long-winded story.
After reading an editorial in the Morgan's
Creek newspaper on sudden war marriages, grumpy town policeman Officer
Kockenlocker forbids his nearly adult daughter Trudy from attending a
farewell dance for soldiers. Trudy, convinced that dating soldiers
fulfills her patriotic duty, rebels and pretends that her childhood
friend, homely, stuttering Norval Jones, whose enlistment has been
rejected because of his high blood pressure, is taking her out to the
movies. While Trudy attends the dance, Norval reluctantly sits
through three features at the movie theater. Trudy, meanwhile,
drinks champagne and dances with soldier after soldier. While
dancing the jitterbug at one point, Trudy is knocked on the head by a
chandelier. When she finally picks up Norval at eight in the
morning, she does not remember where she has been, and Norval takes the
brunt of her father's anger.
Later, while talking with her
fourteen-year-old sister Emmy, Trudy vaguely recalls using an assumed
name and marrying someone the night before. Her suspicions are
confirmed by the wedding band she now wears. Some time later,
Trudy's worst fears are realized when she learns that she is pregnant.
Still
completely unaware of the identity of her husband, Trudy consults with
lawyer E. L. Johnson, who says that her marriage is legal, even though
she used an assumed name and has no idea who the groom was.
Although she previously spurned Norval's awkward romantic advances,
Trudy now encourages him, and Norval, who has been devoted to Trudy
since childhood, is stunned by her sudden change of heart.
However, Trudy's conscience will not allow her to deceive earnest Norval,
and she confesses her predicament to him.
Trudy then sincerely falls in love with
Norval, but refuses to marry him as it would constitute bigamy.
Kockenlocker, however, is unaware of his daughter's situation and
intimidates Norval into the marriage, as the town is already gossiping
about Trudy.
Hoping she can obtain a new marriage license
with the name of her first husband on it in order to get a divorce and
then marry Norval, Trudy sneaks away with Norval. At the Honeymoon
Hotel, twenty-five miles from Morgan's Creek, Trudy registers under her
real name, and Norval, wearing a World War I cavalry uniform, uses the
name Ratzkiwatzki, which Trudy believes is her first husband's name.
After the hasty ceremony is performed by the proprietor, however, Norval
signs his real name to the license, and Woodson accuses him of having
abducted Trudy, who is a minor, and impersonating an officer.
Norval and Trudy are brought home by a bevy
of police, who have brought nineteen charges against Norval, and refuse
to listen to Trudy's explanation. Kockenlocker is forced to
imprison Norval and, as a gesture of kindness, Woodson tears up the
marriage certificate. Kockenlocker realizes that this was a
mistake, however, when Trudy admits that she is pregnant.
Kockenlocker
then encourages Norval to escape, but he is too honest and refuses until
Kockenlocker forcibly removes him from jail. Norval then slips
into the bank where he works and takes $900 from his account, intending
to search for Ratzkiwatzki. Norval escapes in Kockenlocker's car
after he sets off the alarm, and Emmy and Trudy tie up their father and
knock him out to mitigate his involvement in the break-in.
Having brought McGinty up to date, the
editor finally reveals that Norval, who is still considered an escaped
prisoner and bank robber, has returned from his unsuccessful trek
searching for Trudy's husband, and was picked up by police after
discovering that Kockenlocker was fired and moved out of town six months
earlier.
Trudy learns of Norval's return and insists
on returning to Morgan's Creek to publicly state the truth, but her
speech is preempted when she goes into labor and gives birth to
sextuplets, thereby making national headlines. McGinty drops all
charges against Norval, arranges for Trudy's first marriage to be
annulled, and insists that she has been married to Norval all along.
The effects of the birth of sextuplets are felt around the world, and
Norval himself becomes hysterical when he learns how many children will
bear his name. |
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