|
Jeffrey Hayward is in love with Virginia Embrey,
but Virginia refuses to marry him until her sister Angelica, who is four
years older than she, finds a husband. Frustrated by Virginia's
stipulation, Jeff threatens to marry Angelica himself.
Meanwhile, outside the Embrey estate, Reginald
Irving, a homely billboard painter, is hit by a car while walking along the
road. The injured pedestrian is rushed to the Embreys', where Jeff
decides to fix him up with Angelica. In order to make Reginald more
appealing to the snobbish Angelica, Jeff tells her that Reggie is famous and
pays women admirers to surround Reggie and make him seem important.
The hapless sign painter, bewildered by all the
activity, tries to escape by climbing out of his window, but he is spotted
by Jeff, who tackles him and brings him back. Reggie is soon put in
charge of managing Angelica's eight million dollar estate. Jeff orders
him to stay and continue the hoax until marriage arrangements between him
and Angelica are made firm.
Believing that Reggie will appear more desirable
to Angelica if he is caught having an affair with another woman, Jeff
enlists the help of gossip columnist Polly Hathaway, who agrees to meet
Reggie at a hotel. Knowing that the half-witted Reggie is incapable of
romancing a woman properly, Jeff gives him step-by-step instructions to
seduce his date when he gets to the hotel. Jeff's plan goes awry when
Reggie mistakes the dejected Nita, a friend of the Embreys, who has just had
a quarrel with her husband Frederick, for his date and takes her to the
hotel. On the way to the hotel, Reggie's car stalls on railroad tracks
and is destroyed by a passing train, forcing the couple to hitchhike in the
pouring rain. Drenched, the two arrive at the hotel, while Angelica and
Virginia set out in search of them.
Nita is shocked when Reggie tries to force his
intentions upon her, and she attempts to flee. When Polly arrives at
the hotel, she begins to rehearse Jeff's romancing instructions with Reggie.
While Polly teaches Reggie how to kiss, Jeff arrives and, realizing that
Reggie has bungled the scheme, warns him that Nita's jealous husband is on
his way to kill him. Again, not knowing that it is Polly with whom he
is supposed to be caught, Reggie turns to Leila Crofton, another of
Angelica's friends, and begins making love to her. Virginia and
Angelica burst into the room in the middle of Reggie's attack but, before
they are able to react, Frederick arrives on the scene and pulls a gun on
Reggie. Jeff manages to save Reggie, but when a gunshot rings out,
Polly falls to the floor and is believed to be dead. Everyone flees
from the scene when the police arrive, except for Reggie, who tries to hide
the body. When Polly regains consciousness, she urges Reggie to use Jeff's
lovemaking method on Angelica, and it appears that he and Angelica will
become lovers. |
_01.jpg)
_01.jpg)
