Affairs of Geraldine

When the wealthy Mrs. Cooper passes away, she divides her estate between her sons, Henry and Wayne, and her only daughter, the tomboyish Geraldine. She also leaves a recording for Henry and Wayne, in which she urges them to find a suitable husband for their younger sister, who is obsessed with Cooperville's fire truck. Determined to carry out their mother's last wish, Henry and Wayne bully several young men into attending Gerry's birthday party. Irritated with the brothers' heavy-handed attempts to press her own boyfriend on Gerry, Liza Jane Dennis plays Mrs. Cooper's record at the party. Gerry is aghast to hear her mother's exhortations, as is Willy Briggs, a young baker who loves the oblivious Gerry. Humiliated, Gerry runs away from home, and while riding on a train, confides her problems to a sympathetic stranger named Casper Millhouse. Casper advises Gerry to find a husband on her own to show up the Cooperville residents, and introduces her to Amos Hartwell, the founder of the Lonely Hearts club through which Casper met his fiance, Belle Walker. Gerry asks for Amos' help in obtaining a husband but Amos instead hires her as his secretary and promises that she can have the pick of the new prospects. When Gerry learns that the club operates through correspondence, she suggests staging a dance party for the lonely hearts, and the party is such a success that Gerry is soon organizing a series of gatherings. Gerry's head for business also leads to a national hookup for Amos' "Cupid Speaking" radio show. Despite Gerry's distress that she has not found a husband for herself, Amos convinces her that she is so gifted at helping other people that she should go on the radio show as "Madame L'Amour," a mysterious woman of the world who will dispense advice. Gerry's efforts are again successful, although she slips up when answering a letter from Willy, who discerns the "Madame's" true identity from Gerry's reply. Gerry then meets again with Casper, who is searching for Belle, who disappeared following a brief elopement with, and desertion by, a confidence man. Gerry promises to help Casper and also confesses her attraction to J. Edmund Roberts, a supposedly wealthy Hartwell client. Casper encourages Gerry to pursue Roberts, much to the dismay of Willy, who has arrived in the big city to find Gerry. At a club dance, the blindfolded Gerry is thrilled by a kiss from Willy, but when she faints from the excitement, Roberts claims that he was the bestower of the embrace.