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The Country Mouse Synopsis

When Billy Balderson and his two cronies, Charlie and Ed, get together on Bill's porch to discuss the high-handed ways in which the railroad is putting it over on the farmers, cross-roads politics develop a latent spring of eloquence, and poor, dowdy little Addie, Billy's wife, thinks that her husband is the most wonderful orator she ever heard. A few days later they dress-up in their second best and go to a meeting on the Common, where George Marshall, suave, well-dressed and condescending, explains to the voters that the railroad is their only hope of salvation and that in the approaching election they should vote for representatives who will support that institution. Billy questions Marshall. The crowd is with Billy, and almost before he knows it he is on the platform, annihilating Marshall's argument in a rousing speech. Between excitement and pride Addie is reduced almost to hysterics, and when Charlie, seizing the psychological moment, nominates Billy for the Legislature, she is nearly overcome. The most exciting days of her hard-working, colorless life follow, culminating in the fete day when Billy entertains all the townsmen at their farm to celebrate his election. With their arrival at the State Capitol a new era begins, and Addie soon learns that the years of drudgery and plain living on the farm are poor preparation for coping with the political circle of the State Capitol. Shy and bewildered, and lacking the poise that a sense of his position gives Billy, she quickly finds herself outstripped by him in adapting themselves to the changed conditions of their lives. Addie can only look nervously about and wish she was at home; as she and Billy attend their first reception and she notices the covert laughter of the people about them. Two persons notice them particularly, George Marshall, the speaker Billy answered during the campaign, and his wife, Myrtle. As Billy is recognized as a coming man, and his vote will be needed on an impending railroad bill, Marshall quietly gives his instructions to Myrtle, then recalls himself to Billy, and tries to put him and the embarrassed Addie at their ease. Taken up by the Marshalls, Billy makes rapid progress in the social life of the capitol, but only until Addie learns that Mrs. Marshall is monopolizing her Billy's time, and that she herself is looked upon by the women of the political circle as a poor little frump with no spirit. With a blank signed check from Billy, she calls in the services of Mme. Pauline, proprietor of a beauty parlor, and the result is so astoundingly transforming that she can hardly believe her eyes. She passes Billy on the street and he does not know her, though the thought flashes through his mind that his little country mouse of a wife might have looked like that. When he reaches home, there is Addle, still the little, dowdy country mouse, who seems to shrink from the very thought of the reception and ball to which they are invited, and who later sees him off to it with an air of relief. The relief at least is not feigned, for it has been hard work to keep Mme. Pauline and her maid quiet in the kitchen, while she gets Billy out of the way. The transformation takes place quickly, and the country mouse appears at the ball as a wonderfully charming and brilliant woman. Marshall is distinctly impressed, and so ardently seized the opportunity of persuading Addie to influence Billy's vote on the railroad bill, that Billy is furiously jealous. The denouement is cleverly turned to a comedy finish and the play closes happily as Addie begins to teach her husband the tango.

Help Wanted Synopsis

Mrs. Helen Barker, mother of son Jack, is married to Jerrold Scott. When Jack finishes college he returns home and is made a partner of his stepfather in the firm of Scott and Son, and at Scott's request he adopts his stepfather's surname. Scott and Son's reception room is full of girls waiting in answer to an advertisement for a stenographer. One pretty girl opens the wrong door and enters the room where Jack is waiting for his father. She and Jack get into conversation and she tells him of her troubles in finding a position; he tells her that it is his first day in business. Scott, entering, greets his son and shows him the sign on the door including him in the firm. Jack tells him that the girl is Gertie Meyer, who is looking for a position and who came to the wrong door. She is sent to the waiting room and Jack is taken to the auditing department to get his first training. The bookkeeper, Crane, who has been with the firm 20 years, and knows Scott's requirements for a secretary, selects those who are competent but lacking in physical charms, and sends them in for interview. One of these is Miss Wiggins, but she is too clever and is sent out to interview Crane. He retains her for some extra work on his own account. Scott, coming to the door, selects Gertie and dismisses the others. He asks her many personal questions, but nothing about her efficiency, and accepts her at a higher salary than she asked of him. Gertie, delighted with her position, begs her mother to leave the laundry where she is working, and brings her two small brothers home from the orphan asylum. All goes well the first week, except that with the first dictation Gertie makes a hopeless failure of the letters, and when she cries over her failure, Scott, in a fatherly way, puts his arms around her, and tells her that it was a difficult letter, and he will straighten it out. When he goes out, and while Gertie is making the corrections, Miss Wiggins slips into the private office and warns Gertie about Scott, tells her just what to expect, and asks her if he has taken her to luncheon yet. Gertie resents this and warmly defends her benefactor. When Scott returns and learns that Gertie has no money to pay for her luncheon, he persuades her to go to a restaurant and lunch with him. She dissents, but finally goes. She is awed by the fashionable people, the music, and the odd names on the menu. She refuses to have a cocktail, but Scott drinks. Seeing Paul Montgomery, his daughter's fiancé, in the restaurant, he feigns sudden illness to avoid speaking to him, gives Gertie a $10 bill and tells her he must rush off to meet an engagement and for her to pay for the meal. By the end of the first month at her position, Gertie has often dined with her employer, but her sense of propriety never ceases to be outraged by his amorous demonstrations. In the meantime, Jack Scott, who has had a growing interest in her since the morning she applied for the position, declares his love for her. and asks her to marry him. In her perplexity, Gertie goes to the Y.W.C.A. to call upon Miss Wiggins, who tells her to marry Jack if he really loves her, and receive no more attentions from the father. Gertie resolves to do this, even though she lose her position. The next day Scott asks Gertie to remain at the office in the evening, to do some work for him. Jack, not seeing Gertie leave the office, secretly waits for her. When the other employees are gone, Scott locks the door, seizes Gertie in his arms, and declares his love for her. In the struggle which follows, Gertie screams for help. Jack smashes through the door and defends the girl. Scott does not know of their love, and orders Jack out. In the excitement Gertie slips out. Jack, not knowing her address, hires detectives to locate her. Gertie, arriving home, is denounced by her mother for bringing the family to poverty again, and threatens to go to Scott's house herself and take a lawyer with her. Gertie goes out to a telephone and calls Jack, and at his request meets him at his home. Together they wait for his mother and sister, but when they come they do not receive Gertie with open arms. Scott and his lawyer Stuart are in the library discussing the affair when the butler gives away the fact that Jack and his fiancée are in the house with Mrs. Scott. Mrs. Meyers, enraged that detectives should be sent to her house, and fearing that the Scott millions have led away her little girl, bursts in and denounces Scott in her broken German-English. Stuart is authorized to provide financial aid for the Meyer family, and when Scott learns that Jack has not told the whole story to Mrs. Scott, he forgives everything, thanks his lucky stars that his wife does not know his perfidy, and accepts the situation in a truly happy way.