Summary
In a whirligig of fate mirroring the era's economic anxieties, ne'er-do-well philosopher Johnny Rutledge embodies his self-penned manifesto 'Taking it Easy, or Everything Comes to Him Who Waits' until destitution strikes. His quixotic chivalry compels him to surrender his final ten dollars to struggling wordsmith Anne Travers, triggering his eviction. Exiled from bourgeois comfort by a stern paterfamilias demanding $5,000 self-earned, Johnny tumbles into the ragtag orbit of a traveling medicine show peddling false hope. Meanwhile, Anne's mounting frustration with Johnny's inertia renders her vulnerable to a silver-tongued grifter who uncovers her peculiar inheritance clause: a fortune awaits if wed by deadline. The con artist metamorphoses into a literary luminary to seduce her. When tardy intelligence of Anne's nuptials reaches Johnny, dormant vigor erupts—grand theft auto, clerical impersonation, and a breakneck dash culminate in a ceremony-shattering entrance. Fraud exposed, Johnny claims bride and bounty alike, hurtling to his father's lawyer with the windfall. Advised once more to 'take it easy,' the reformed idler retorts with kinetic finality: 'There ain't no such word.'
Synopsis
Aspiring author Johnny Rutledge, whose philosophy for business and love is embodied in his book entitled, "Taking it Easy, or Everything Comes to Him Who Waits," is evicted after he gives his last $10 to Anne Travers, another would-be author, so that she can pay her rent. Johnny joins a medicine show and attempts to comply with his wealthy father's demand that he earn $5,000 before he receives any more family money, while Anne, upset at Johnny's lackadaisical attitude, is courted by a crook who, learning she will inherit a fortune if she is married by a certain time, impersonates a famous author. When Johnny learns of Anne's impending marriage, he hurriedly steals a car, impersonates a minister, and arrives just in time to stop the marriage and expose the fraud. After Johnny marries Anne and receives a $5,000 reward from her executor, he rushes to his father's lawyer, and after being admonished to "take it easy," Johnny replies, "There ain't no such word."
