Goldie Gets Along

Repressed and insulted by her prudish American aunt and uncle, Goldie LaFarge, an ambitious young French woman, decides to abandon her foster home in New Jersey and confides her plan to her fiancé, Bill Tobin, Jr. When Bill also belittles her aspirations, Goldie, whose French father had been an actor, breaks their engagement and announces that she is leaving for Hollywood. While hitchhiking, a penniless Goldie is picked up by a man who offers to take her as far as Buffalo, New York. As they near Albany, the man pressures Goldie to take a hotel room with him, but Goldie drives off in his car while he is making reservations and heads for Albany alone, unaware that the car is stolen. On the road, Goldie is arrested for stealing the mayor of Springfield's car and is taken to jail. While she sits in jail, both Bill, who has been trailing her, and the arresting policeman plead Goldie's case to the Springfield mayor, Silas C. Simms. Overwhelmed by Goldie's teary flirtations, the meek Simms gives her not only her freedom but a train ticket to Chicago as well. As she is leaving Simms's office, Goldie is approached by Sam Muldoon, a crooked beauty contest promoter, who suggests that they join forces and tour the country. On the Chicago train, Goldie again is cornered by Sam, and she finally agrees to participate in his beauty contests in exchange for passage to Hollywood. By flirting with the head judge in each of the small towns where Sam holds his contest, Goldie assures herself victory after victory. As part of her deal with Sam, Goldie never chooses the $1,000 that has been raised by the town as her prize, but always opts for the free trip to Hollywood, which Sam is to supply. However, when Goldie tells Sam that she wants to quit his game and go to Hollywood, he threatens to turn her over to the police. Determined to free herself, Goldie grabs the prize money of the next contest, exposes Sam as a confidence man to the townspeople, and takes off for California. In a Hollywood restaurant, Goldie connives to meet Frank Hawthorne, an influential film director who is a fraternity brother of Bill's. As she is selling herself to Frank, Bill, now a movie actor, sits down at Frank's table with beautiful actress Marie Gardner and pretends to be indifferent toward Goldie. Enraged with jealousy, Goldie storms away from the table, unaware that Bob Flynn and Sam Kaplan, two movie studio executives, are convinced that she is Frank's latest acting discovery and are plotting to "steal" her from the director. While both Bill and the executives search vainly for Goldie, Goldie searches vainly for acting jobs. Eventually Flynn runs into Goldie and reveals his interest in signing her to a contract. At the same time, Bill, who has heard from Frank that a police detective is looking for Goldie, has a phony newspaper article, in which he is described as a fugitive check forger, printed. After locating Goldie, who has just negotiated a contract with Flynn and Kaplan, Bill confesses his "crime" and tells her that he has to flee the country. Moved by Bill's "predicament," Goldie lies to her fiancé that she has failed as an actress and tells him that she wants only to be his devoted wife.