Zein Weib's Lubovnick

Backstage during rehearsals, New York matinee idol Edouard Wien bumps into Golde Blumberg, who works for costumer Oscar Stein, Eddie's uncle and the stingy manager of his show. Eddie and Golde look lovingly at each other until Oscar angrily sends her back to work. Oscar, who is still stung from been jilted by a woman, argues that women are all false, wicked and frivolous. When Eddie counters that he believes women to be more faithful than men, Oscar challenges him to bet $10,000 that Golde will not refuse to marry a man whom she does not love if he is wealthy. Eddie accepts and disguises himself as Herman Weingard, an aged, unappealing man. While Oscar plays up to Golde the advantages of a marriage to Herman, Eddie, dressed as Herman, tries to discourage her interest. The two men pester her until she agrees to marry Herman just to be left alone. Shattered, Eddie confesses to Oscar that although he has fallen in love with Golde, he has lost faith in her. Oscar suggests that they marry and then proposes a new $25,000 bet--that once married to Herman, Golde will deceive him with a younger man. After the marriage, Golde insists on sleeping alone. She and Herman go to a beach resort, where Eddie, as the elderly husband, continually pesters her with his whining about the way a "good wifey" should behave. Although she claims that she does love him, she pushes him away in disgust when he kisses her. After three weeks, "Herman" disappears, which causes Golde to worry and long for him. However, when Eddie, now dressed as himself, visits, ostensibly to see his "friend Herman," Golde encourages his flirtation. They begin a courtship and go to the beach, row on a lake and walk arm-in-arm through the woods, all the while followed by the spying Oscar. In the evening, Golde expresses her love for Eddie. Disheartened, Eddie hands Oscar a check to cover the bet, but when Golde suddenly runs away from him, saying that she is a married woman, Eddie retrieves the check. Eddie then returns as Herman, but when he tries to woo Golde, she again pushes him away. He berates her for marrying him when she was not in love with him, and she accuses him of trying to bribe her with his wealth. When he demands that they sleep in the same bedroom, she runs off. During a rehearsal, Eddie receives a letter from Golde, telling him that she does not love her husband, but loves him, Eddie, instead. Greatly upset, he decides to close the show, but before giving Oscar the check for the bet, tries a final test. When Golde suggests that they die together to resolve the conflict, Eddie refuses and encourages her to engage in a secret affair with him. Shocked, Golde says she would rather die than deceive her husband. Eddie vows to drown himself because, he says, he cannot live without her and, after leaving her room, changes into Herman. Golde confesses to her husband that Eddie tried to steal her away. He then takes off his beard and wig and says he has proven that there are decent women in the world. Feeling ridiculed, Golde tells him to go, but he sweet-talks her and they kiss. After they sing to each other from separate rooms as they prepare for their honeymoon evening, Eddie, in formal dress, enters Golde's room to find her waiting for him in bed.