Dance Hall Hostess

Patrick Gibbs, Jr., a wealthy, jaded alcoholic, goes one evening to a cheap dance hall, where he is attracted to Nora Marsh, a taxi dancer who plans to marry taxicab driver Jerry Raymond as soon as his cab is paid for. When Pat complains that his life has been wrecked by always having had too much money, Nora wistfully tells him that her dream of a luxurious life would be to have a new pair of stockings every day of the year. She soon receives a package containing 365 pairs of stockings, and Jerry, hot-tempered, jealous and Irish, explodes. The next night at the dance hall, Pat seeks consolation from Nora because of his sister Clare's announced marriage to a "second-rate" prince. Pat offers to see Nora home, and they get into Jerry's cab. He silently seethes as he takes Nora to her rooming house and afterward, unable to control himself, drives recklessly and crashes the cab into a tree to avoid a collision. Although he and Pat are unhurt, the cab is wrecked. He then loses his job and has a furious argument with Nora. To afford luxuries for Nora, Jerry gets work with a beer-runner, but he is caught by a prohibition squad and sent to prison. Unaware of his fate, Nora thinks that he has deserted her, and she accepts Pat's proposal, but warns him that she will always love Jerry. Pat believes they will have a successful marriage, but Nora is snubbed by his family, particularly Clare, who has since married Prince Bodelski. Pat soon neglects Nora and begins to frequent his old drinking haunts, unmindful of warnings from Dr. Cromwell, the family physician. In a year, a son, Donnie, is born to Nora. Three years later, Pat, Nora and Donnie join Clare and the prince at the elder Mrs. Gibbs's estate. Clare calls an agency for a chauffeur and Jerry, now out of prison, is sent. Attracted to him, Clare hires Jerry, but later jealously spies on him and Nora talking. After Clare hints to Pat about an affair between Nora and Jerry, Nora, very uncomfortable, asks Jerry to leave. He agrees, but as they say goodbye late one night, Pat drives up and sees them. A few hours later, Pat is found dead in the garage from carbon monoxide poisoning. Clare attempts to place the blame on Nora and Jerry, and when it is discovered that they had once been sweethearts and that Jerry has left, he is found and arrested. However, Dr. Cromwell tells the sheriff that earlier that day he told Pat he would soon die because of his heavy drinking. The doctor's conviction that Pat was a suicide results in Jerry's release. A few months later, he and Nora are married and living happily, their only possessions being a country cottage, a paid-for taxicab and Donnie.