The Kid Sister

Mischievous, fast-talking Joan Hollingsworth of Westport, Long Island, annoys her stuffy mother and older sister Ethel when she dons a low-cut evening gown for a dinner party and taunts Ethel for being single. Mrs. Hollingsworth, who has declared that the less attractive Ethel must marry first, orders Joan to stay up in her room during the party. Aware that their neighbor, eligible bachelor J. Waldo Barnes, is attending, Joan dresses in the maid's clothes and sneaks downstairs to see him. Posing as the maid, Joan greets the middle-aged Waldo and collides with him while trying to hang up his tophat. After she is caught in the act, Joan eludes her mother by dashing upstairs and climbing down a tree outside her bedroom window, then hiding in a parked car. Joan's escape is witnessed by a would-be burglar, who jumps in the car and takes off, assuming that she, too, is a crook. The burglar admits to Joan that he has been casing the Hollingsworth house for some time and is aware that Mrs. Hollingsworth owns a valuable pearl necklace, which she keeps in a safe. Attracted to Joan, the burglar offers to make her his partner and split the Hollingsworth proceeds with her. Joan does not reveal her identity to the burglar, even after a motorcycle officer tries to pull them over for speeding. After a prolonged chase, the burglar's stolen car hits a tree, and he and Joan flee on foot, one step ahead of the policeman. Joan runs back to her neighborhood and plants herself outside Waldo's house, just as the officer, Michael, catches up to her. Still dressed like a maid, Joan tricks Michael into believing that she works for Waldo and was waiting for a late-night tryst with her boyfriend. When Mrs. Wiggins, Waldo's nervous housekeeper, also mistakes her for their maid, Martha, Joan is compelled to enter the Barnes house. Before she can sneak back out, Waldo catches her and refuses to believe that she was the burglar's victim. Convinced that she is a wayward youth, Waldo counsels Joan, whom he still assumes is the Hollingsworths' maid, to go straight, and Joan, who is now smitten with the bachelor, begs for his guidance. Unknown to Waldo, the burglar is in the house and is trying to coerce Joan, with whom he has fallen in love, to leave with him. Michael, meanwhile, meets up with guests from the Hollingsworths' party, including Tommy, Joan's childhood friend, who claim to have seen the burglar lurking around Waldo's. Accompanied by the party guests, Michael returns to Waldo's house to investigate, and Tommy spies Joan attempting to slip out. Tommy also refuses to believe Joan's story and is about to drag her home when the burglar appears and knocks him out. Joan's struggle with the amorous burglar brings Waldo and the others running, and after the burglar flees, Tommy wakes and calls Joan by name. Her ruse exposed, Joan is chastised by a chagrined Waldo and sent home. Later, a lovesick, grounded Joan spies on another downstairs party and is spotted by an equally lovestruck Waldo. After Waldo apologizes to Joan for his harsh remarks, the two sneak off and spend a fun-filled evening together. When they return to Joan's, a jealous Tommy is waiting for them. While Tommy and Waldo fight over Joan, Joan is accosted by the burglar, who, having given up on romance, now insists that she help him rob her house. The burglar forces Joan to lead him to the family safe and watch him as he tries to open it. The burglar then informs Joan that he has brought along a bottle of nitroglycerin, and when he is not looking, Joan grabs the explosive liquid and threatens to drop it unless the burglar hides inside a closet. Once the thief is safely locked up, Joan screams, alerting Michael, who is outside breaking up the fight between Waldo and Tommy. After Michael arrests the burglar, Waldo announces to a stunned Mrs. Hollingsworth and Ethel that Joan has also "captured" him.