The Miracle Kid

At Madam Gloria's Academy of Mental Science, Gloria, who publishes a magazine as well as offering courses in mental fitness, is furious that her competitor, J. Hamilton Gibbs, has publicly called her a quack. Unknown to Gloria, her publicity agent, Al Bolger, secretly works for Gibbs, to whom Gloria was briefly married. Gibbs also publishes a fitness magazine and professes to live on vegetables, fruits and nuts, but actually eats whatever he likes. Boxer Jimmy Connley, who is in love with Gloria's assistant, Pat Hilton, runs Gibbs's gym and when Al launches a "physical specimen contest of the year" as a publicity stunt for the gym, Jimmy convinces Pat to enter. Pat takes part in the swimsuit portion of the contest and impresses Gibbs with her beauty. When Gibbs hears that she works for Gloria, he sees an excellent opportunity to once again aggravate his rival. One day, Pat takes Jimmy to her family farm, where he proposes to her, and they dream of opening a boys summer camp after they marry. Pat urges Jimmy to give up boxing, so he declares that his match against champion Tiger O'Brien will be his last. Although Tiger is the better boxer, he is distracted by a beautiful blonde woman in the audience, and Jimmy knocks him out and wins the match. Afterward, Tiger's manager, "Shady" Lane, threatens to quit, but Tiger claims that Jimmy put a "hex" on him. Bill, a reporter, publishes a story about Tiger's claim, inspiring Al to come up with a publicity campaign to interest men in Gloria's mental fitness plans by using Jimmy as an example of brains over brawn. Al enlists Shady's help, and after hitting on the nickname "The Miracle Kid," Al tries to interest Jimmy in fighting again for big money. Jimmy refuses because of his pledge to Pat, so Al decides to break up their romance. To help Al, Gibbs's niece, Helen, pretends that she has sprained her wrist so that Jimmy will give her a ride. Pat, meanwhile, is waiting to meet Jimmy at their friend Pedro's café, and when Pedro tells her about Al's plan, she calls the agent, who tells her that Jimmy has accepted his proposal and is out celebrating at a roadhouse with Helen. Pat angrily decides to check up on him and goes to the roadhouse with Gibbs, who has been after her for a while. When she realizes that Jimmy has lied to her, she breaks up with him, and accepts Gibbs's offer for a national tour. Jimmy then agrees to Al's proposal, and "The Miracle Kid" wins every fight. Unknown to Jimmy, Al has fixed his fights, but when Killer Kane's manager, Rocco, demands $2,500 for Killer to lose, Al calls Gloria for her approval. By this time, Pat has returned from her tour and is visiting Gloria's secretary when Al calls. Pat tricks Gloria's secretary into leaving the room and listens in on the conversation. Jimmy does not believe her when she warns him that his fights have been fixed, and Pat believes that he has given up on her entirely until Pedro tells her that Jimmy bought her farm back for her. Pat then offers to match Al's deal with Rocco if Kane wins the fight, and threatens to go to the boxing commission if Rocco does not agree. Rocco demands an additional $500, which Pat borrows from Pedro, but she does not arrive at the arena with the money until after the match has begun. Rocco refuses to honor the deal, but keeps her $2,500. Jimmy realizes that Pat was right about the fight, and he fights Kane with all his might, but Kane knocks him out and he loses. Gloria is furious at Al for botching her publicity campaign, and both she and Gibbs are outraged when they learn that Al has been pitting them against each other. Gloria and Gibbs reunite and use their combined energy to knock Al out, and Jimmy and Pat also reunite.