Three of a Kind

Jerry Bassett drives a delivery truck for Penfield's Peerless Laundry, which is owned by F. Thorndyke Penfield. Penfield's daughter Barbara wants to marry a fortune hunter named Rodney Randall, who hopes to convince Penfield to invest in a bogus subdivision. Suspicious of Rodney, Penfield hopes to talk Barbara out of marrying him and forbids her to see him again. When Jerry wins the Penfield $1,000 prize for efficiency, he quits his job. After Jerry tells his friend, "Beef" Smith, that he is determined to acquire the accoutrements of the wealthy, Beef buys an expensive roadster for Jerry at "Doc" Adams' used car lot. Although Doc's friend, "Con" Cornelius, pretends to be the car's owner, it actually belongs to Barbara, who is selling it so she can marry Rodney. Con, who is traveling with his daughter Prudence, is impersonating a Kentucky colonel and tobacco grower. When Jerry later picks up Barbara hitchhiking, she tells him her name is Beatrice Payne. They arrive at the pricey Royal Valley Hotel, where Barbara pays Rodney's hotel bill. Rodney has been taking an inventory of the hotel's wealthiest patrons, hoping one of them will invest $50,000 in the "greatest seashore subdivision ever planned." When Barbara introduces Jerry to Rodney, Jerry notices Rodney's list of millions of dollars on the back of a menu and thinks Rodney is a wealthy executive. Con enters and, seeing the menu, is determined to have Prudence marry the man who wrote the figures. When Jerry pays a bellhop to find "Bea's" room, he tells Jerry that Bea is really Barbara Penfield. In the hotel garden, Jerry accuses "Bea" of posing as Barbara Penfield in order to get Rodney's money. Meanwhile, Con is relieved to see Rodney kiss Prudence in a swing. When Penfield arrives, Rodney alerts Barbara, and they make a pact not to be seen together. Penfield and the hotel manager, Grimwood, search for Barbara, and assume Jerry is Rodney. Jerry finally realizes that Bea really is Barbara Penfield. Meanwhile, Con, Rodney and Jerry discuss business, unaware that each is conning the others. After Penfield orders Grimwood to kick "bounder" Rodney out of the hotel, Grimwood introduces the real Rodney as Jerry Bassett, an upstanding businessman. Penfield offers Rodney $2,000 to cure Barbara of her "mad infatuation" with fortune hunter "Rodney." Barbara tells Jerry that her father is forcing her to marry Rodney, and Jerry agrees to pretend to be in love with her. Later Penfield introduces Rodney to Barbara as "Jerry Bassett," and they go horseback riding. Meanwhile, a plainclothes policeman named Cogarty arrives in search of the man who stole Barbara's car, believing Jerry is a thief and conman. He then recognizes Con and gives him until morning to leave the hotel. Hoping to sell his plantation to Jerry, Con convinces him that Cogarty is his doctor and has advised him to go to the seashore. Meanwhile, Rodney tells Barbara of her father's scheme to get her to fall in love with "Bassett." When Con gives his land deeds and titles to Jerry, he suggests that Con trade Rodney his plantation for the seaside subdivision, where Jerry could work as the manager. Rodney pays Jerry $2,000 for Con's plantation, then sells Penfield an option to buy it for $5,000. Cogarty sees the transaction and identifies Rodney as "Bigamy Benny," alias "Snakey Joe," a fortune hunter who courts wealthy women in order to swindle their fathers. He also identifies Con as the "Grand Duke Oscar," another swindler. Penfield tells Rodney to elope with Barbara that night, offering a substantial wedding present as incentive. Jerry, meanwhile, makes an honest proposal to Barbara. The police then arrest Jerry and Con. When Cogarty asks Penfield to identify the men, Penfield tells him Jerry is Rodney Randall; however, Jerry insists he used to work for Penfield. When one of the policemen arrests Grimwood believing he is Jerry, the police realize their mistake. Upon seeing a woman leave with Rodney in Barbara's car, Cogarty assumes she is Barbara, and he and Penfield follow them to the home of a justice of the peace. There, they see Rodney marrying Prudence, not Barbara. At the hotel, Barbara accuses Jerry of being Bigamy Benny, but Jerry convinces her of his real identity. Barbara then leaves a message for her father that she will be marrying Jerry Bassett, who will be vice-president of Penfield Laundry's new plant. Con dons a new accent and flees the hotel as "Oscar, Grand Duke of all the Russians," one step ahead of Cogarty.