- Stuart Adams, the advance-agent for a traveling burlesque troupe, arrives in Weston, Illinois, his hometown, to publicize the coming show, "The Girl and the Garter". The Purity League, led by banker James Richards, the father of Stuart's sweetheart Hazel, attempts to stop it from opening. After kissing Hazel in public - thus outraging the League members - Stuart builds curiosity about the show by having the newspaper print Richards' admission that he viewed it in New York "to see how shocking it was". He also attaches a banner which advertises the show to Hazel's roadster during a Purity League parade. After Stuart challenges Richards to a debate, Stuart helps detective Vera Vincent, whom he met on the train, capture two crooks trying to rob Richards' bank. During the debate, Stuart, knowing that the show has been canceled, offers to end the bickering by withdrawing the show. Richards then insists that Stuart, who plans to meet Hazel at the train station to elope, come to dinner. Fortunately for Stuart, Hazel had been locked in her room by her aunt, and is still at the house.
- The city of Weston was divided into factions on the question of social reform when an announcement was made that "The Girl and the Garter" would appear at the opera house. James Richards, head of the Purity League, declared that the show should not be allowed to give any performances, for the reason that he had witnessed the entertainment in New York, attending for the purpose of seeing "just how shocking it was." Having decided it was indeed shocking, Richards decreed that the people of Weston should not see the show. Stuart Adams, advance agent for "The Girl and the Garter," claimed Weston as his home town. To complicate matters Adams and Hazel Richards, daughter of the leader of the Purity League, had been sweethearts since childhood. Richards objected to their marriage, when they reached maturity, because Adams was in the show business. When Adams arrived in Weston in advance of "The Girl and the Garter," he found awaiting him a wire from the manager in effect that business was so bad that the show would be compelled to disband unless Adams managed to "start something" to boom business in Weston. The agent of "The Girl and the Garter" busied himself so earnestly in "starting something" that he was in town several hours before he found time to even call Hazel Richards on the phone. When he did, the girl's aunt intercepted the message, and in fostering the Richards' family objection to Adams, failed deliberately to tell Hazel of the incident. Later, when Hazel was driving through the business center of the town, Adams spied her car. He jumped aboard and gave the girl a kiss that startled the Purity League into spasms of indignation. Hurriedly explaining matters to Hazel, Adams was able to persuade her to carry in her car a transparency advertising "The Girl and the Garter," and follow the Reform League parade that was passing through the streets that afternoon. Incidentally Adams "started something" when he interviewed Richards for the local paper, a sheet that was leading the opposition movement for Personal Liberty. "The Girl and the Garter" was getting some great advertising. The line of ticket purchasers at the opera house box office was long and increasing every moment. That night there was to be a public rally, led by the Reform League, and Adams challenged Richards to a public debate. The immense crowd that assembled was electrified by the spirited argument Adams advanced, and was then stunned when Adams declared that his ideas of fairness demanded that one side or the other must make a tremendous sacrifice. On his own behalf he voluntarily canceled the engagement of his company and declared that "The Girl and the Garter" would abandon its proposed performance in Weston. Richards, moved to heights of public sacrifice, declared that he would withdraw his objection, that "The Girl and the Garter" would be permitted to fulfill its engagement. Adams, foxy fellow, carried in his pocket a telegram from his manager, received only an hour before the public meeting, stating that the show had closed and its players had returned to New York. As a result of the debate, Richards insisted that Adams should go home with him to dine. The showman was nonplussed, for he was expecting Hazel Richards to be at the railroad station, awaiting his arrival, that they might elope and be married. But Hazel's aunt had blacked the game, and turned the key on Hazel in her room. Adams decided to go home with Richards and take a chance of "making himself scarce," and was happily surprised to find Hazel waiting under her father's roof. Then came the parental blessing.
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