Eddie Nolan, who makes his money as a pool hustler in New York, is reluctant to get a regular job because his father, who was laid off after having worked fifty years as a bookkeeper, was found dead under a subway train with the gold watch his company gave him. This reluctance has caused Eddie’s girl friend, Sally Larkin, a cashier at a meat market, to keep their romance secret from her mother and stepfather. However, after they plan to marry, Eddie agrees to get a job. When he is introduced to Sally’s parents, he finds that her stepfather is the businessman whom he has been hustling and ridiculing in the poolroom. Larkin calls Eddie a hoodlum and orders him to leave, while Sally’s mother feigns an “attack” to make her promise not to see Eddie anymore. The next day, Sally tries to say goodbye to Eddie, but they decide instead to marry secretly and plan to tell her parents after Eddie has gotten a good job. He tries first at Paley’s Department Store, and although he convinces a customer to buy a pool table, he is not hired. Meanwhile, Sally’s mother encourages her to marry Bob Carey, who has a good job at a bank, a convertible, two lots in Flushing and a savings account. After Eddie overhears Bob propose, he desperately rushes to a radio station and convinces Colonel Good, the host of an amateur hour, to let him “croon” a song. Eddie forgets the words, however, and Colonel Good is forced to give him the gong. The next day, Eddie, depressed, tries to convince Sally to marry Bob. That night, Eddie burns their marriage certificate and packs, but before he can leave, his boardinghouse neighbor Sid, a security guard, calls and asks him to bring his gun, which he forgot. Eddie arrives at the estate of Westover, a utilities magnate, as the kidnapping of Westover’s son is taking place and finds Sid bound and gagged. Although Eddie is shot, he chases the gang and shoots at them, which causes their car to crash. Just then, Sally, riding with her parents in Bob’s convertible, passes by, and seeing Eddie lying in the street, she screams and reveals that he is her husband. Eddie recovers, and as Sally moves into the boardinghouse with him, Westover calls to say that he has gotten Eddie a job at Paley’s selling pool tables. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
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