ONE NIGHT IN NEWPORT

Jolly skulduggery amid the gleaming appointments of 1912 Newport's gilded society--as a piratical dowager, who's out to see that her three daughters walk the right matrimonial plank, is neatly scuttled. Emily Leighton, mother of three lovely daughters--Caroline, Amelia, Elizabeth--approves of Caroline's union with suitable Schuyler Neibold (even though the marriage has cooled to ice). And an even greater coup is the ten-year wedlock between Amelia and the 10th Duke of Duringham. But now the Duke, who received twelve million for that walk up the aisle, is demanding five million for a divorce--which Amelia, to Emily's horror, devoutly wishes. The Duke is horrid, you see, and likes boys; what's more, Amelia still loves Sam Van Nest (mama stifled the romance), who just happens to be on his way to Newport on an assignment from his boss, J. P. Morgan. And what about Elizabeth, you ask? Well, she's caught the eye of middle-aged artist Douglas Kimball--but she's supposed to marry Sidney Hollenbeck. Everybody busily comes together at a big Leighton party, with a guest appearance by magician Harry Houdini. And when Caroline's Schuyler announces his intention to bolt in favor of divorce and another woman, mama Emily's complex counterattack gets tangled in Sam's J. P. Morgan deal. It all ends neatly and splendidly for all--except poor Schuyler, who trots glumly and obediently back to Caroline--in a decoratively opulent marital regatta, just the thing for harmless, leisurely entertainment.