Here Comes Cookie

Harrison Allen and his secretary George Burns draw up a document that temporarily signs Harrison's fortune over to Gracie for sixty days to test Ramon del Ramos's avarice. The plan centers on Gracie's handling of the fortune while her suitor is under scrutiny.

Harrison goes back to his hometown for a vacation, leaving the test in Gracie's hands. The sixty-day period begins, with the family watching the scheme unfold.

Gracie takes her father's test seriously and proceeds to ruin the fortune and the home. She cuts George's salary, refuses to send money, and wrecks everyone's clothes, plunging the household into chaos.

The mansion becomes a no-cost boardinghouse for hundreds of out-of-work actors and their animals, keeping everyone awake and scrambling for scraps. The domestic mess grows as the money disappears.

Gracie tears down parts of the mansion to build a private theater and plans to stage a show designed to bankrupt the family. The scheme aims to force Harrison to permit Gracie's marriage to Ramon as the price of relief.

To raise funds, Botts the butler sells a trained seal to provide enough money to send Phyllis to Clarksville and to retrieve their father. The odd rescue effort underscores how far the household has fallen.

Ramon learns Gracie controls all the money and begins to pursue her romantically, though Gracie naively decides to marry him. The tension between wealth and romance drives the plot forward.

With the family impoverished, Harrison and Phyllis hitchhike part of the way home and reach the mansion's opening night of Gracie Allen's Flop. They are refused admittance, but they sneak inside and stumble onto Gracie's balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet.

Telegram from Hollywood arrive offering to hire Gracie as a producer after her show proves to be a big success. The industry interest marks a turning point for Gracie and the family's finances.

At Harrison's insistence, George agrees to marry Gracie, but only on the condition that while she is on the West Coast, he remains in the East. The arrangement sets terms for their future romance and partnership.

Ramon's pursuit continues even as Gracie's career shows promise; the wedding and fortune schemes remain entangled with money and romance. The outcome depends on how the two sides navigate distance and success.

Gracie's show proves to be a big success, complicating the plan to bankrupt the family and press for marriage under coercive conditions. The newfound momentum creates leverage for Gracie and the family alike.

George's geographic constraint becomes the formal framework for their marriage, tying the couple's future to where Gracie works. The plan inches toward its resolution as location dictates timing.