Party Girl

Maude Lindsay operates the Lindsay Social Bureau as a covert front for a high-society escort network. The bureau supplies party girls to wealthy clients seeking to seal business deals, while Maude maintains a discreet professional façade. This setting establishes the secret economy that underpins the film's intrigue.

Jay Rountree, the son of a bottle manufacturer, is engaged to his secretary Ellen Powell. Ellen is revealed to be a former party girl, with her roommate Diana Hoster secretly working as one of Maude's girls. The arrangement highlights the tension between public respectability and hidden pasts within the social circle.

During Christmas season, Jay and his friends crash one of the party girls' events and encounter Leeda Cather. Leeda is the daughter of a once-prominent New York family now fallen on hard times. Jay finds himself drawn to her destitute charm, setting the course for a dangerous deception.

That same night, Jay spends the night with Leeda; by morning she claims he ruined her. Her mother confronts them in bed, and Leeda fabricates a story that they eloped. Jay plays along with the lie, hoping to gain leverage in the relationship.

Leeda suggests they marry that afternoon, and Jay goes along with the plan to protect both his and his father's business interests. The rash proposal is a convenient cover for the deceit that has brought them together. The immediate marriage scheme deepens the web of lies.

News of their elopement hits the newspapers, bringing unwanted attention to Jay and his father. Leeda calls her ex-fiancé Paul Newcast, a businessman who freely cuts ties to the relationship, and he sends Jay's father a business contract and Leeda $5,000. Jay overhears the exchange and confronts Leeda about the deception.

At a Christmas Eve dinner with his family, Jay tells his father about Leeda's deception. Leeda claims she pressured Paul into signing the contract and threatens to expose Jay and his father in a public scandal. The scene tightens the stakes as appearances collide with truth.

Ellen learns of Jay and Leeda's relationship and is persuaded to attend one of Maude's parties. She enters the circle with caution, aware of the danger of exposure. The revelation links Ellen more directly to Maude's operation.

Police arrive to investigate the party girl racket at Leeda's apartment. Leeda tries to flee via the fire escape and falls several stories, dying as Jay arrives moments too late. The death shifts the balance of power and intensifies the urgency of the cover story.

Jay reaches the scene just before Leeda dies and fulfills her dying instruction to save Ellen from the raid. He explains to the police that he and Ellen are not involved in Maude's racket. The crisis narrows to a personal resolution rather than a public one.

Maude attempts to persuade the police that Ellen is a party girl, but Miss Manning testifies that Ellen has never worked for Maude. The testimony undermines Maude's accusations and preserves Ellen's reputation. The confrontation shifts the balance away from scandal toward truth.

With the raid concluded and the truth established, Jay proposes to Ellen and she accepts. The moment marks a personal triumph over deceit and a hopeful start for the couple. Their future depends on rebuilding trust after a tangled web of appearances.