First Woman on AllMovie

Charles Chaplin's ex-wife Mildred Harris may not have been the most inspired actress that ever was, but she was capable enough in this mild comedy-melodrama. Paul Marsh (Percy Marmont) is a successful playwright who needs a leading lady for his next production. His manager has a girl in mind, Billy Mayo, but since he has never heard of her, Marsh refuses to even see her. One evening, he comes home to find a French Canadian girl (Harris) there, playing a violin. Although the police arrive and try to cart her off as a thief, Marsh decides to let her stay. His sister, Elsa (Flora Arline Arle) has a fiancee, Jack Gordon (Lloyd Hammond), and she claims the strange girl is trying to steal him away. When Marsh confronts her on this, she dashes off to Gordon's apartment to murder him. Marsh follows her, and when he arrives at Gordon's he discovers that the girl is Billy Mayo, and that she was in league with Elsa and Gordon to prove that she could act. Marsh is convinced -- and he is also convinced that he loves her.