Paramount Press Books (1918)

CAST AND STORY OF “IN PURSUIT OF POLLY” For Use of Exhibitors in Their House Organs or for General Publicity A Paramount Picture “IN PURSUIT OF POLLY” A SUPERB PHOTOPLAY FOR CHARMING BILLIE BURKE Story Deals With Love Chase and Hun Spies and There is Excitement and Great Dramatic Action “IN PURSUIT OF POLLY” THE CAST Polly Marsden, an American Girl . .Billie Burke Colby Mason, a Secret Service Agent Thomas Meighan “Buck” Marsden, a Cotton Broker . . Frank Losee Talbot Sturgis, a Broker A. J. Herbert Larry O’Malley, a Poet William Davidson j Emile Kremer, a German Spy . . . Benjamin Deely O’Leary Alfred Hickman THE STORY OLLY MARSDEN, the beautiful daughter of “Buck” Marsden, a retired cotton broker, is loved by Larry O’Malley, a poet, and Talbot Sturgis, a prosaic, dignified broker. Her father insists that she must choose one or the other, and Polly finally announces that she will start the next day in her racing car for parts unknown with an hour s ' start, and the man who catches her first may claim her as his bride. At the appointed hour, Polly dashes away in her car at the crack of her father’s pistol and dashing down on a Long Island road she meets Eliza, her maid, by appointment, changes clothes with her and suit-case in hand, starts for a nearby seashore village where she hires a motorboat and churns speedily toward Manhattan. Leaving the boat at an obscure point on the shore, Polly hires a taxicab to take her to the nearest railway station. There is no chauffeur available and she resolves to drive the car herself. The rickety vehicle breaks down and donning the chauffeur’s overalls Polly is tinkering with the engine, when Colby Mason, a millionaire patriot on a Secret Service mission for the Government, approaches in his motorcar. Colby stops and soon makes the interesting discovery that the “chauffeur” is a pretty girl. Polly announces that she is in a hurry to get to New York, and Mason and his man pick her up and they drive madly for the next station where they board a train. On the Pullman, Polly attracts the attention of a stranger, who, in turn, excites the interest of Mason for the latter recognizes him as Emile Kremer, a German spy, and by reason of certain happenings before they reach New York he concludes that Kremer and Polly are in league together in some dangerous plot, which it is his duty to expose. When Polly arrives in New York she goes to a hotel for women, whither she is followed by Mason and another Secret Service man, whom he has tipped off after he had first seen to it that Kremer is started on his way to the same hotel. Meanwhile, Sturgis and Larry, by devious means, have discovered Eliza and they, in turn, return to New York. Each picks up the trail through Eliza, which leads them to the same hotel. Larry accepts a job as an elevator man, while Sturgis, arriving a short time later, bribes a porter to change clothes with him. Complications now follow quickly. Kremer is convinced that Polly is his confederate. He makes mysterous passes before her, then whispers “Meet me at Mountain View, the wireless station is there.” Polly determines to go Mountain View and leaving the hotel by stealth, she encounters Colby and asks him to accompany her. Outwitted and disheartened, Sturgis and Larry return home and decide to pool their interests. When Eliza returns to the Marsden home, the rivals bribe her with $500 to tell them where Polly is, and they speed to Mountain View in the same machine. Meanwhile, Polly is closely watched by Colby. She fools the spy gang at Mountain View and leaves them in a hut while she returns to the hotel presumably to get papers of value to their cause. There she learns from Eliza that Sturgis and Larry are coming. She bribes a bellboy to loan her a uniform and with Eliza’s help fixes up a dummy figure, places it in her automobile and it is driven away, just as the rivals reach the place. They rush in pursuit, while Polly starts back to the hut. When halfway through the woods, Colby confronts her and places her under arrest. Other detectives round up the Germans and at the suggestion of one of them, Colby puts handcuffs on his fair captive. He is leading her back to the hotel, when Larry rushes forward to claim his bride. Polly then smilingly announces that as Colby Mason was the first man to capture her, it is for him to say whether the prize shall go to any other. Colby has his own ideas on that subject, for hasn’t he loved her all the while, even though she had forced him to believe she had been a German spy? 5