The Ups and Downs

In a small town in Indiana in the 1890s, the domineering and ambitious Mrs. Biddle arranges a marriage between her spoiled daughter Thelma and the town's prize catch, harvester David Langston, who is wedded to the soil. David is friends with orphan Ruth Jameson and, although she is in love with him, he eventually gives in to the machinations of Mrs. Biddle and consents to marry Thelma. Meanwhile, technological advances come to town, including its first gasoline buggy, galvanic battery, and metal bathtub fitted with running water. When Mrs. Biddle tries to convince David to give up the farming life and join her husband in real estate, Mr. Biddle, hen-pecked and dissatisfied with city life, warns David against selling his farm.

The manager calls in the director to give him one in a hurry. The director shows him several scripts, but they do not suit; so the director is compelled to call the scenario writer to have a play written in an hour. The director summons his company and reads the play to them; then tells them to make up, while he gives his plots to the stage manager. Being weary, he falls asleep in a chair in the center of the stage and dreams the following: A young girl, employed in an office, falls in love with the head clerk. The boss is a black mustached villain, who is also in love with the girl.

Mrs. Casey, a pretty young widow is sought by O'Brien and Sullivan, who are rivals.

Little Albert Mills, eight years old, reads in the paper the accounts of the abduction of children and holding them for ransom. He conceives the idea of playing the game on his little sister, Henrietta. He writes a note reading, "I have your children. Put four thousand dollars under the stone on front porch and I will bring them back. They are now hanging by the hair. Blue Beard." He then tells Henrietta to look the other way, and he takes her dolls out of the doll buggy and hides them in the garden. Then he places the note in the rural delivery mailbox at the front gate. A little later a young fellow brings an auto up to the gate and the children plead for a ride. After a little hesitancy he consents and the children are carried away to the park. Mrs. Mills misses the children and finds the note in the mail box. She takes the matter seriously, and gathering a lot of neighbors and a policeman, gives chase to the auto.

Spoony Sam is a veritable pest at Si Hawkins' farm, and the girls treat him as a huge joke. In a city cigarette factory there is a peach of a young girl, Fannie Fatima. She writes a note on one of the leaves of a book of cigarette papers, declaring she will wed the man who finds it.

Helen Ross spends her time reading novels. She has made up her mind to marry only a young man whom she can save from something or other, or one who can rescue her in some romantic way.

A young man gets arrested after a drunken night. Sentenced to 30 days in jail, he tells his wife he has to go to Mexico for a month.

A butler impersonates his tippler boss and falls for a beautiful young maid. However, a notorious gold-digger, who thinks the butler is the wealthy young man he's impersonating, sets her sights on him.

A group of feisty, talented young performers pool their resources and buy a dilapidated theatre to showcase their acts – but unscrupulous property developers also want the theatre and resort to dirty tricks to disrupt the first night's performance!

Jake's wife fears he has made good his suicide threat after he has caught her making love to the Dude in his own home. During the last minute preparations for Jake's funeral, the mourners are suddenly surprised to find him sitting upright in their midst.

The great cowboy star takes over the reigns of a stranded production crew, offering the audience a rare insight into the filming of a typical comedy-Western.