- When a naively innocent, aspiring actress arrives on the Broadway scene, she is taken under the wing of several theater veterans who mentor her to ultimate success.
- Ada Love, who has renamed herself Eva Lovelace, is a would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage. A wildly optimistic chatterbox full of theatrical mannerisms, her looks, more than her talent, attract the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom or the "casting couch"? Or will she fade after a brief blooming, like so many other "morning glories"?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
- Naive but ambitious Ada Love, choosing the stage name Eva Lovelace, has just arrived in New York City with very limited funds in the hopes of being a stage actress, with amateur theater in her hometown of Franklin, Vermont being her only credits to date. She is more star-struck than a true actress, although she truly does believe she can be a great actress in the right part. She puts on airs to those she meets to hide her sparse resume. She hopes to make an impression on Broadway impresario Louis Easton, who has recently collaborated with up and coming playwright Joseph Sheridan. In the business side of show business, Easton knows that he has to have big names in the lead roles to pull in the crowds, and often works with Rita Vernon, a diva who can pull in those crowds. Rita can surprise them by truly giving great performances, but she can just as easily be totally wrong in the roles she plays. In her first meeting with Easton and Sheridan, Eva is only able to get her foot in the door because of a quick friendship she strikes with R.G. Hedges, an Easton's client who is in the waiting room when she arrives at his office. In Eva, both Easton and Sheridan see a young, naive and rather off kilter young woman rather than a true actress. But there is still something about her that makes them care what happens to her, however not crazy enough to give her a major role. Their association morphs in more personal ways than professional, with Eva needing to take any work she can get merely to survive in New York. If she can only be given a break of some sort to show them what she can truly do on stage. She may learn that professional success does not equate to personal happiness.—Huggo
- In a provincial New England town, a young woman harbors aspirations of acting greatness. Dying to be Broadway's next big thing, Eva Lovelace finds her path to critical acclaim blocked by more experienced and established performers. She catches the eye of playwright Joseph Sheridan and producer Louis Easton. When an established actress's sudden departure threatens his production, they look to Eva to save the play.—Jwelch5742
- A starry-eyed young wannabe actress comes to New York (from Franklin, Vermont) to pursue a career in acting. There she goes to the office of a famous Broadway producer, Louis Easton (Adolphe Menjou). While waiting, she meets other actors and actresses including Robert Harley Hedges (who tells her to call him "Bob"), an elderly British actor at the end of his career. She befriends Hedges and convinces him to become her vocal coach and mentor.
Hedges is well-known to Easton and to Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) who are in Easton's office at the time, discussing Sheridan's new play. When they come out to offer Hedges a part in the play, Eva wrangles an introduction and milks it for all it is worth. All are impressed by Eva but she leaves the impression of being more of a confused romantic who is in love with the idea of being an actress than someone who has the talent to be one. Easton dismisses her as just another young hopeful while Hedges likes her enthusiasm but Sheridan seems struck by her effervescent personality.
Despite help from Hedges and Sheridan and a try-out for a small part, Eva is unsuccessful and is found one night by Hedges, starving and penniless, in a diner near Times Square. He offers her a lift home in his cab but, on the way, decides to invite her to a party he is attending at Easton's apartment.
At the party, Eva's freshness, captivates all the males, especially theatre critic, Henry Lawrence (Richard Carle) and alcoholic playwright, Charley Van Duesen (Tyler Brooke). Together the three sit down and chat over a bottle of champagne but (on an empty stomach) Eva becomes intoxicated and ends up telling everyone in the room what a wonderful actress she is. Then, to prove her point, she acts out scenes from 'Hamlet' and 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Her Juliet almost brings tears to Sheridan's eyes and the others in the room are impressed but Eva is so drunk that she falls asleep on Easton's knee. He has his butler take her up to a room to sleep it off.
In the morning Eston calls Sheridan over (early) to help him get rid of a girl he has just spent the night with and Sheridan agrees to give her an envelope, with some money inside it, to pay her off -- with a story that Easton had to leave town on business.
Sheridan uses the opportunity to promote Eva to Easton by reminding him how well she performed the previous night. Easton agrees but then says how awful he feels that he slept with her. Shocked, Sheridan heads off to give Eva the envelope and to tell her the news that Easton wants nothing more to do with her but before he gets very far, Eva swans into the room as if all her dreams have just come true. She departs, with a theatrical flourish, before Sheridan has time to inform her what Easton has just said, with the impression that she is going to to hear from Easton soon.
Sometime later, a new play is opening and the leading actress, Rita Vernon (Mary Duncan) decides to use the opportunity to press for more money. She asks for her name in lights, $1500 a week, and a half share of the profits. This infuriates Easton but she insists that she will walk out if he does not agree to her terms.
Outside, Sheridan urges Easton to call Vernon's bluff. He says he has a marvelous young understudy to play the role -- Eva. Eva goes on to stun the audience with her performance and becomes the toast of the town. After the show Easton comes in to congratulate her and she tries to elicit from him some sign of affection but he says there can never be anything between them. Eva is devastated.
Soon after Easton leaves, Eva's dressing lady, Nellie Navarre (Helen Ware), enters and Eva confides that she feels as if she has just lost everything on the very night that she got the very thing she wanted. When Hedges and Sheridan arrive Nellie leaves and Hedges delivers a warning along with his heartfelt congratulations. He says that many young stars are 'morning glories' -- that find themselves in the limelight only for a brief period and then disappear -- pointing to Eva's dressing woman, Nellie, as a case in point. But he emphasizes that, if she works hard, Eva can have a long and illustrious career. After Hedges leaves, Sheridan stays on to declare his love for Eva but she is so depressed by Easton's rejection that she hardly seems to care and walks off.
When Nellie returns, Eva tells her about Sheridan's declaration of love and Nellie reminisces that she wishes she had taken more notice of a similar declaration many years ago. But, oblivious to any advice, Eva seems to drift off into her own world, gushing over how wonderful everything will be and how she must take life as it comes and that she is unafraid of becoming a "morning glory". Nellie's face registers fear and concern, perhaps seeing something of herself in the heedless young woman. The audience is left to wonder just what 'will' become of Eva Lovelace.
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