Easy to Wed 1946

Financier J. B. Allenbury [Cecil Kellaway] is determined to file a $2 million libel suit against The Morning Star after the newspaper prints a story blaming his daughter Connie Allenbury [Esther Williams] for the breakup of a marriage. Anxious to save his paper from financial ruin (Allenbury’s real goal), editor Curtis Farwood [Paul Harvey] turns to his business manager Warren Haggerty [Keenan Wynn], who postpones his marriage to Gladys Benton [Lucille Ball] in order to assist his employer.

Warren’s convoluted scheme involves having reporter Bill Chandler [Van Johnson] temporarily marry Gladys so that she can sue Connie for alienation of affection when an intimate photograph of Bill and Connie surfaces, “proving” that the newspaper story is not libelous. In order to get the damaging picture, Bill must ingratiate himself with the Allenburys, who are vacationing at the Hotel Del Rey in Mexico. He heads south of the border with Spike Dolan [Ben Blue] and introduces himself to the Allenburys as a writer who enjoys hunting, which J. B.’s favorite hobby.

As time passes and Bill fails to get himself photographed with Connie, Gladys and Warren become increasingly impatient. Warren suspects Bill has become romantically involved with Connie and flies to Mexico in the hope he can persuade her and her father to drop their lawsuit. When they turn him down, Warren telephones Gladys, who arrives at the resort and tells J. B. she is married to Bill. When J. B. reports this news to his daughter, Connie decides to prove him wrong by demanding that Bill marry her immediately. They are wed by a justice of the peace.

When Warren and Gladys threaten to expose Bill as a bigamist, Bill announces that Gladys’ mail-order divorce from her previous husband is not legally binding and therefore her marriage to Bill is invalid. Gladys then reveals that she obtained a second divorce in Reno that is legal. The Allenburys finally agree to drop their lawsuit, and Warren and Gladys realize they are meant to be together.