Girls on Probation 1938

Innocent Connie Heath is persuaded to borrow a party dress from her friend, Hilda Engstrom Sheila Bromley, who has actually misappropriated it from the dry cleaner where she works. When the real owner of the dress, Gloria Adams Susan Hayward, spots Connie wearing it, the garment is torn in a car door, and Connie is falsely accused of theft and prosecuted as Hilda flees town and leaves her to take the blame. Gloria Adams Susan Hayward withdraws her charge, but the insurance company continues to pursue a grand larceny case against Connie. Championing her cause is Neil Dillon Ronald Reagan — coincidentally, also Connie’s date on the evening in question — who gets Connie off with probation.

Connie leaves town after being mistreated by her unsympathetic father and gets a job in order to pay for the damaged dress. One day she spots Hilda Engstrom Sheila Bromley waiting in a parked car on the street and begins to argue with her when Hilda’s boyfriend emerges from a bank he has just robbed, fleeing the scene with Connie in tow. She is arrested and convicted while refusing to give her real name or full story for fear of humiliating her family.

Eventually the truth begins to emerge, and Connie is given probation, returns home, and becomes engaged to Dillon. When Hilda is given probation, she returns to town as well, to make even more trouble for Connie, especially after her boyfriend escapes prison.