Born Yesterday

Nouveau riche New Yorker Harry Brock, who made his money as a junk dealer, is uncouth and brash, he believing that money should be able to get him whatever he wants. What he wants is more power and money, which is the reason he has come to Washington DC, specifically to bribe a congressman or two, only the latest of his illegal activities. Among Harry's entourage is his fiancee of seven years, Billie Dawn, a former showgirl and an uneducated seemingly stereotypical dumb blonde. Beyond throwing money at her or playing gin rummy with her, Harry largely ignores Billie, or when he does spend time with her treats her badly, despite he being in his brand of love with her. As Harry is embarrassed by Billie's uncultured ways in dealing with the political elite of Washington - in the process he being clueless or unconcerned as to his own crudeness - he decides to hire Paul Verrall, a local freelance reporter writing a story on him, to teach Billie how to be cultured. Paul gladly accepts the job in his enjoyment of showing all that Washington DC has to offer in its history and politics, but not for Harry, who he does not like much. Paul finds that Billie is an eager student regardless of she seeing herself as being dumb and uneducatable. But Billie is able to see the world differently through the new eyes that Paul gives to her, she now not only learning about the world in general, but questioning her relationship with Harry, especially the legal papers Harry's lawyer Jim Devery is always getting her to sign. In the process, Paul also comes to some realizations about his feelings toward Billie and Harry.