In Society is a 1944 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It was the first of five Abbott and Costello films to be directed by Jean Yarbrough. It was re-released in 1953.
Plot
Eddie Harrington and Albert Mansfield are plumbers who receive a call about a leak in the private bathroom of Mr. Van Cleve, a wealthy businessman. The grumpy man, though his costume is ready, does not attend the ball but goes to bed instead. The leak is keeping him awake, but the costume ball that his wife is throwing downstairs is not.
Eddie and Albert enlist the aid of a friend, Elsie Hammerdingle, a taxi driver, to take them to the mansion. While they are upstairs attempting to fix the leak—but flooding the room instead—Peter Evans, a guest dressed as a cab driver, mistakes Elsie for another costumed guest, despite her insistence that she really is just a cab driver. He winds up inviting her to another gala event, Mrs. Winthrop's estate Briarwood, where a valuable painting, The Plunger (a heavy gambler), is to be unveiled.
Mrs. Van Cleve was intending to send Eddie and Albert a letter of complaint for the devastation that they inflicted on her home. However, she is distracted for a moment while doing her mail, and instead sends them her own invitation to the unveiling of the Plunger at Briarwood. They think it is a reward for a job well done and look at it as a chance to meet other wealthy clients. Albert, being a plumber, can only think of a plumbing tool and is amazed at the value of the painting. However, a loan shark named Drexel to whom they owe money (they borrowed money from him to start their business and are balking at repaying him), demands they steal the painting while they are there. When they refuse to go through with the plan, Drexel and Marlow, a crooked chauffeur at the party, attempt to steal the painting themselves. When the painting is discovered to be missing, Gloria Winthrop, accuses Elsie, Eddie, and Albert of being the thieves. However, they clear their names when Eddie and Albert, in a fire truck, capture Drexel and Marlow and recover the painting.
At the end, some guests claim that Eddie and Albert stole their tuxedos and the two are chased across a field. …...more
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