Robert Dudley

The Palm Beach Story -- Money makes the world go 'round, or so Gerry (Claudette Colbert) believes when she divorces her struggling husband (McCrea) and supports him by marrying a millionaire.

In exchange for seven years of good fortune, Jabez Stone promises Mr. Scratch his soul when the contract ends. When he comes to his senses, he enlists the aid of the one man who might save him: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster.

When bumbling product-tester, Fielding Mellish (Allen) is jilted by his girlfriend, Nancy (Louise Lasser), he heads to the tiny republic of San Marcos for a vacation only to become kidnapped by rebels! Once the band of rebels seizes power, their leader goes crazy, and they replace him with Mellish, thinking he can save the country. But when Mellish is nabbed by the FBI, he is put on trial for subversion and in a side-splitting courtroom show-down including the most hilarious self-cross examination ever.

A public-opinion pollster (James Stewart) thinks he's struck gold when he stumbles upon the "magic town" of Grandview, a place where residents' opinions mirror the nation's as a whole. But Grandview's crusading newspaper editor (Jane Wyman) is doing her best to change all that. Complications ensue when the two adversaries begin falling in love despite their differences -- a minor miracle, statistically speaking.