Fact1: tailcoat is custom made for renowned stage actor Paul Orman, Fact2: custom made for renowned stage actor Paul Orman seeks to rekindle romance with Ethel, Fact3: John offers to show Paul weapon collection, Fact4: Harry Wilson is about to marry Diane, Fact5: Diane 's friend dares her to examine contents of Harry 's topcoat
Output: The tailcoat is custom made for renowned stage actor Paul Orman Charles Boyer, who seeks to rekindle a romance with former flame Ethel Rita Hayworth, who is receptive. However, she is now married, and her husband John Thomas Mitchell finds them together. John offers to show Paul his weapon collection, in particular his favorite hunting rifle. He deliberately loads it. Paul makes no move to escape and is shot by the jealous husband. After Paul dies, John claims to his wife, the sole witness, that it was an accident. Ethel finally realizes she loves John and tells him so; she agrees to support his story. Paul comes back to life, surprising the couple and telling them that John missed completely. Paul then leaves the couple, but later collapses in his limousine. He instructs his valet Luther Eugene Pallette to take him to the hospital. Later Luther offers the topcoat, complete with a bullet hole, as collateral for a 10 loan from his friend Edgar Roland Young. Edgar is the butler of Harry Wilson Cesar Romero, who is about to marry Diane Ginger Rogers. However, Dianes friend Ellen Gail Patrick, who is divorcing her husband for infidelity, dares her to examine the contents of Harrys topcoat. She finds a love letter from someone called Squirrel to her passionate lion. Harry overhears and persuades his best man George Henry Fonda to pretend that he took Harrys topcoat by mistake after a party last night and that the letter is actually his. George, who has feelings for Diane himself, reluctantly agrees. Diane is completely fooled... and begins to see George whom she thought of as dim in an entirely different, much more romantic light. Diane learns the truth when Squirrel shows up. She dumps Harry and leaves with George. Afterward, Luther and Edgar pawn the topcoat for 10. It eventually ends up with Charles Smith Charles Laughton, an unknown classical music composer. A friend arranges a meeting with famed conductor Arturo Bellini Victor Francen, who is impressed with his composition. He is offered the opportunity to conduct the premiere of his work at Carnegie Hall. At the last minute, he is informed he must be properly attired. Elsa hurriedly buys the topcoat for him, but it is a very tight fit. When he conducts, it rips at both shoulders and the audience erupts with laughter. Charles is brought to tears. However, Bellini stands up in his concert box, pointedly removes his own tailcoat and asks him to continue; one by one, the gentlemen in the audience remove their own tailcoats. After the triumphant performance, Charles donates the topcoat to charity. Joe James Gleason, who runs a mission for the poor, delivers a letter to alcoholic panhandler Larry Browne Edward G. Robinson. It is an invitation to his 25th anniversary college reunion, held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Joe convinces Larry to attend, hoping it will help him rebuild his life. Larry manages to convince his former classmates that he is successful, even getting a job offer, but one of them, Williams George Sanders, knows that Larry was a shady lawyer in Chicago who was disbarred. When one man cannot find his wallet, the group hold a mock trial, with Larry as the defendant and Williams as the prosecutor. In the end, Larry ultimately tells everything and leaves. The next morning, however, three of his classmates come to the mission to let him know the job is still his. The topcoat ends up in a secondhand shop, where it is stolen by a thief J. Carrol Naish. He wears it to get into an upscale illegal gambling parlor to rob the patrons. In his escape by plane, the jacket catches on fire and the panicked thief throws it out, with 43,000 of loot in the pockets. It lands by Luke Paul Robeson and Esther Ethel Waters, a poor black couple. They take it to their minister Eddie Anderson, and they decide to give to their congregation to buy whatever they have prayed for. An old farmer George Reed tells Luke that the only thing he prayed for is a scarecrow, so Luke gives him the now ragged jacket to make one.