You Said a Mouthful

The recent life of single milquetoast Joe Holt of Marshalltown, IA has been a series of what initially seems to be an "up" followed by an associated massive "down" making him worse off than when he started. In that series includes "inheriting" a son, a black boy named Sam Wellington. The most recent up, in a case of mistaken identity, is being asked to live in the home of the wealthy Brandons on Catalina Island instead of the busboy jobs on the island he had arranged for himself and Sam. The following down is learning that the Joe Holt the Brandons were expecting is a marathon swimmer they are sponsoring for the twenty-five mile Catalina to mainland swimming competition. What's worse for Joe is that he doesn't know how to swim in always having been afraid of the water. Joe continues in the ruse in having fallen for pretty Alice Brandon, she seemingly having fallen for him in return. The only way Joe believes he has any chance not only of surviving the swim but winning the race is to get his hands on the new swimming suit made of unsinkable material made by the Armstrong Corporation, he having devised the material himself when he worked as a shipping clerk for the company. Joe's primary nemesis at Armstrong, blowhard Harry Daniels, does whatever he can to prevent Joe from getting one of the suits. Beyond the suit itself, another obstacle for Joe is his primary competition, egotistical Ed Dover, that competition not only in the race but for Alice's affections.