One Last Fling

Olivia Pearce (Alexis Smith) ran her husband Larry's (Zachary Scott) music store in New York City while he was off to war in Manila. The business was financed in large part by Judge Fred Bolton (Ransom Sherman), Olivia's uncle. One night, Olivia begs Larry to let her go back to work, stating she's bored to death being a housewife but Larry refuses to allow this. The next morning, Larry meets with an old Army buddy, Gaye Winston (Veda Ann Borg), a WAC Captain, while in Manila. She is looking for work, being in the final stages of divorcing her overly jealous husband. Larry now proposes to hire her to head his sales department. The problem is both he and his uncle are womanizers and probably can't be trusted. A misunderstanding then occurs wherein Olivia believes the job is hers. Larry, painted in a corner, gives it to her. He then goes to lunch with Gaye to explain. Olivia, at another table in the Orchid Room restaurant, spots her husband with a woman. She claims not to be jealous, telling her lunch companion Vera that the only woman Larry ever sounded interested in was one he knew a long time ago, a Gaye Winston. Vic Lardner (Douglas Kennedy) bursts into the restaurant. It turns out Gaye and Vic are still married. Vic accuses Larry of stealing his wife and knocks him out in the restaurant. Olivia, seeing this scene from across the room, packs Larry's bags at home and locks him out of their apartment. Larry then walks upstairs to her uncle's apartment and keeps him up all night talking about his woes. Olivia and Larry meet the next morning. When he explains about wanting Gaye to have the job, Olivia is even more offended and demands a divorce. Out he goes again. At the music store, they continue their bickering. Their marriage troubles appear in the newspaper gossip column. Olivia also engages a divorce lawyer. Larry determines to start dating but Olivia sees him dancing at with a young woman. Her uncle tries to arrange the divorce settlement. Some time later, Larry and Vic bump into each other in a bar. They settle their differences after Vic says he and Gaye have reconciled. Larry decides to do try to likewise with Olivia, and Olivia decides to find Larry, but months go by as they keep missing each other, literally. She and George, her dog, then take a three-months' vacation in Sun Valley, then Palm Springs and finally Lake Tahoe. At the same time, Larry leaves town. She returns, determined to reconcile with her husband. She sets up a romantic candlelit dinner at home and sends her uncle out during a blizzard to invite Larry. However, Larry shows up prematurely to reconcile but gets jealous, thinking she invited a rival to dinner. She gets angry and orders him out. Then, a blackout occurs. On the 18th floor, he begs to be put up for the night but she insists he sleep on the couch. In the morning, they finally reconcile and it all turns out happily in the end.