The Wet Parade
In the early 20th Century, with the Prohibition Era approaching, two families come undone over the evils of alcohol.
The drinking of Roger Chilcote costs him everything, including all his family's money after gambling it away, after his daughter Maggie May's repeated attempts to persuade him to quit. Chilcote commits suicide. Roger Jr. is a writer who is befriended by Jerry Tyler, a newspaper reporter in New York City.
Jerry leaves for France to fight in the war. Meanwhile, the Tarleton family is at odds over the coming presidential election. A hotel is owned by Pow Tarleton and his wife, but Pow's drinking binges are becoming worse, particularly after Woodrow Wilson's election as president. Kip believes in abstinence and in the passage of the 18th Amendment, opposed by Wilson. One day when Maggie May turns up, Kip mistakes her at first for a working girl, then develops a strong romantic attraction to her.
Pow accidentally drinks bootleg liquor that is contaminated. He beats his wife fatally and ends up convicted of murder, sentenced to life imprisonment. Kip sells the family hotel and joins the U.S. Treasury department, coming under the wing of Abe Schilling, a wise, older agent for the bureau. Both receive threats from gangsters who trade in outlawed liquor.
Roger Jr.'s alcoholism has tragic results when he consumes wood alcohol and goes blind, costing him everything, including the love of Eileen Pinchon, who runs a speakeasy. Kip, meanwhile, is now with Maggie, who is pregnant. Kip is kidnapped by gangsters, then saved by Abe, who dies while rescuing him, advising Kip that taking care of his family comes first.
insanity, murder