Kathy #17

Kathy Crane's boyfriend Hank Hopkins dreams of buying her a friendship ring to show everyone they belong together, but his misguided attempt to catch a jewel thief lands him in hot water with the law—and then things get worse when he takes on an odd job to earn the money. As one mishap after another sends Hank tumbling through a series of comic calamities, he and Kathy find themselves back at the police station, where a sympathetic sergeant offers an unexpected solution to their problem.

When Kathy learns that her crush Hank is taking another girl to the movies, she decides to investigate—and then exact some playful revenge by sabotaging his evening. But a misunderstanding about whether Hank's date is actually serious business spirals into a comedy of escalating pranks that leaves both of them in hot water at the local dance. By the time the truth comes out, Kathy and Hank have both learned that sometimes "strictly business" can get messy fast.

Kathy catches her boyfriend Hank red-handed when his car mysteriously appears parked in front of a rival girl's house—and when he tries to cover his tracks with a wild story about car thieves, the lie only gets messier. As Kathy pieces together the truth from phone calls and clues, Hank finds himself tangled in increasingly elaborate excuses, with nowhere left to hide.

Bingo discovers a self-help book that teaches him to speak up and stand his ground, transforming his timid personality overnight—so much so that he accidentally clobbers the school bully, Muscles McGee, and gets drafted onto the boxing team as a secret weapon. When Muscles arranges a brutal sparring session with the boxing champion to get revenge, Bingo realizes his newfound confidence has landed him in way over his head.

When Kathy shows up to school in jeans instead of a dress, Hank Hopkins leads the boys in a misguided scheme to shame the girls back into traditional clothing—by wearing dresses themselves the next day. But a prank by one of his fellow students leaves Hank as the only boy actually going through with it, setting off a hilarious chain of mishaps that teaches him a lesson about respect. This 1955 humor story proves that sometimes the best comeuppance comes from your own side of the scheme.