THE STORY: For 40 years the Gerardos have been booked as the “Daring Family of Aerial Artists.” Mama still manages her troupe. On a visit in the West, she is notified to return because Donna has become suddenly unsociable with the rest of the troupe. The cause is anemic William, a student, who has opened a new world to Donna. Trips to highbrow lectures make Donna dissatisfied with her companions, and her threat to leave if they interfere with her “education” stuns even Mama. To Mama’s horror, William reveals his love for Donna, and pleads to go with the troupe. The boys decide to initiate William on the trapeze, hoping to destroy his ambitions. William is knocked unconscious, but reviving, he climbs on the trapeze again, determined to conquer his weakness. Donna believes he has lost his “wonderful mind” as a result of the fall, and declares she will nurse him back to sanity, and then they can marry and go away to college. William is obdurate and Mama, to keep Donna near her, falls in line with him, making him a clown, much to his Aunt Thucy’s horror, Donna’s dismay and William’s bewilderment.
