Plot
Elmer 'Happy' Butterworth (Buster Keaton) is approached for spare change twice on the street. After giving one man a half-dollar, he is left with only a dime, which is enough for a spaghetti lunch at a local cafeteria. Inside the cafeteria, magician Professor Spumoni (Eddie Lambert) is having lunch with two of his assistants. After an argument, he fires one of them, leaving only the beautiful Mary (Marlyn Stuart). Elmer purchases a spaghetti dinner, and sits down with Mary, where he impresses the magician by revealing that he smuggled in meat under his pile of spaghetti. Professor Spumoni is so impressed that he hires Elmer to be his new assistant.
The remainder of the film takes place during a stage performance of Professor Spumoni at a circus sideshow, with Mary and Elmer as his assistants. They perform various magic tricks that all get ruined by Elmer. Throughout the show, the previously fired assistant seeks his revenge by sabotaging the performance. The audience laughs at the failed tricks, as the off-stage producer gets increasingly worried that the show is failing. He eventually cuts the show short by demanding that Professor Spumoni skip to the finale: a trick where the head of his assistant levitates above the stage. This is also ruined by Elmer (and the sabotage of the fired assistant).
Eventually, Elmer and Mary leave the stage and swing through a poster of the show. Mary closes her eyes and asks Elmer for a kiss. He closes his eyes, leans in for a kiss, but misses Mary and instead kisses the woman on the poster.
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