Middlesex ( /ˈmɪdəlsɛks/; abbreviated Middx) is one of the 39 historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time. The county was significantly affected by the expansion of the metropolitan area of London in both the 18th and 19th centuries, such that from 1855 the south-east was administered as part of the metropolis. When county councils were initially introduced in England in 1889 about 20% of the area of Middlesex, along with a third of its population, was transferred to the County of London, and the remainder formed a smaller county, in the north-west, under the control of Middlesex County Council.
In the interwar years urban London had further expanded, with increasing suburbanisation, improvement and expansion of public transport, and the setting up of new industries outside the inner London area. After the Second World War, the population of the County of London and inner Middlesex was in steady decline, with new population growth only experienced in the outer suburbs. After a Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, almost all of the original area was incorporated into an enlarged Greater London in 1965, with small parts transferred to neighbouring Hertfordshire and Surrey. Despite the disappearance of the county council, Middlesex is still used as an area name and was retained as a postal county; which is now an optional component of postal addresses.
Plot
A woman-hating astronomy professor, Bertram Dillsome, inherits a swank beauty salon in a New York hotel from his aunt. His New York arrival beings an unexpected fanfare of publicity arranged by Diane "Dime" Pringle, who had met and fallen in love with Bertram at a college lecture, and has convinced her father, Julius H. Pringle, to allow his press agent, sour-puss Jonathan Sweet, to handle Bertram's publicity. The beauty shop is soon deluged with clients until actress Amy Devore hits it with a fraudulent suit for infecting her face. Bertram finds a recording made by his aunt before her death that hints at mysterious happenings at the salon, involving a Mrs. Kennar. Suspecting that his aunt had been murdered, Bertram and Dime call Mrs. Kennar to the salon but, before they see her, Ann Kuo, a Chinese attendant at the salon, and Rodney Blynn, confront her and she leaps from the window to her death. Amy tells Bertram she will not press her suit if he will allow her to take over the salon but he turns her down over the objections of his attorney Middlesex. Dottie Nickerson, a trusted employee at the salon, sees Kuo steal some letters from a customer's purse and hears her telephone Blynn. Sweet has been attacked by a mysterious assailant and Dottie visits him in the hospital and tells him what she observed. He wants to visit Blynn's apartment, but Dottie hides his trousers.
Keywords: astronomer, based-on-novel, beauty-parlor
COMEDY! ROMANCE! MYSTERY! (original ad - all caps)
Pity A Handsome Woman-Hater In A Spot Like This!