Cantankerous tycoon John P. Merrick goes undercover as a shoe clerk at "Neely's", one of his New York department stores, to identify agitators trying to form a union, after seeing a newspaper picture of his employees hanging him in effigy. In the store he takes on a new persona, Thomas Higgins. After almost failing the minimum intelligence test he is sent to join the shoe department. There he befriends fellow clerk Mary Jones and her recently fired boyfriend Joe O'Brien, a labor union organizer. As the film progresses, his experiences cause him to grow more sympathetic to the needs of his workers. He also starts to fall in love with the sweet-natured clerk Elizabeth Ellis. During a beach day with his coworkers John begins to see a different side of Joe after he helps him avoid an arrest at a local police station by reciting the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards John joins Joe, Elizabeth, and Mary on the beach, where he and Elizabeth nap until dark. Believing the two to be fully asleep, Joe and Mary discuss the union attempts and the future of their relationship. Unbeknownst to them, John listens in and after Joe leaves he pretends to awake, taking the opportunity to grab a list Joe dropped of employees willing to strike. The remaining trio then travel home via subway, where John drops a card showing that his undercover persona was "working" for Merrick. This, along with other factors, comes to the conclusion with Joe that he is a spy. Desperate to regain the list, Joe and Mary try unsuccessfully to regain the list and they, along with John, end up in the store manager's office. Disgusted with the treatment of the employees, John berates the store manager, who is unaware of John's true identity. Emboldened by John, Mary declares that they have a list of 400 employees who will strike. The manager tricks the group into giving him the list. When they realize the manager's deceit, John and Mary take back the list and destroy it by eating it, after which Mary uses the intercom system to successfully encourage the entire store to strike. In the following days all of the employees picket Merrick's home. John decides to finally reveal his identity and has Mary, Elizabeth, and Joe meet him and his staff to discuss terms. They are initially unaware of his identity but upon discovery the trio are shocked: Joe faints, Mary screams, and Elizabeth stares up at John in disbelief as John asks her if she would be willing to go back on a statement she made about not wanting to marry a rich man. The film then cuts to a wedding party on a cruise liner, showing that there has been a joint wedding: John has married Elizabeth and Mary has married Joe. The party is made up of all of the store employees and it's shown that John has paid for all of them to take a Hawaiian vacation. They sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow".
Frank Ross and Norman Krasna decided to produce a movie together starring Jean Arthur based on a story by Krasna. The three formed a partnership and borrowed $600,000 from a bank to finance the film. The script was written in ten weeks and then Sam Wood came on board as director. Krasna described the experience of making the film as one of the best in his career. RKO agreed to distribute the film. It was Arthur's first film at RKO since The Ex-Mrs. Bradford. Robert Cummings was signed to play the male lead; he was shooting a film at MGM concurrently.
Shooting
Filming started 16 December 1940. It finished February 1941. Filming had to stop for nine days so Robert Cummings could shoot extra scenes at MGM in Free and Easy in late January. The film needed three days of retakes included adding a role for Montagu Love.
On November 14, 1941, Philip Morris Playhouse presented The Devil and Miss Jones. The adaptation starred Lana Turner. The story was also adapted as a radio play on two broadcasts of Lux Radio Theatre, first on January 19, 1942 with Turner and Lionel Barrymore, then on March 12, 1945 with Linda Darnell and Frank Morgan. It was also adapted twice on The Screen Guild Theater, first on June 7, 1943 with Laraine Day, Charles Coburn and George Murphy, again on August 12, 1946 with Van Johnson and Donna Reed. It was also adapted on the October 23, 1946 broadcast of Academy Award Theater, starring Charles Coburn and Virginia Mayo. In 1950 Ross announced he wanted to make the film as a musical for his then wife Joan Caulfield. However it was not made.
