[He had sailed with Ponce de Leon, who had died 200 years earlier, searching for the fabled ""Fountain of Youth.He would be a Messianic figure of sorts.And Ann finagles her job back (her "meal ticket"), with a $1,000 bonus.A number of likely individuals are escorted into Connell""s office for covert interviews.The door opens on "Long John" Willoughby (Gary Cooper) - a plain-speaking, penniless homeless man and an ex-ballplaying (bush-league, sand-lot) pitcher with a sore arm (his "wing went bad")." He phones Senator Foley""s (and the new Senator Smith""s) secretary Saunders (Jean Arthur) [she is rarely called by her first name Clarissa] and tells her that Smith has disappeared.Their exasperating conversation, embedded with conflict, is a classic screwball conversation:David: Well, you don""t understand - this ismycar!Susan: You mean,thisis your car?David: Of course.After the credits play, the scene is set in the stylized interior of the second-story Ames Billiard Hall as it is being opened for business in New York City [the renowned Ames Billiard Academy on 44th St.