Silver screen legend Douglas Fairbanks is Pete Prindle, the son of a wealthy health food mogul. To the older man's frustration, his irresponsible heir is a devout junk food-eater, with no hope of ever taking over the family business. But when Pete falls in love with pretty Christine Cadwalader, she refuses to marry him unless he can provide her with a comfortable living. Feeling sorry for his lovesick son, the elder Prindle agrees to hand over the business to Pete, but only if he can drum up publicity for their health food stores. Vowing to get his picture in the papers, the former playboy punches out a champion boxer, swims the Hudson Bay, and survives a high-speed car crash, none of which garners the slightest notice from reporters. Finally, Pete thinks of a sure fire way to get attention: capturing a gang of crooks that have stymied the police. However, being a crimefighter isn't easy, and it might just be his obituary that ends up in the papers!

Before becoming an action star with The Mark of Zorro (1920), leading man Douglas Fairbanks specialized in comedies like His Picture in the Papers. For these films, he was often paired with the famed husband-and-wife team of director John Emerson and writer Anita Loos. Emerson began his career with D.W. Griffith, as an associate on the epic Intolerance (1916), and would eventually make a name for himself as a multi-talented actor, playwright, and director. During the sound era, Loos wrote such classics as Red-Headed Woman (1932), San Francisco (1936), and The Women (1939). Her 1925 novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes eventually became a hit musical and Hollywood film. The legendary Erich von Stroheim acted as assistant director on His Picture in the Papers, and plays one of the gangsters in the film.