The first scene shows an elderly man going into several bookshops asking for a book called Fly Fishing by an author named "J. R. Hartley". Every attempt failed, and the next scene shows him at home looking dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him a copy of the Yellow Pages and the next scene features him looking delighted as a bookshop replies that they have a copy of the book. He asks them to keep it for him, and they ask for his name. He replies, "My name? Oh, yes, it's J...R...Hartley".
The non-existent Hartley became something of a cult figure, to the extent that an author who later brought out a book about fly-fishing published it under the pseudonym, J R Hartley.