Harry's parents, Phillip and Eleanor, his sister Margery and her fiancé Fred Blakely consider Elsie dangerous to their social position and oppose the marriage.

A Dangerous Maid debuted in Atlantic City on March 21, 1921, with the production designed by the Robert Law Studios and staged by Edgar MacGregor, with help from Eddie Leonard and Julian Alfred and musical direction by Harold Vicars.

The show featured Juliette Day as Elsie, Creighton Hale as Harry, Frederic Burt as Philip, Amelia Bingham as Eleanor, Juanita Fletcher as Margery, Vinton Freedley as Fred, Arthur Shaw as Alfie, and Ada Meade as Anne.

[6] After Atlantic City, the show toured through Wilmington, Delaware, Baltimore, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receiving warm reviews.

[3] Two years later, the show finally made it to Broadway, retaining the name Elsie, but with a rewritten book and a new score by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake.

[3][8] In Season 2 of the television series Boardwalk Empire, Episode 3 takes its name from this musical, as a character rehearses for a role in A Dangerous Maid.