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Successful Broadway producer and performer Jonnie Demming,
the scion of a well-known burlesque family, is preparing his next musical
and searching for the perfect leading lady. While scouting for talent
at a nightclub, Jonnie, a notorious playboy, spies film actress Helen Hoyt
and is immediately attracted to her, but insists to his assistant, Felix
Gross, that he would never cast a movie star in his show. Although
Helen, whose film career has been faltering, has come to New York to find a
Broadway musical in which to star, she feigns only mild interest when Jonnie
approaches her. The egotistical Jonnie tells Helen that she is "all
wrong" for the show's lead, as he is looking for a "Latin type," and
suggests that she audition for the chorus instead.
The next day, Jonnie is delighted when an unknown Latin
singer named La Polita shows up to audition and, unaware that she is
actually Helen in a dark wig, invites her to lunch. Before she meets
Jonnie, Helen's ruse is discovered by his teenaged sister Patsy, who against
Jonnie's wishes, has run away from her Connecticut boarding school to pursue
a career in show business. Over lunch, Helen then reveals her identity
to Jonnie and informs him that she will not act in his show because the
script is boring and pretentious. Although Helen's assessment is
echoed by Jonnie's father Sam, a comedian who has been forced into
retirement by Jonnie, Jonnie decides to postpone the show's opening until he
can convince Helen to join. Helen resists Jonnie's attempts at
seduction, however, and later agrees to co-produce with Sam an unproduced
musical about the Demming family, which Jonnie wrote years before.
Because neither of them has much money, Sam and Helen decide to mount the
musical in Mellford, Connecticut. They rent an abandoned summer stock
theater from a farmer and begin auditioning for the show.
When Jonnie, who still hopes to cast Helen in his musical,
finally learns about the production, he is furious. He warns his
father that his play is too "corny" for contemporary audiences and that
Sam's hoped-for comeback will be a pitiful failure. Sam and Helen are
undaunted, however, and invite the recently graduated Patsy and her
boyfriend and partner, Ray Kent, to join the show.
Later, Jonnie shows up in Mellford and begs Helen to do his
production, and both confess their love for each other. When Helen
asks Jonnie to wish his father good luck, however, Jonnie refuses,
infuriating Helen. After Jonnie returns to New York, Sam confides to
Helen that he has always dreamed of doing the Demming story with his son.
Determined to reunite the two men, Helen goes to New York and lies to Jonnie
that the dancer who was to play Jonnie has broken his leg and that she and
most of the cast have left Sam's show. His family pride finally
stirred, Jonnie condemns Helen as a traitor and rushes to Mellford to "save"
his father. Jonnie announces that he is putting on the show in New York and
will play himself in it. To everyone's further delight, Jonnie then
casts Patsy in Helen's role.
Later, during rehearsals, Jonnie is happily surprised when
Helen appears on stage, ready to be his co-star. |
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