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Hammer, the stogey-chewing, mustachioed
entrepreneur of the Hotel de Cocoanut, moonlights as an auctioneering real
estate speculator during the Florida Land Boom of the Twenties. Though
his 600-room establishment is filled with an assortment of guests, only one,
the haughtily stuffed Mrs. Potter, is paying any rent. Meanwhile, her
lovely daughter Polly is paying court to hotel clerk Bob Shaw, whose own
ambitions towards architectural fame and love's reward are chronicled in the
Irving Berlin tune, "When My Dreams Come True."
Hammer's financial throes abound, precipitating
ever more ingenious and whacky plots to salvage his position, the most
ardently pursued of which is the wooing of the wealthy Mrs. Potter.
The rascal even exhorts his employees to labor gratis in order to free
themselves from "wage slavery."
Guests Chico and Harpo, unable to pay their
bill, cascade through the hotel, mischievously bent upon larcenous
chicanery, stealing silverware, evading Hammer, fumbling uproariously with
stock hotel props such as bellboys, luggage, room keys, and mail bins.
Among Hammer's other guests are Harvey Yates and
Penelope, two somewhat more dedicated miscreants who have designs on Mrs.
Potter's lucre, plotting to purloin her precious necklace. She remains
in the dark as to their devilish deviousness, duped to the point of
promoting a match between the lovely Polly and Harvey, whom she regards as
"one of the Boston Yates."
The stolen necklace is discovered by Harpo, who
cleverly produces it from the stump of a tree on the lot that Shaw buys at
the Hammer's auction. Bob is tossed into jail, later to be freed by
Chico and Harpo, while the precious Polly has so infatuated Yates that he is
tricked into revealing the true tale of the theft. The jig finally up,
the engagement party continues with only the substitution of Shaw as the
prospective groom needed to change pretty Polly's perilous predicament to
one of anticipated paradise.
Notes
The film is based on the musical play The Cocoanuts by George S.
Kaufman and Irving Berlin (New York, December 8, 1925). Presented by
Sam H. Harris.
Music includes: "Florida by the Sea,"
"The Monkey Doodle-Doo," "Tale of the Shirt" and "When My
Dreams Come True," words and music by Irving Berlin. |
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