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In Chicago, showgirl Maisie Ravier loses her job when her knife-throwing partner, Professor Orco, becomes disconsolate over his latest romantic failure and almost kills Maisie onstage.  Later, in the office of down-on-his luck theatrical agent Perry Podd, Maisie encounters cornball comic "Hap" Hixby and is not impressed.  Leaving the office, she runs into "Pappy" Goodring, a very kind man for whom she once did a favor.  Pappy offers her a job as assistant manager of his building, and she eagerly accepts.  She soon discovers, however, that Pappy is too softhearted to throw out the many tenants who are behind on their rent.  When Marshall J.  Denningham comes to rent a suite of offices for his bottled Sapphire Water business, Pappy is delighted to see Maisie take charge.

At lunch, Pappy introduces her to building coffee shop-owner Jasper, who finds it equally difficult to get his customers to pay.  While at Jasper's, Maisie discovers that the building is bankrupt and the receiver, Stickwell, chastises Pappy for hiring Maisie.  Hap, who also is in the coffee shop, then asks Maisie to join his act, revealing that he sold his drugstore back home to make good in show business and has enough money to pay her a salary while they rehearse.  Maisie then resigns so that Stickwell will not be angry with Pappy, and she and Hap rent an office to prepare their act.

A few weeks later, Hap and Maisie have started to like each other and are set for their first job.  He gives her a horseshoe pin for luck, and becomes depressed after his hometown fiancée, Elsie McIntyre, sends him a letter.  That night, when Hap goes onstage, he completely freezes and can only nervously clear his throat.  The audience laughs at first, thinking it is part of the act, but soon start to boo and Maisie's intervention is no help at all.  After an embarrassed Hap runs out of the theater, Denningham, who was given free tickets to the show, expresses great sympathy for the personable Hap and says that he would love to have him in his business.

Hours later, Hap is waiting at their boardinghouse and apologizes for his disgrace, admitting that he does not belong in show business.  He thinks about going home, but because he likes the big city, Maisie encourages him to stay in Chicago and work for Denningham, unaware that Denningham is a swindler and his product is merely bottled tap water.

A few weeks later, Maisie and Hap are both working with Denningham, who is selling lots of stock in the company, including $2,500 worth to Hap.  At lunch one day, Maisie and Hap run into Pappy, who is depressed because Stickwell has fired him.  Jasper and the other tenants are outraged at Pappy's dismissal, and Maisie decides to give Stickwell a talking to.  To help convince him to rehire Pappy, Hap spikes Stickwell's bottle of water with gin and to encourage him to drink more, Hap and an unsuspecting Maisie all get drunk.  Stickwell agrees to rehire Pappy, and while drunk, Hap tells Maisie he loves her and wants to telephone Elsie to call off their engagement.  Maisie insists that he wait until he is sober, but the next morning, just as he is about to call Elsie, she and her mother arrive, hoping to hold the wedding that very day.  Hap is too weak to tell them the truth, and Maisie leaves disconsolately.  A moment later, two detectives come to arrest Denningham and Hap, but only Hap is there.

Some time later, Maisie is appearing at a benefit in Atlanta as part of the Frawley's Frolics troupe and sees Denningham.  When she secretly calls Pappy in Illinois, he reveals that Denningham is a swindler, but escaped the law, leaving Hap, who is now out on bail, to face charges.  She tells Pappy to call the police and she will detain Denningham.  Telling Denningham that she is also a con artist, Maisie is able to hold him long enough for the local police to arrive and arrest him.  Some time later, Maisie and her troupe are appearing at an Army post, and Hap is one of the soldiers in the audience.  After her number, Hap rushes onstage with one of his silly card tricks.  She is delighted and when he asks, promises to wait for him until he wins the war.

Notes
The film is based on characters created by William Collison.  It's working titles were Manhattan Maisie and Get Rich Quick Maisie, and Oh, Maisie.  A pre-production news item in HR lists Karl Freund as the film's cameraman, but only Harry Stradling is listed on the film's credits and in production charts.  An HR news item includes Tito Renaldo, Cy Kendall and Emory Parnell in the cast, but they were not in the completed film.  Another news item includes Joe Yule in the cast, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed.  Although an MGM studio synopsis of the film credits Dorothy Morris with the role of "Elsie," a cast list on the same page properly lists Pamela Blake in the role.

Includes the song "Cookin' with Gas," music and lyrics by Roger Edens.