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At Sydney’s salon in Manhattan, society ladies can get a
shampoo, set, and the latest gossip, all for one fee. One
afternoon, Sylvia Fowler learns from manicurist Olga that theater
producer Steven Hilliard is having an affair with chorus girl Crystal
Allen. Although Sylvia and Steven’s wife Kay are friends, Sylvia
is thrilled with the scandal, and rushes to tell another of their
friends, Edith Potter. Despite Sylvia’s subsequent hints, Kay
remains oblivious to any possible problems with Steven, to whom she has
been loyally married for ten years.
Later, the ladies meet at the 21 Club to plan their
upcoming charity benefit, a theatrical production. While Kay, a
former singer, is busy being wooed to return to work by her old agent,
Mike Pearl, Kay’s best friend, acerbic writer Amanda Penrose, rebukes
Sylvia and Edith for circulating the gossip about Steven. When Kay
returns, however, Sylvia suggests that she visit Olga for a manicure,
and Kay innocently agrees.
After lunch, Sylvia and Edith attend Steven’s show to
catch sight of Crystal, and although the pregnant Edith’s morning
sickness forces them to leave, later at a coffee shop they happen to sit
next to Crystal, and the three exchange barbed remarks. Crystal
leaves to call Steven, who has recently broken off their affair, and
although she now urges him to see her again, he refuses.
Meanwhile, Kay goes to Sydney’s, where Olga, not realizing who she is,
repeats the gossip about Steven. Kay is devastated, but tries to abide
by Amanda’s advice to pretend nothing is happening until Steven realizes
his mistake and corrects it.
That night, however, at the couple’s anniversary party,
Kay tries to keep up appearances but, when she is asked to sing a love
song, she recalls the first time she met Steven, and breaking down, runs
from the room. Soon after, Crystal reads in the paper that Kay has
gone to Bermuda, and hoping that this signals a rift in the marriage,
arranges to "bump into" Steven and the Hilliard's daughter, Debbie, at
the park. There, Crystal manipulates Steven into spending the day
together.
That night, Kay returns home from Bermuda early, and
Steven is thrilled to see her. At the charity benefit, Kay runs
the show, not realizing that Crystal is performing in one of the
numbers. When Crystal sees Kay, she plots to confront her and
incite her jealousy. As Crystal has hoped, Kay goes to Crystal’s
dressing room, and after Kay calls her dress cheap, Crystal responds,
"When Steven doesn’t like something I wear, I take it off." Kay
slaps her and runs out, and although Steven tries to follow her, she
refuses to listen to his excuses.
Soon after, she is on a train to Reno to obtain a
divorce. Along the way she meets the Countess, a colorful older
woman on her fourth divorce, and entertainer Gloria Dahl, who help Kay
"celebrate" her new freedom. In Reno, the ladies stay at Lucy’s
Ranch, where playboy cowboy Buck Winston distracts Kay momentarily by
trying to kiss her. Later, at the ranch, Kay is shocked to
discover that the newest boarder is Sylvia, whose husband is leaving her
for another woman. After reading a newspaper item Edith has
mailed, Kay deduces that the other woman is Gloria, prompting Sylvia to
initiate a fistfight with Gloria that wrecks the kitchen.
Within weeks, Kay’s divorce is finalized. Although
the Countess and Gloria are solicitous, Kay clearly still pines for
Steven. Amanda shows up to urge her to ask Steven for a
reconciliation; but just then, Steven calls to inform Kay that he is
marrying Crystal. Forced by financial exigency to return to her
singing career, Kay, under her maiden name of Ashley, learns backstage
that Sylvia has returned from Reno with Buck as her new paramour and is
fast friends with Crystal.
At the Hilliard home, meanwhile, Crystal has grown bored
with Steven, is habitually nasty to Debbie and is secretly having an
affair with Buck, whom Sylvia is grooming to be a singing star, hoping
this will spur her friends’ jealousy.
The night of Buck’s big opening, Kay refuses to join
Amanda, the Countess and Gloria at the club, knowing Steven will be
there with Crystal. Before bed, however, Debbie innocently reveals
that Steven is unhappy and that Crystal is seeing Buck. Inspired,
Kay puts on her most beautiful gown and goes to the club, where she
greets Steven charmingly and enlists gossip columnist Dolly DeHaven’s
help in getting revenge on Sylvia. To do so, Kay follows Sylvia
into the ladies’ room and reveals that Crystal is seeing Buck.
Although Sylvia does not believe her, Dolly soon sweeps in and confirms
the news. As Buck begins his tune onstage, Sylvia drags Crystal
into the ladies’ room, followed by Kay, Dolly, Gloria and Amanda.
Kay tries to prevent a fistfight between Sylvia and Crystal, which ends
when Dolly threatens to print a story about the affair, which will ruin
Crystal’s chances of receiving alimony from Steven. After the
Countess enters to report that Buck is a huge hit, Crystal retorts that
she will elope with Buck, and then tells Steven that she is leaving him.
When she informs Buck of her decision, however, he announces that he has
no intention of marrying her. Kay spots Steven sitting alone; when she
calls him over, he is overjoyed finally to sweep her into his arms and
onto the dance floor. |
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