Synopsis
Babe and Casey Hogan are sisters who work in the sheet music department at the Mandelbaum & Weill store. Babe is sweet and naive, while Casey is a wisecracking broad who gets into trouble mocking the official store song [Smile, Smile, Smile] and is gently admonished by the manager, David Parker. Beneath all her joking, Casey feels responsible for Babe and is desperate to hold on to her job.
Babe is in love with their colleague, James “Jimmy” Dean, who has been given the job of organizing the store’s annual show. Jimmy asks Babe to marry him, but they are scared to tell Casey, who does not like Jimmy. On the night of the show, which opens with a fashion show What the Debutante Must Do], Jimmy sends the models on in the wrong order, ruining the number. Then he sends on a singer who does not know his words [I’m the Son of A–]. Jimmy and Babe perform together [Won’t You be My Lady Love], but Babe is too nervous to sing properly, so Casey turns it into a comic number. Casey and Babe perform an impromptu number [I’m Following You].
Mr Mandelbaum and Mr Weill, the store owners, arrive late and see the finale [Smile, Smile, Smile] and are horrified when Casey turns the store song into a joke. They fire Casey, Babe and Jimmy. David walks Casey home and tries to ask her to marry him, but she fails to understand. Babe and Jimmy arrive with Jimmy’s friend Benny Friedman. Benny is a vaudeville booker and offers Casey, Babe and Jimmy a job.
At a rehearsal studio, Casey and Jimmy argue constantly as they develop an act. [I’m Following You; It’s An Old Spanish Custom; Tell Me Dirty Maiden]. They are a hit, but Jimmy is annoyed that Casey cuts his piano solo. In their dressing room, Babe angrily tells Casey to stop picking on Jimmy.
At the next theatre, Babe and Jimmy are late for rehearsal. David comes to see Casey. His second attempt at proposing is interrupted when Babe and Jimmy arrive. Casey fires Jimmy from the act, but Babe says she is going too; she and Jimmy are married. Casey is devastated and breaks up the act. Casey sends David away, because she has to get used to being alone now [Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella on a Rainy Day].
Jimmy announces a new act, Dean and Hogan, but they flop and are fired after one performance. They vow to stick together [I’m Following You]. Casey, meanwhile, is performing a single act, but Benny tells her it is not as good without her sister.
Benny arranges for her to meet Babe and Jimmy at his office, where they all pretend to be doing better than they actually are. Casey is concerned that Babe is coughing and instructs Jimmy how to look after her.
Casey continues to play low-class venues [Ach, du lieber Augustin]. Babe becomes ill and, in her delirium, calls out for Casey, who hears her voice while performing elsewhere in the city.
David calls in to see Casey and finally tells her he loves her. He is leaving that evening to run the Mandelbaum and Weill store in Paris, and he asks Casey to marry him. She says yes, but just then Jimmy arrives. He tells Casey that Babe is very ill and needs her. Jimmy knows that Babe loves him, but that he will never mean as much to her as Casey does. Casey tells David that she loves him, but she has to stay with Babe and look after her.
Casey goes to Babe, who is still delirious, imagining they are performing at the Palace [Hoosier Hop; I’m Sailing on a Sunbeam!]. Babe recovers when she sees Casey and learns that she and Jimmy will work together again without arguing.
