Tag: Free and Easy

Synopsis

Gopher City, Kansas. Elvira Plunkett, Miss Gopher City, boards a train for Hollywood, a prize from the Chamber of Commerce. She is accompanied by her mother, Ma Plunkett, and her manager, Elmer J Butts. Elmer, who has the tickets, is forced to ride on the caboose until the first stop. Elvira and Ma mistakenly occupy the room of Larry Mitchell, an MGM movie star, who is returning to Hollywood for the opening of his new picture.  Ma and Elvira are reunited with Elmer when the train stops. 

The following week, Larry’s picture premieres at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre, with MGM contract players in attendance. Elmer, Elvira and Ma are there at Larry’s invitation. Elmer has to drive miles to park the car and enters the theatre just as the film is ending. He is mistaken for William Haines and dragged onto the stage. Back at their hotel, Elmer tries and fails to tell Elvira that he loves her. 

The next day, at the MGM studios, Elvira and Ma watch Larry film a musical number [It Must Be You]. Larry introduces them to director Fred Niblo. Elmer arrives, but cannot get through the studio gates. He finally sneaks in with a crowd of extras. Elmer is chased by a studio guard and accidentally sets off an explosion on an outdoor set, before running onto a sound stage where Lionel Barrymore is directing. He ruins a take, then runs onto the stage where Larry is filming and gets involved in a musical number. 

The guard catches him, but Larry and Elvira intercede. They persuade Niblo to give Elmer a small part in the picture, but it all goes badly wrong. Larry sends Elmer to the transportation department so he can get a ride home, and Elmer ends up getting a job as a driver. 

His first job is driving Elvira and Larry home from a party; they do not realize Elmer is the driver. He overhears Larry inviting Elvira to go to his house. While Larry sets about seducing Elvira, Elmer, who thinks Larry is asking her to marry him,rushes to fetch Ma. Elmer and Ma arrive to find Elvira in tears. Elmer tackles Larry and they both end up unconscious. Elvira and Ma leave. Larry is ashamed, and he and Elmer become friends. They discover they used to know each other when Larry was Heiny Schwartz, the butcher’s son, back in Kansas. 

Larry arranges for Elmer to try another part in the picture, and apologizes to Elvira. Meanwhile, Ma unexpectedly wins a part in the picture. Elmer and Ma perform a comic skit in the musical comedy [Oh King, Oh Queen]. Elvira admires Elmer, but has given up on the idea of acting herself; she never wanted to come to Hollywood, it was all Ma’s idea. She could never be happy making-believe all her life. Elmer tells Elvira that a certain movie star loves her very much and only needs a little encouragement; Elvira thinks he means Larry. 

In another scene from the musical, Elmer is trying to take the girl back to his home in Brooklyn [The Free And Easy]. Elmer is considered a great comedian and offered a contract by the studio, but he is dismayed to learn that Elvira and Larry are getting married. Elvira watches as the final scene of the picture is filmed [The Free and Easy; It Must Be You], while Elmer gazes sadly at her and despairs.