The film opens on Ann Collins being asked about the cigarette choices in the lobby, before cutting to an audience watching a lavish 1929
Broadway show, featuring a giant gold mine production number ("Song of the Gold Diggers"). Famous guitarist
Nick Lucas sings "
Painting the Clouds with Sunshine", in back of a large paint pallet backdrop with the heads of chorus girls wearing various colored wigs peeking out of the pallet. Ann Collins and two male dancers come out as Nick repeats the chorus as they do a tap dance number. The lights turn off briefly, and when they turn on, it climaxes to a larger backdrop with a huge
art deco revolving sun. Ann and the male dancers continue dancing. The music climaxes and the chorus girls standing on the rays of the sun walk through the center of the sun and down a staircase to the bottom of the stage. Backstage, Mabel and another showgirl get into a fight for talking too loud. The main character, Jerry Lamar goes to see her boyfriend, Barney Barnett about an after party. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to the gang of chorus girls, Eleanor Montgomery, Mabel Munroe, Topsy St. Clair, and Violet Dayne. All are "man hungry", except Violet. Most are looking for love and money, but are not sure which is more important. Violet is engaged to Wally Saunders. Jerry comes over and lets them all know that they are going to Barney’s party. The next day, Mabel wakes up, hung over on the couch of Jerry’s apartment, in a balloon and a party hat. Violet wakes up Mabel and pops the balloon. She gets up and washes her face in Jerry’s ensuite bathroom. Eleanor and Topsy arrive and sit down in Jerry’s bedroom. Violet and Jerry Arrive and start conversing about how Jerry is understudying Ann Collins, even though she never gets sick. They then start pestering her after she gets a package of flowers from Barney. They are then visited by a faded star named Cissy Grey who is reduced to selling cosmetic soap. Jerry signs them up for a lot of it, signing Mabel up for a gross, saying that, “she’s got a lot to wash”. They tell the story of how Cissy Grey lost her looks, causing her to fall out of favor with men. Violet says she doesn’t care about what they say about men, and that Wally was different. Mabel sings, "And Still They fall in Love", about how love is a sham and that you shouldn’t get married. The doorbell rings and Violet’s boyfriend, Wally says that his uncle, Stephen Lee forbids him from marrying Violet because she is a chorus girl. While Steve was on the way, Jerry plans to say that she is marrying Wally and make herself seem bad in order to make Violet look like an angel, and uncle Steve will let her marry Wally. Jerry also says that Wally should lay low, but Violet should do little favors for Uncle Steve to win his trust. She kicks Eleanor and Topsy out, but Mabel stays behind in Jerry’s bedroom while Wally and Violet listen from the kitchen. Uncle Steve arrives and Jerry tries to explain that Wally wants to marry Violet, but he does not listen and only accuses her of trying to "ensnare his nephew". Jerry gets fed up and says that she is going to marry Wally whether he likes it or not. Uncle Steve storms out and calls up his corpulent lawyer friend, Mr. James Blake (
Albert Gran). Mr. Blake advises him to befriend the showgirl first before making a decision. Not long after, Mabel came out of the bedroom and took a fancy to Mr. Blake, calling him 'sweetie' and showing her appreciation by singing him a song, "Mechanical Man". That evening, they all visit a huge party. Nick sings, "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine". Mabel ends up on a table singing another song to Mr. Blake, "Keeping the Wolf from the Door", before jumping into his lap. Mr. Blake says he is "losing his mind or just plain mad". Nick then gets up on the table and sings "Tip Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me". Ann Collins then gets up and does a dance to "The Pennington Glide". Afterward, Jerry gets up and tells everyone that the party is moving to her apartment. Everyone drinks a lot and gets tired and drunk. Uncle Steve says he's "getting to like these showgirls" after seeing Ann Collins dance on the table. Ann Collins starts wooing Nick and asks him to sing, "In a Kitchenette". Mabel goes into the living room with Mr. Blake and asks him for a car. He declines and says that a man only buys a woman a car if they’re getting married. Mabel takes this as a proposal and jumps on the couch, saying "Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed! Sweetie Proposed!" She drags him out the door and go window shopping for a car. The party ends with Nick singing "Go to Bed" in the foyer and Jerry contriving to get Steve back after everyone has left. She gets him more drunk whilst tipping her own drinks away when he is not looking. Her aim is to get Steve to agree to allow Wally to marry Violet. To do this, she lies about being born in a small town called Chillicothe and had many husbands and fiancées, a few being a swimming instructor, a man claiming to be a Spaniard, and a man who fell in the Grand Canyon, all of the relationships ending in absurd ways. She finally gets to Wally and tells Uncle Steve that Wally really loved Violet and not her and that he should let Wally marry Violet. But as soon as she says that, her visiting mother comes out of the bedroom, finds them together, and debunks her lies, saying that she always lived in Boston. Steve leaves in a fit of anger and says that he will not let Wally and Violet get married. The next morning at practice, Jerry feels disgraced. Uncle Steve will not answer the phone and she assumes that Wally and Violet's engagement is over. Eleanor and Topsy are late because Eleanor made Topsy learn to ride a horse but failed miserably. Mabel has been given an extra line for the show, "I am the spirit of the ages and the progress of civilization", but cannot get the words right. Mabel receives a proposal of marriage from Mr. Blake, and accepts, saying that she doesn't want to turn into Cissy Grey and can't get her face lifted much more. She inquires about the car money and says that, "old Mabel can't be pedaling stone". She worries about her extra line and cannot remember it. Nick is told off for singing badly and sings another song, "What will I do without you". Helen Johnson (
Judith Wood), another showgirl, mocks Ann for the way she acted at the party. They start fighting and Ann gets a black eye, but is unsuccessful at trying to hide it with makeup. Jerry is asked to take her place as the star of the evening performance, but is still woeful. The show starts with Nick Lucas reprising "
Tip-Toe Thru' the Tulips with Me" on stage with Eleanor in the window of a house, and Nick in a garden with a large moon. The set climaxes to a huge stage set that shows girls in large, mechanical tulip costumes in a huge greenhouse. Backstage, Wally comes into Jerry’s dressing room and tells her that uncle Steve gave him and Violet his consent to get married. Uncle Steve comes into the dressing room and tells Wally and Violet that if they need ring money, he will pay for some of it. They leave and Jerry asks him if he remembers anything from last night, and he remembered saying that he wanted to marry Jerry. He asks Jerry if she wants to marry him, and she says yes. Jerry says, "Steve, you’re a darling," and they embrace. The finale starts with Jerry leading the "Song of the Gold Diggers" against a huge art deco backdrop of Paris at night. Various acrobats and girls litter the stage as the "Song of the Gold Diggers", "Tip Toe Thru the Tulips with Me", a very upbeat version of "Go to Bed", "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine", and "Mechanical Man" are reprised in a fast moving, lavish production number. Finally, the whole cast come to the front of the stage singing the Song of the Gold Diggers. The music stops and male choristers lift Mabel into the air, whereupon she strikes a pose resembling the Statue of Liberty and exclaims, "I am... I am... oh, darn it, I've forgotten that second line!" The music swells, and the film comes to its glorious end. ==Cast==