Frank Loesser, that is, the composer of songs for big Broadway hits like "Where's Charley?", "Guys & Dolls", "The Most Happy Fella" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". This swell little musical deals with the efforts of the cast and crew of a federal WPA show to get their show produced when the government withdraws funding. Several of the male cast members take up residence in the theater thanks to kindly stage doorman William Frawley.
Just as they settle in backstage, along comes the equally talented and even more needy Grace McDonald whom they promise a job once they get the show off the ground again. This of course creates some tension with their girlfriends (Virginia Dale and Lillian Cornell) who have already been promised major parts. No sooner is that situation resolved than they accidentally pass counterfeit money right before learning that the theater is about to be torn down unless they can come up with the rent, all to make room for a parking lot, hence a 40's precursor to the 1971 Broadway musical "Follies".
While I would have just admitted my mistake in believing the counterfeit money as real, you can't have a plotline for a musical comedy when you expect common sense, and the results here are delightful. It is nice how they turn the backstage, complete with sets into a flophouse, complete with turntable that McDonald and director Robert Paige use for a romantic escapade "through the park". They find that the theater owner is completely nearsighted so they are able to pass the counterfeit cash off as real, adding more complications onto an already zany part.
Charles Lane, who seemed to be in pretty much nearly every movie at the time, plays the bank manager who recognizes McDonald as the girl who passed the counterfeit money. Fortunately, one of the men (Frank Jenks) is a convicted felon who is an expert at safe cracking, giving the promise of dishonesty saving the day. While I'm sure they crossed paths in other movies, it will be a nice moment for "I Love Lucy" fans to see Lane and Frawley together, later working together on that classic sitcom.
In spite of all the implausibilities, this is quite entertaining with lots of zany characters in addition to the nearsighted storyline. One of the characters continuously breaks into impressions of famous stars of the time, going from Charles Laughton to Ronald Colman to Lionel Barrymore with little effort, something you know will eventually be used as part of the plot as necessary devices call for it. Like many musicals of the time, there's a number celebrating the popularity of Latin music at the time.
The title song is very nicely done, and "I Hear Music" is another nice comical group number featuring the boys (which also includes Peter Lind Hayes and Eddie Quillan, the eternal juvenile) waking up in the theater in different ways, acting delightfully goofy and affectionate with each other. However, the "Debutante #1" production number is very strange, rather avante garde for 1940, and featuring spooky looking masks on the male dancers throughout, and eventually on the women, one of which is a rather gruesome Garbo type mask. I guess with the counterfeit money issue obviously resolved, you can say that accidental crime does pay.
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