While the phones keep ringing and although Winnie Lightner might seem like a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she really keeps command as she runs her husband Walter Miller's design firm that supplies costumes for big Broadway musicals. Lightner, playing a very likable lady named Doris Roberts (!), seems to really understand how to run the business even though she cannot get a moment's peace. Needing some private time so she can return to "singing in the bathtub" (Lightner's outrageous production number from the musical revue "Show of Shows"), Lightner deals with the bickering partners Smith and Dale, a befuddled assistant (Charles Butterworth), a designer (Bobby Watson) whom Blanche Devereaux would accuse of getting ready to fly on out of there, overweight models and cantankerous producers, directors and choreographers with the calm presence of a steel magnolia even though you can see she's running out of steam. All of a sudden, husband Miller demands that she leave her position as head of his company and return home to raise their son (Dickie Moore), not realizing that he's really fraternizing with her secretary (Greta Granstedt) and just wants her out of the way. He disappears with a large amount of the firm's money and it is up to Lightner to take back over to make ends meet for their latest big production, but when he comes back, it's a battle between the sexes that the audience longs to see Lightner win.
Probably Lightner's best dramatic performance, she's a force of nature to watch, both commanding and very smart, compassionate and understanding even with the most demanding of employees, and not at all condescending to the very flamboyant Watson whom most employers would fire within seconds for being such a drama queen. Watson, who would gain his greatest fame as a Hitler impersonator (in both serious dramas like "The Hitler Gang" and raucous comedies like "The Devil With Hitler"), gives an eye raising performance from the start, moving his hand so fast in effeminate movements that it looks like it's going to fly off at any moment. He is unforgettable in this film, hysterically stereotypical and one of the signs of why the Hays Code became so aggressive in its pursuit of a change in the alleged morals of film at the time. Droll Butterworth is the complete antithesis, a bit fey in his mannerisms, but no temperamental diva like Watson. Smith and Dale provide some old style vaudeville for the audience to get a chance to see what was popular back in this time on stage, but their schtick gets a little tiresome after a while, toned down when they reunited 20 years later for "Two Tickets to Broadway" which retained the Jewish style humor but made them less energy draining to watch. Dipstick dumbbell stereotype Polly Walters gives some laughs as the telephone operator, and Dickie Moore is adorable in his few moments as the son.
However, the real champion in this film is Winnie Lightner, an old time vaudevillian who married a Warner Brothers director (Roy Del Ruth) and got to star in a few pre-code films thanks to her success in "Gold Diggers on Broadway". As she takes on cheating husband Walter Miller upon his return after supposedly embezzling money from the company, you may find yourself really rooting for her to take this louse down. Even as she confronts her former secretary (and his supposed mistress), you can see that she isn't out for revenge, but simply determined to build this business up that she has come to love. The way she handles each of her employees, including the cheating secretary (whom she gives a raise to out of the blue) is extremely admirable, and it is nice to see a woman in command of a large company like this and able to be successful at it. Warner Brothers tried this with several of their major glamour stars (Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis), so to see Lightner, best known for her lower class dames taking on such a part is a toast to Lightner's varied talents that sadly would not be around much longer after Lightner really did retire from the screen to raise her family. That's an ironic twist on this plot, but at least she went out her way.
Probably Lightner's best dramatic performance, she's a force of nature to watch, both commanding and very smart, compassionate and understanding even with the most demanding of employees, and not at all condescending to the very flamboyant Watson whom most employers would fire within seconds for being such a drama queen. Watson, who would gain his greatest fame as a Hitler impersonator (in both serious dramas like "The Hitler Gang" and raucous comedies like "The Devil With Hitler"), gives an eye raising performance from the start, moving his hand so fast in effeminate movements that it looks like it's going to fly off at any moment. He is unforgettable in this film, hysterically stereotypical and one of the signs of why the Hays Code became so aggressive in its pursuit of a change in the alleged morals of film at the time. Droll Butterworth is the complete antithesis, a bit fey in his mannerisms, but no temperamental diva like Watson. Smith and Dale provide some old style vaudeville for the audience to get a chance to see what was popular back in this time on stage, but their schtick gets a little tiresome after a while, toned down when they reunited 20 years later for "Two Tickets to Broadway" which retained the Jewish style humor but made them less energy draining to watch. Dipstick dumbbell stereotype Polly Walters gives some laughs as the telephone operator, and Dickie Moore is adorable in his few moments as the son.
However, the real champion in this film is Winnie Lightner, an old time vaudevillian who married a Warner Brothers director (Roy Del Ruth) and got to star in a few pre-code films thanks to her success in "Gold Diggers on Broadway". As she takes on cheating husband Walter Miller upon his return after supposedly embezzling money from the company, you may find yourself really rooting for her to take this louse down. Even as she confronts her former secretary (and his supposed mistress), you can see that she isn't out for revenge, but simply determined to build this business up that she has come to love. The way she handles each of her employees, including the cheating secretary (whom she gives a raise to out of the blue) is extremely admirable, and it is nice to see a woman in command of a large company like this and able to be successful at it. Warner Brothers tried this with several of their major glamour stars (Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis), so to see Lightner, best known for her lower class dames taking on such a part is a toast to Lightner's varied talents that sadly would not be around much longer after Lightner really did retire from the screen to raise her family. That's an ironic twist on this plot, but at least she went out her way.