During their annual visit to the Iowa State Fair, the Frake family enjoy many adventures. Proud patriarch Abel has high hopes for his champion swine Blueboy; and his wife Melissa enters the mincemeat and pickles contest...with hilarious results.
A window dresser's kiss brings a statue of the Roman goddess of love to life.
Three sailors finally get some shore leave, and go in search of fun and girls.
Katharine Hilliard, mousy dean of a stuffy music school, meets and is insulted by swing band leader Barry Clayton on a train. To "show" him she takes a friend's advice, removes her glasses, and puts on a designer gown. Naturally, she becomes gorgeous. Soon, both Barry and crooner Jimmy Hale are after her, and she finds herself in the midst of triangles and misunderstandings.
Joe Davis Sr., headliner at a big nightclub, is visited by medical student son Joe Jr., who to Dad's chagrin wants to be a crooner, and soon comes between Dad and his girlfriend Claire. So glamorous dancer Bonnie is enlisted to distract Junior. Which does Bonnie want more, the fur coat or true love? Plot is a framework for numerous Ziegfeld style stage productions.
In the late 1800s, Miss Pilgrim, a young stenographer, or typewriter, becomes the first female employee at a Boston shipping office. Although the men object to her at first, she soon charms them all, especially the handsome young head of the company. Their romance gets sidetracked when she becomes involved in the Women's Suffrage movement.
Climbing to fame, Irish-American composer Ernest R. Ball romances a showgirl, who catches the eye of an underworld character.
A newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City.
Two pairs of lovers try to thwart an arranged marriage at Costa Rican fiesta time.
Aspiring actress Louise Muban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works at a dreary factory assembling gas meters at night. She daydreams and "acts" her way through life, and her fellow students at school begin to suspect her stories are just that - fabrications. After Louise begins to weave an actual meeting with a debonair playboy into a fantasy of club dates and romance, her classmate Nana discovers the lie when she too meets the playboy. Nana sets a trap for Louise, and the result is an end to one fantasy and the realization of another.
A gang of con artists disguise themselves as clerics in order to pull off a job, but soon find that even pretending to be religious people is having an effect on them.
Encomium to Larry Hart (1895-1943), seen through the fictive eyes of his song-writing partner, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979): from their first meeting, through lean years and their breakthrough, to their successes on Broadway, London, and Hollywood. We see the fruits of Hart and Rodgers' collaboration - elaborately staged numbers from their plays, characters' visits to night clubs, and impromptu performances at parties. We also see Larry's scattered approach to life, his failed love with Peggy McNeil, his unhappiness, and Richard's successful wooing of Dorothy Feiner.
Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas.
A New Yorker inherits an old river boat and decides to turn it into a night club while falling in love with Sally Jane, the granddaughter of his worse enemy.
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.
Wealthy widow Helen Mercer hires a young woman, Gretchen Addison, to act as her personal assistant and companion. Unfortunately, Helen is a poor judge of character, as Gretchen is part of a murderous extortionist duo with her boyfriend, Jay. However, Gretchen has second thoughts when she develops genuine affection for Helen. When Gretchen informs Jay that she wants to call off their plot, he refuses and carries on with the plan. Now both Helen and Gretchen may be in grave danger.
Composer Gary Stuart (Ray Milland) and his wife, Connie (Jane Wyman), have an argument over her alleged affair with Courtney Craig (Tom Helmore). The Stuarts agree to get divorced, and each tries to move on to a new love: Gary with socialite Deborah Randolph (Karin Booth) and Connie with businessman Frank McGraw (Aldo Ray). However, they start to realize that they still have strong feelings for each other. The Stuarts must make a decision before their divorce is final.
Hat check man Louis Blore is in love with nightclub star May Daly. May, however, is in love with a poor dancer but wants to marry for money. When Louis wins the Irish Sweepstakes, he asks May to marry him and she accepts even though she doesn't love him. Soon after, Louis has an accident and gets knocked on the head, where he dreams that he's King Louis XV pursuing the infamous Madame Du Barry.
The history of a Polish family and its contributions to the war effort throughout American history.
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.