On the Avenue

Plot

Gary Blake (Dick Powell) stars in a new show, On the Avenue, with Mona Merrick (Alice Faye). The show contains a satire on The Richest Girl in the World, Mimi Carraway (Madeleine Carroll). Mimi and her father (George Barbier) are in the audience on opening night and they feel insulted. She goes backstage and tries to get Gary to take the skit out of the show. He refuses and calls her a "bad sport".

Shocked by the remark, Mimi decides to make a date with Gary. They spend the entire evening together and, by morning, have fallen in love. He finally agrees to revise the skit so it can no longer hurt the Carraways. Mona is in love with Gary and is furious when she hears about Gary's date with Mimi. When the Carraways appear to see the revised sketch, she changes it, without Gary's knowledge, making it worse than before. The Carraways decide to file suit against Gary.

To get back at him, Mimi buys the show from the producer and embarrasses Gary by hiring a paid audience to walk out on the show. Word leaks out to the press and Gary is now the laughingstock of New York. Furious, he tears up his contract, refusing to work with Mimi. Soon, Mimi becomes engaged to Arctic explorer Frederick Sims (Alan Mowbray). On her wedding day, Mona arrives and tells Mimi that it was she, not Gary, who changed the skit. She runs out on the wedding and is taken to city hall with Gary to be married.

The movie's action is interspersed with songs from the play, including Berlin's songs "He Ain't Got Rhythm," and "Let's Go Slumming On Park Avenue."

Cast

Partial sound track

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: