SYNOPSIS
Act
One
Manhattan,
1922. Millie Dillmount steps
off the train from Salina, Kansas. Surrounded by a throng of fabulous
flappers, Millie's a fish out of water, until she bobs her hair and
sheds her Sunday best for a higher hemline and a hotter look. As she
walks along the street Millie is mugged. She seeks help from Jimmy
Smith, but all he provides is unsolicited advice for her to make a
U-turn and return home. A week passes, and we're at the Hotel
Priscilla, where a bevy of stagestruck hopefuls are starting their day.
Enter Miss Dorothy, and she and Millie quickly prove that opposites
attract.
Meanwhile,
in the laundry room, Mrs.
Meers, the owner of the hotel, plots to kidnap Miss Dorothy. Why? Mrs.
Meers runs a white slavery ring, targeting orphans whose sudden
disappearance goes unnoticed, and Miss Dorothy fits the bill. Mrs.
Meers barks instructions at her immigrant henchmen, Ching Ho and Bun
Foo. The two brothers quarrel over Ching Ho's crisis of conscience, but
Bun Foo reminds him that crime is the only career that pays well enough
for them to bring their mother over from Hong Kong.
Later
that afternoon, Millie begins her
job hunt, or rather husband hunt: Millie's "modern" plan is to find
work as a stenographer to an eligible bachelor and wind up his wife. On
her list of potential bosses/hubbies is Trevor Graydon III at the
Sincere Trust Insurance Company.
Back
at the hotel, Mrs. Meers tries to
dope Miss Dorothy with a poisoned apple, but is repeatedly interrupted.
Millie takes the Priscilla girls out on the town to celebrate her new
job, and she runs into Jimmy Smith. He gets them into a speakeasy, and
though Millie is initially standoffish, they eventually join in a
dance. By the time they are raided and land in jail, Jimmy reconsiders
his assessment of Millie. Jimmy asks Millie to a Yankees game, but she
reveals her plan to marry her boss. Saving face, Jimmy pretends that
his interest is platonic, suggesting that she bring Miss Dorothy along.
A trio is formed for nightly excursions to Coney Island, Central Park
and the glamorous penthouse of Muzzy Van Hossmere, Manhattan's most
celebrated chanteuse.
Later
that night, on Muzzy's terrace,
Jimmy needles Millie about her plan to marry a man who thinks of her as
"a typewriter on legs." Their quarrel escalates until, unable to
control himself, Jimmy kisses Millie passionately. He exits in a panic,
leaving her alone to sort out her feelings. She returns to the Hotel
Priscilla in a state of bliss, which is quickly shattered when she sees
Jimmy sneaking out of Miss Dorothy's room after what appears to be a
late-night tryst.
Act
Two
The
next morning, Millie is miserable .
She wills herself into wasting no more time on Jimmy Smith. Instead,
she redoubles her efforts to seduce Mr. Graydon, until Miss Dorothy
drops by and she and Mr Graydon are immediately smitten. Jimmy appears
on the window ledge outside of Millie's office, where he declares his
feelings for her. Millie, too, is falling in love, as are Mr. Graydon,
Miss Dorothy and Ching Ho, whose heart has belonged to Miss Dorothy
since the moment they met. Meanwhile, Mrs. Meers is more determined
than ever to get Miss Dorothy. Ching Ho tries to stop her, but she
reminds him of her promise to import their elderly, ailing mother in
exchange for their evil-doings.
Millie
and Jimmy go to Café
Society to hear Muzzy sing but they can't pay the bill so they are put
on dishwashing duty. Millie realises that the unemployed Jimmy is as
far from her plan to marry well as a girl can get, so she flees the
kitchen and heads to Muzzy's dressing room for some sound advice. Muzzy
explains that though she herself married a multi-millionaire, she had
no idea he was rich until after their engagement, when a green glass
brooch he gave her turned out to be emeralds. Muzzy leaves Millie alone
in the dressing room to mull over her advice.
Mr.
Graydon shows up at Café
Society in a drunken stupor: Miss Dorothy has checked out of the Hotel
Priscilla with no forwarding address. Putting their heads together,
Millie, Jimmy and Mr. Graydon realise that Mrs. Meers must be running a
white slavery ring. They persuade Muzzy into checking in as a
new-orphan-in-town. Mrs. Meers takes the bait and is exposed as the
mastermind criminal she is.
With
Mrs. Meers out of the way, Miss
Dorothy is revealed in Ching Ho's arms: he rescued her from an
unspeakable fate and won her heart into the bargain. Jimmy proposes to
Millie, and, poor as he is, she accepts, "because if it's marriage I've
got in mind, love has everything to do with it." Jimmy reveals himself
to be Herbert J. Van Hossmere III — Muzzy's stepson, Miss
Dorothy's brother and one of the most eligible bachelors in the world.
The two couples kiss as a throng of fabulous flappers appears. Through
them walks another girl from nowhere, ready to take her chances in the
never-ending tale that is New York City.
|
