I Love a Bandleader

As house painters Newton H. Newton and Phil Burton remodel the Club Monterey on Broadway, owner Gibley auditions acts for his club's reopening. Theatrical agent B. Templeton Jones brings his client, aspiring singer Ann Stuart, to try out for a spot, and when Gibley doesn't hire her, Ann becomes discouraged. When Phil, who has watched Ann perform from his ladder, enters a dressing room and tries on a suit from the costume rack, Ann mistakes him for one of Gibley's partners and asks his help in winning a contract. Phil sympathizes with Ann, and when she runs off stage, he follows her, trips and hits his head. After Phil awakens in a hospital room and discovers that he is suffering from amnesia, his physician, Dr. Gardiner, dubs him "John Doe" and suggests he return to the Club Monterey, where someone might recognize him. While seated at a table in the club, Phil begins directing the band, giving Gibley the idea to launch a publicity campaign exploiting Phil as an amnesiac band leader. Gibley's angle proves a huge success and Phil becomes a hit. When Newton rescues Phil from a group of adoring fans one day, the band leader hires him as his bodyguard. Although Phil reminds Newton of his old painting partner, Newton believes that his new employer really is a band leader. Now employed as a hat check girl at the Club Monterey, Ann checks Jones's hat, and when she recalls her earlier meeting with Phil, the agent informs Gibley. Recognizing a good publicity angle, Gibley decides to promote Ann as Phil's fiance and hires her to sing in the club. Ann protests the ruse, but when reporters descend upon her and demand the name of her fiance, she claims that he is George Drake from Buffalo. When Dr. Gardiner encourages Ann to continue the deception to help Phil's recovery, she agrees and soon finds herself falling in love with the band leader. Upon returning home from a date with Phil one evening, Ann finds Edwin, her former beau from Buffalo, waiting for her in the lobby. When Edwin demands an explanation for Ann's alienation of affection, she invites him to her room and tells him the whole story. Unknown to Ann, Phil is just outside her door, and when overhears her tale, he thinks that Ann doesn't love him and leaves, dejected. Later Phil tells Newton about Ann's story and announces that he plans to quit and leave town. Newton finally realizes that the band leader really is his former painting partner and hurries to Dr. Gardiner for advice. In Newton's absence, Phil di