That's the Spirit

Another in the long series of "Pete Smith" shorts from M-G-M in which William Newell meets and falls in love with Sally Payne, and begins to budget for their plans to get married. His budget, alas, does not include nor anticipate the plans of Sally and her parents. This short was reissued in June of 1950 to be shown as a trailer with 1950's "Father of the Bride" and some sources think this short was made for that express purpose and date it as a 1950 film.

Walter Webb, thinking his gas station has been destroyed, describes a "super-deluxe" gas station run by chorus girls to his insurance agent.

Young Cab Calloway's mother is concerned, because Cab spends his days listening to the radio, pretending to lead a miniature orchestra. A deacon passing by the apartment hears him singing and advises him go to his wife's gypsy tea room. As she reads the tea leaves, she sees situations which lead to Cab and his orchestra performing musical numbers.

Newspaper columnist Mr. Inquisitive telephones readers to ask, "What would you like to do?", with the chosen responses being eligible for a prize. The callees include torch singer Vera Van, bandleader Lester Cole (and his Texas Rangers), and other late-period vaudeville acts, all whom are ready to perform.

Freddie Rich and His Orchestra perform popular songs and accompany guest performers

Four convicts escape from a chain gang. Shortly thereafter, changes are made at the prison, because a blue ribbon commission will be investigating conditions there. The changes include steak every day for dinner and stage shows for entertainment. After reading about this, the four escapees plead with the warden to take them back in. Or was this all a dream?

In this Vitaphone Broadway Brevity musical short, Hal and Dawn work at the same vaudeville theater, where he's an usher, she's a chorus girl. When they both get fired, they form an act and vow to get back to their old theater, as performers.

June never leaves her apartment, which has a view of an advertising sign of a knight in shining armor. She is two weeks behind in her rent and believes that if she leaves the apartment, the landlord will never let her back in. The only way she gets food is when her friend, singer Earlayne Schools, brings it to her. One evening June sees Hal, a tap-dancing sign painter, painting over her knight. She explains her predicament, and he does his best to help her out.

Bandleader Frances Carroll leads The Coquettes, an all-female band, in several swing tunes.

When he is fired from his job, Red puts a hex on his boss. That evening, the boss goes to a nightclub and discovers that the hex worked.

'Blind Bob' has written a song and the folks at the music publishing company think that Joe Frisco, his old friend from the Bowery is just right for it. So we see Joe at stage doing his peddler routine. He goes over to the publishing company, where he flirts with a girl act, and then tries out some eccentric dancing to the new song, which happens to be 'Get Happy.'

A doctor develops pills that make Hal a great tap dancer. Lola Green sees Hal dancing in a drugstore and asks him to join her vaudeville show. Everything is fine until Hal's pills disappear.

A young American man in Paris spots a beautiful woman in a crowd and is instantly smitten, but soon loses sight of her. Later, as he and several friends are sitting at a table at an outdoor cafe and he is describing her to them, he sees her again. His friends begin to tease him about her, and he bets them that he can win her love in 30 days even though he has no money.

The Sultan is not a very happy man. He charges his royal jester to make him laugh before sunrise or die.

Musical satire based on Anthony Hope's Ruritanian novel "The Prisoner of Zenda" in which a commoner takes the place of a lookalike king.