Tea for Two

A socialite with aspirations of a career in show business bets her wealthy uncle $25,000 that she can say "no" to everything for two days straight, hoping winning will help her fulfill her dreams. In this reworking of "No, No, Nanette," wealthy heiress Nanette Carter bets her uncle $25,000 that she can say "no" to everything for 48 hours. If she wins, she can invest the money in a Broadway show featuring songs written by her beau, and of course, in which she will star. The trouble is, she doesn't realize that her uncle has been wiped out by the Stock Market crash. —Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com> In 1929, well-to-do Nanette Carter dreams of making it big as an entertainer on Broadway, and is taking singing and dancing lessons from her friends, composer Jimmy Smith and dancer Tommy Trainor, to achieve that goal. Larry Blair, who has had a thing for Nanette in the past because of her wealth but she who will not speak to him now over an unpaid loan, has the rights to Jimmy's latest songs for a Broadway show in which Jimmy and Tommy have major roles. Larry is looking for investors in this difficult time immediately after the stock market crash. He's afraid that his stormy personal relationship with her will prevent Nanette, one of the few remaining wealthy people he knows, from investing as she has done in the past. But when Jimmy suggests that Nanette take over the lead role from Larry's current girlfriend Bea Darcy, Nanette believes this move could be her big show-business break and promises to invest the $25,000 needed to put on the show. Unbeknown to Nanette, she and her financier uncle, J. Maxwell Bloomhaus, are currently broke as Max made the decision to convert all their government bonds into stock, which were hit in the crash. But based on a conversation that Max had with their lawyer, William Early, who told Max that he could have saved a lot of money by not saying "yes" so often especially to crazy schemes, Nanette bets her uncle that she be allowed to cash in $25,000 of her bonds (which no longer exist) if she answers "no" to every question asked of her over the next 48 hours. Nanette's faithful but wisecracking secretary Pauline Hastings is to act as the official judge to make sure Nanette doesn't answer "yes" during that time. Uncle Max does whatever he can to make Nanette lose the bet if only because he wouldn't be able to fulfill his side of the bet if he loses. Nanette's "no"s cause more than a few misunderstandings, not only with respect to putting on the show, but also in her budding romance with Jimmy. In the end, even if Nanette wins the bet, will it be worth it if she loses the show and/or Jimmy, especially as the money no longer exists? —Huggo