Name: Rhythm Inn
Genre: Musical
Released: 1951
Duration: 1 min 13 s
Cast: Jane Frazee, Kirby Grant, Charles Smith, Lois Collier, Fritz Feld

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Genre

Musical

Release Date

Feb 11, 1951

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Monogram Productions, Inc.

Distribution Company

Monogram Distributing Corp.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 13m

Synopsis

Pete Harris, owner of the Mid-western, Mason City nightclub Rhythm Inn, is concerned because he has not been able to contact his next star attraction, The Dixieland Eight, led by Dusty Rhodes. Dusty, the band and singer Carol Denton became stranded in a small town when their old bus had mechanical problems and, broke, have skipped out of the hotel they were staying in. En route to Mason City, Dusty decides that, upon their arrival, they should perform a street concert and "pass the hat" to raise some funds. However, their impromptu performance lands them in court, as they violated several local ordinances, and the judge fines each one twenty-five dollars or twenty-five days in jail. Carol is able to persuade the judge to allow her to pawn the band's instruments in order to pay the fines and keep the men out of jail. Meanwhile, Eddie Thompson, a local songwriter who works as a song demonstrator at Professor Rinaldo's music store, has been unsuccessfully trying to interest Pete in featuring some of his songs at the club. After the judge directs Carol to Rinaldo's store, she meets Eddie and sweet-talks him into giving her twenty-five dollars for each instrument and promises to redeem them, before the store closes, for thirty dollars each. Carol then bails the band out of jail and they head for the nightclub, where Dusty asks Pete for an advance on their fee, but Pete refuses. Rinaldo's store is closed, but Eddie is still there when the band arrives and, while Eddie is conned into auditioning a song for Carol and Dusty, the band recovers their instruments. Eddie is unhappy when he discovers what they have done, but Carol and Dusty, who genuinely like his song, tell him that they want to use it and invite him to the inn so that he can bring the instruments back to the store after their show. Meanwhile, Rusty, the club's hat check girl, tells the cigarette girl, who wants the night off, that she can get Eddie's girl friend, aspiring singer Betty Parker, who works with Eddie at Rinaldo's, to substitute for her. At the club, while Carol is chatting with Eddie, Betty discovers them together and thinks that Eddie is deceiving her. After the show, as Eddie is returning the instruments to the store, he is spotted by a patrolling policeman, who suspects he is robbing the store, and Eddie runs off. Rinaldo is summoned to the store in the middle of the night, but finds everything in order. The next day, the atmosphere between Eddie and Betty is tense, and when Carol and Dusty come to the store to ask him to borrow the instruments again, Eddie at first refuses. However, Carol persuades him that she can square him with Betty and arrange for Betty to perform one of his songs on an upcoming, live radio broadcast. To make things easier, Dusty suggests that Eddie talk with Rinaldo and volunteer to sleep in the store as a guard. Rinaldo agrees and Eddie goes home to pick up some blankets, but when he returns, he finds Betty still at work and they make up. Eddie suddenly remembers that Carol is coming to pick up the instruments and ushers Betty out the front door, as Carol arrives at the back. However, when Betty returns for her purse and finds Carol giving Eddie a "thank you" kiss, the romance is off again. The next day, Dusty wins some cash on a horse race and is finally able to redeem the instruments. After the band auditions another of Eddie's songs, Pete, who also likes the number, tells Dusty that the radio network has given them the best time slot for the Saturday night broadcast. Although Dusty expects that Betty will perform on the broadcast, Carol wants to renege on her offer as she sees a potential hit in Eddie's song and wants to feature it herself. Misfortune strikes when a representative of the hotel the band skipped out on shows up with a court order requiring them to hand over all their cash, leaving them still in debt. Once more, Dusty receives a loan from Rinaldo against the instruments and Eddie is forced to "borrow" them again so that the broadcast can take place and Betty can sing his song. Eddie phones Betty, who knows nothing of the broadcast, impersonates Rinaldo and asks her to meet him in front of the store in evening dress. Eddie then kidnaps her, and takes her and the instruments to the club. Meanwhile, Carol shows up at the store to collect the instruments and is trapped there by a sophisticated alarm system Rinaldo has installed, missing the broadcast. Betty goes on in her place, and she and Eddie's song are hits.