Paul Trietsch

Entertainment trade-paper headlines report the resurgence of vaudeville as the new medium of television searches for new talent. At the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles, master of ceremonies Robert Alda introduces vaudeville performers while being frequently interrupted by several comedians

In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.

Rancher Rusty Williams is away at agricultural college and leaves his spread in the hands of his older cousin Shorty. Shorty wants to do more than run a ranch, however -- he wants to prospect for gold, but he has no money. He recruits a pair of partners in the guise of two runaway vagrants and a pair of backers in two stranded singers. But then Rusty shows up, and his four somewhat bumbling hired hands manage to compound Larry and Curly's deep ineptitude, and Rusty wants them all out of his hair.

In order to help neighboring Indians irrigate their farms, the Hotshots plan to put on a fair for tourists. But first they need $2000 for an advertising campaign, and the only way they can get it is to borrow it from a wealthy local woman, who has made it clear that she won't give them the money until Hezzie marries her.

Arriving in Arizona, the band members discover that the hotel is haunted and that it properly belongs to young Jimmy Benson (Curtis), the nephew of the previous owner. The "ghosts," however, turns out to be a trio of confidence men, Zeke Winslow (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams), Noah Jones (Raymond Hatton) and Slim Jensen Victor Potel, who are hoping to buy the place themselves.

Angry because his father, Don Manuel Ortega, had arranged a marriage with a girl he has never met, Dolores de Garfias, Ramon Ortega, despite the threat of being disinherited, becomes an entertainer at a local night club. His father uses his influence and has the club closed. Ramon goes to Santa Rosa and helps a beautiful senorita, Rose, open her new night club and falls in love with her. When his father arrives, Ramon learns that "his" Rose is the Dolores his father wanted him to marry in the first place.

The U.S. Army takes over a large area of land, over the objection of citizens and corporations who live and work there.