Barber Joe Costello prefers to let his teenage daughter Trudy shave
his customers while he plays the accordion. One day, Trudy's wealthy
heiress friend, Carol Curtis, arrives at the Costello barber show
and announces that Mr. Ansel of the Randall Institute of Music has
agreed to audition the local kids for his private school. After the
audition, Ansel agrees to offer the group ten scholarships, but
informs the talented youngsters that there is still a minimum fee of
twenty dollars per month.
While the youngsters try to devise ways to
raise the needed tuition money, Carol's snobbish spinster aunt
Martha sets up trust funds for both her absentminded brother Malcolm
and Carol from the family's vast real estate holdings. Meanwhile,
teenagers Billy Harper and Corny Panatowski come up with the idea of
opening a nightclub to raise the tuition money, and Carol offers to
help them find a hall in which to house it. Learning of the
youngsters' plights, Malcolm suggests that they convert the empty
Curtis Hall into a nightclub, something he had been considering
doing himself with band leader Freddie Slack.
Knowing that his
sister would never agree to such an idea, Malcolm convinces Martha
that he needs the empty building as a studio for his oil painting.
After a great deal of hard work, "Chez Enfants" prepares for its
grand opening, but Carol is upset by the return of blonde bombshell
Fern Wallace, her rival for Billy's affections. Martha then
discovers Malcolm's scheme the day before the club's grand opening
and orders the building evacuated. Afterward, Fern falsely accuses
Carol of deliberately closing the show, and convinces Billy of as
much.
The next day, Malcolm pretends to be suicidal, so Martha
agrees to reopen the club. When she discovers her brother's latest
deception, however, she attempts to close it once again. Martha's
plans are thwarted by the absentminded Malcolm, who learns that he
is now fifty-two years old and, according to his parent's will, has
already inherited the hall. The club is a big success, and Martha
receives many mistaken congratulations from society friends who are
in attendance. Malcolm is then granted his full inheritance, and
Carol and Billy are finally united.
