Something to Sing About

Terry Rooney, [James Cagney], is the stage name of Thaddeus McGillicuddy, a popular New York band leader and hoofer with a radio show who gets an offer to Hollywood to become a movie star. He leaves behind his fiancée, the band’s singer Rita Wyatt, [Evelyn Daw], and finds himself in the orbit of studio boss B.O. Regan, [Gene Lockhart], who brings together a team of studio pros to mold Rooney into a polished star while enforcing a strict policy that no one should publicly praise him, or risk being fired.

During the filming of his first movie, a bar-fight scene goes off-script when the stunt man deliberately hits Rooney instead of the fake punch. Rooney retaliates, sparking a real, escalating brawl that exposes the rougher side of studio life. Disgusted by Hollywood’s pressures, he decides to marry Wyatt and take her on a tramp steamer for a South Seas honeymoon, eventually ending up in San Francisco.

Back in causewayed by headlines and premieres, the finished film becomes a massive hit, but Regan is furious because nobody in the studio knows where Rooney has gone. When he finally surfaces in San Francisco, Regan jets out with a contract that bars Rooney from marrying for seven years. Rooney and Wyatt agree to keep their relationship secret, with Wyatt posing as Rooney’s secretary to protect the arrangement.

A new project begins, pairing Rooney with Stephanie Hajos, [Mona Barrie], to promote the film. To juice publicity, publicist Hank Meyers, [William Frawley], feeds tabloid stories claiming that Rooney and Hajos are romantically involved off-screen. The pressure of secrecy and Rooney’s strained time at home drive Wyatt back to New York. When Hajos learns that Rooney is married, the story explodes across the papers, and Rooney returns to Wyatt and their band in New York, where a front-page article proclaims the off-screen romance with Hajos a hoax.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 12:31