The Big Broadcast of 1938

S.B. Bellows was supposed to board the Colossal to execute his brother T. Frothingill Bellows' sabotage plan, but he was delayed by a golf game and missed his transfer. In the confusion, he accidentally boarded the Gigantic instead, which immediately complicated the entire sabotage scheme since he was now on the wrong ship.

T. Frothingill Bellows, owner of the Gigantic, devised a scheme to send his nearly identical younger brother S.B. aboard the rival ship Colossal to sow trouble and ensure the Gigantic would win the transatlantic race. The plan involved sabotage from within the competitor's crew.

Martha Bellows, S.B.'s daughter known for being notoriously unlucky, survived the wreck of the yacht Hesperus V at sea. She was rescued and brought aboard the Gigantic, adding another unpredictable element to the already chaotic voyage.

Buzz Fielding, the OBC radio emcee hosting the broadcast from the Gigantic, had recently been released from what the film humorously calls alimony jail, indicating he had legal or financial troubles related to paying alimony to his ex-wives, which sets up the comedy around his complicated romantic history.

The S.S. Gigantic was billed as being powered by radio technology, featuring an enormous radio power plant invented by First Officer Robert Hayes. This technological innovation was a key part of the ship's appeal and part of what made the race against the Colossal a spectacle worth broadcasting.

Dorothy Wyndham, who has an on-again off-again relationship with Buzz Fielding, begins a budding romance with First Officer Robert Hayes during the voyage. Hayes is the inventor of the Gigantic's radio power plant, and their relationship develops as the ship races toward Cherbourg.

The Race of the Ages was a high-profile two-and-a-half-day transatlantic dash from New York to Cherbourg between two luxury liners: the forty-million-dollar Gigantic and its traditional rival the Colossal. The race was a major public spectacle and the central event around which much of the film's action revolves.

The Gigantic's voyage features numerous musical performances for passengers and radio audiences, including specialty appearances by opera stars Kirsten Flagstad and Wilfrid Pelletier from the Metropolitan Opera Company. These performances are broadcast as part of the ship's entertainment and Buzz Fielding's radio show.

Buzz Fielding juggles relationships with three ex-wives who are all aboard the Gigantic: Cleo Fielding, Grace Fielding, and Joan Fielding. This creates ongoing comic tension as he tries to manage their competing presence while also maintaining his on-again off-again romance with Dorothy Wyndham.

S.B. landing on the Gigantic instead of the Colossal immediately threw T. Frothingill Bellows' sabotage plan into chaos. Since S.B. was now aboard the wrong vessel, the scheme to sow trouble on the rival ship was derailed before it could begin, leaving the race outcome uncertain.