If I Had My Way 1940

Buzz Blackwell, Fred Johnson, and Axel Swenson are construction workers in San Francisco who help build the Golden Gate Bridge. They are close friends, and Buzz and Axel even help Fred raise his daughter Patricia ‘Pat’ Johnson. When Fred dies in a tragic accident, Buzz and Axel vow to locate Fred’s relatives in New York City, people Pat has never met, so she has a place to belong. Buzz informs Fred’s brother, Jarvis Johnson, of the death and of Pat’s forthcoming arrival.

Jarvis and his wife Brenda Johnson are snobby socialites who want nothing to do with the responsibility Pat brings. Jarvis pretends not to recognize the telegram and sends Buzz and the others to the “other J. B. Johnson” across town, hoping to pass the buck. They eventually meet Joe Johnson, Jarvis’s uncle, and his wife Marian, who are poor ex-vaudevillians but greet the girl with warmth and open arms. The meeting reveals a family rift that Pat’s arrival could mend.

Buzz hopes to hand over the money he and his friends saved for Pat to Joe, but he learns a setback: a drunken Axel used those funds to buy a failed Swedish restaurant. Seizing an opportunity, Buzz lets Jarvis believe that Pat’s late father left her stock certificates of great value. Jarvis eagerly pays Buzz $5,000, money that Buzz then uses to transform the Swedish restaurant into a vaudeville-themed nightclub, hoping the venture will prove Pat’s inheritance is real and secure her future.

As the nightclub gains momentum, Jarvis returns to demand his money back, but the club’s success—bolstered by Pat’s circle of friends, including a banker who steps in—leads to a settlement with Jarvis. The arrangement helps clear the Johnson family feud and gives Pat a stable, hopeful path forward. In the end, the film wraps with a sense of reconciliation and renewed family ties, as the Johnsons and their friends find a way to welcome Pat into a larger, warmer circle.