Joy of Living 1938

Margaret ‘Maggie’ Garret [Irene Dunne] is the star of the new musical Glamour, a performer who has risen from a hard family tradition of the stage. She now earns a large salary but is devastated to learn that she is deeply in debt, having spent a fortune on a palatial home while supporting her parents Dennis [Guy Kibbee], Minerva [Alice Brady], and her sister Salina [Lucille Ball], along with Salina’s work-shy husband Bert Pine.

After the show’s final bow, she is accosted by Dan Webster [Douglas Fairbanks Jr.], who latches onto her and won’t be put off. Taking him as a “masher,” she drives to the police station, but Dan charms his way out of the charge. When it happens again, Dan is forced to appear in court and demands that Maggie appear as a witness. [Spencer Charters] as Magistrate finds the charge proved and sentences Dan to six months in prison. Maggie, who is slowly taking a liking to Dan’s debonair manner, begs the Magistrate to commute the sentence to a suspended one. He agrees, but appoints Maggie the “probation officer,” to whom Dan must report twice weekly.

Dan, an easy-going pleasure-seeker from a rich banking family, claims to own an island in the South Pacific bought with family money, which he calls Paradise. He continues to pursue Maggie, trying to persuade her to take time off and enjoy life—as he does—and to share his carefree dream.

Eventually, they fall in love and marry. Dan wants to immediately board his boat and sail to Paradise, but Maggie has a show to do. She must make a choice between a glamorous, demanding career and a life with the man she has come to love.

Maggie returns to the family home and confronts her sponging relatives. She tells her parents to go into the antiques business and declares to her sister that this is her big chance—tonight she will take the stage and, perhaps, make her name.

Maggie and Dan sail off to Paradise.