My Gal Sal 1942

Paul Dresser is a young Indiana native who runs away from home to chase a dream of making music, challenging a father who dreams of him entering the ministry. After a run of bad luck—being chased out of town and left for dead due to a mistaken association with a conman—he is found by Col. Truckee(/actor/walter-catlett), a traveling snake-oil salesman, and his wandering medicine show.

There, Mae Collins welcomes him and encourages his talent, while Sally Elliott laughs at him during a performance. Her companion, Fred Haviland, gifts the pair two tickets to Sally’s show, and the trio ends up attending only to be kicked out for making too much noise. That night, [Paul Dresser] decides to leave the medicine show for good, bidding farewell to Mae.

Back in New York, he overhears a pianist and discovers that Sally has stolen the tune he played at the medicine show, adding her own lyrics. He hires the pianist as his publisher, the enigmatic Wiley, and teams up to reclaim his rights to the song. He even becomes Sally’s personal songwriter for her shows, which deepens their bond.

As their professional collaboration grows, [Paul Dresser] begins to fall for Sally, even though she is engaged to [Fred Haviland]. After writing songs in Sally’s apartment the day after a party celebrating the success of Come Tell Me Whats Your Answer (Yes or No), the two share a kiss. Their rising fame continues, and they ride a streak of successes until a late-night mishap during a party with the Countess Mariana Rossini causes tension. Sally blows up at Paul and severs the engagement, refusing to sing his music again until he sends a man with a new song dedicated to her under a pen name, which she performs with dazzling reception.

Ultimately, after plenty of bickering, Paul reveals that he wrote the song himself, and the couple’s quarrel gives way to reconciliation, marking a hopeful turning point in their professional and personal duet.