The Half-Naked Truth 1932

Fast-talking Jimmy Bates Lee Tracy takes responsibility for publicity for a struggling carnival owned by Colonel Munday. His latest scheme to attract customers involves promising to reveal the identity of the father of his hot-tempered girlfriend, hootch dancer Teresita Lupe Vélez. However, when the local sheriff learns that it is all a con, Bates and his friends Achilles Eugene Pallette and Teresita flee to New York City.

Bates has bragged about his close friendship with powerful theater impresario Merle Farrell [Frank Morgan]. Bates promises to make Teresita a star, but it soon becomes clear that Farrell does not know him. Undaunted, Bates promotes Teresita as Princess Exotica, an escapee from a Turkish harem, with Achilles as a eunuch servant and a lion. Bates informs reporters that she is to star in Farrell’s show. At first, Farrell is outraged, but after a sharp increase in ticket sales, he signs Teresita to a contract.

Farrell insists that Teresita perform a slow Middle Eastern-style dance, which bores the audience. Bates instructs her to sing a modern song, which is a hit. Teresita becomes a star, while Bates becomes Farrell’s publicity manager.

With Bates away on a business trip, Teresita begins a romance with the married Farrell. When Bates learns of the affair, he quits Farrell’s employ and promises to make the first girl whom he sees into a sensation that will eclipse Teresita’s stardom. The girl he selects is blond hotel maid Gladys, Shirley Chambers, whom Achilles is trying to romance. Bates has Gladys pretend to be Eve, the leader of a group of nudists. Armed with a compromising photograph of Farrell and Teresita, Bates blackmails Farrell into signing Eve to his show. Meanwhile, the public has begun to tire of Teresita.

Achilles returns to the carnival life and purchases Colonel Munday’s business. Bates later becomes dissatisfied with New York and visits Achilles, and he finds Teresita singing as one of the carnival’s attractions.