Editing Footlight Parade (section)

==Plot==
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 | footer = ''Left'': Kent ([[James Cagney]]) rallies his troops for their tall order: create three lavish prologues in three days. ''Right'': Cagney as Kent and [[Joan Blondell]] as Nan.
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Chester Kent ([[James Cagney]]) replaces his failing career as a director of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musicals with a new one as the creator of musical numbers called "[[Movie prologue|prologue]]s", short live stage productions presented in movie theaters before the main feature is shown.  He faces pressure from his business partners to continuously create a large number of marketable prologues to service theaters throughout the country, but his job is made harder by a rival who is stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone working inside his own company. Kent is so overwhelmed with work that he doesn't realize that his secretary Nan ([[Joan Blondell]]) has fallen in love with him and is doing her best to protect him as well as his interests.

Kent's business partners announce that they have a big deal pending with the Apolinaris theater circuit, but getting the contract depends on Kent impressing Mr. Apolinaris ([[Paul Porcasi]]) with three spectacular prologues, presented on the same night, one after another at three different theaters. Kent locks himself and his staff in the offices to prevent espionage leaks while they choreograph and rehearse the three production numbers. Kent then stages "Honeymoon Hotel", "[[By a Waterfall]]" (featuring the famous "Human Waterfall") and "Shanghai Lil", featuring Cagney and [[Ruby Keeler]] dancing together.<ref>[[Stanley Green (historian)|Green, Stanley]] (1999) ''Hollywood Musicals Year by Year'' (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation {{ISBN|0-634-00765-3}} page 25</ref>