Stage Door

The Footlights Club is a women's theatrical rooming house in New York City. It is the residence for many a struggling actress, most who can barely make ends meet, hence the reason that they decide to live in the inexpensive club with cramped quarters, shared bathroom and the bad lamb stew for dinners. Elderly Catherine Luther lives there solely to be able to relive her past minor glories on the stage with her younger, inexperienced house-mates. Judy Canfield tolerates dating who she considers a boor name Milbanks and setting one of the other girls on double blind dates with them solely to get out from meals of bad lamb stew. Talented Kay Hamilton has had one success on Broadway in an Anthony Powell produced play a year ago, but cannot even get into see Powell now. Running out of money and late on rent, forgoing eating in an effort to bargain on the "board" part of the rent, she believes she was born to play the lead in Powell's next play, "Enchanted April", which she also believes will get her back on her feet if she can only get in to see Powell to get the part. Womanizing Powell is currently dating another of the Footlights' girls, Linda Shaw, who lords her expensive gifts of jewels and furs over the others, but who remains in the shadows on her dates with him because of his married with child status. Into the club comes Terry Randall, who to the others obviously has money, which her roommate, forthright cynical dancer Jean Maitland, believes is from a sugar daddy. Terry's air of superiority and intellectualism also does not sit well with Jean, especially as Terry believes one does not need to study but just be smart to act well. In reality, Terry is an heiress - a fact she does not tell the others - her "wheat king" father Henry Sims who does not want her to pursue acting as a career. Unknown to Terry, her father goes about trying to prove that Terry does not have what it takes to become an actress, his action which unwittingly leads to tragedy and for the first time in her life true emotion from Terry.