The title is a reference to the hit 1927 song "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher, which compared free attitudes in 1920s Paris with censorship and prohibition in the United States.

His first job is as a tour guide, but much to his dismay, he has caught the eye of Violet Hildegarde, a fur-buyer who sends risqué French postcards to her children ("Where Would You Get Your Coat?").

In another week, Pernasse is preparing a party for Looloo's mother, who plans to match her with a poor but titled Grand Duke ("The Queen of Terre Haute").

Directed by Monty Woolley with choreography by Larry Ceballos and scenic design by Norman Bel Geddes, the cast featured William Gaxton as Peter Forbes, Genevieve Tobin as Looloo Carroll, Betty Compton as Joyce Wheeler, and Lester Crawford as Billy Baxter.

A concert version was staged in 1991 with the book adapted by Tommy Krasker and produced by the French Institute/Alliance Francaise in association with Evans Haile at the Mainstage 14th Street Y in New York City.

Musicals Society concert was held February 13–16, 2008 at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby, British Columbia, directed by Scott Ashton Swan.

Stephen Citron, in his book Noel & Cole, wrote that the musical received mixed reviews, citing critics Brooks Atkinson and Richard Watts who both deemed it "pleasant", saying there was not an "outstanding hit song in the show."

Porter champion Irving Berlin took out an advertisement stating in part: "The best musical comedy I have seen in years..." The show had what was, for the time, a long run.

[7] According to Charles Schwartz, writing in the biography Cole Porter, the musical's book by Herbert Fields "had a lot to do with capturing the frothy Gallic essence implicit in the title..." and he also noted the "near-perfect cast" and "sure-handed direction" of Monty Woolley.