The musical is about a nightclub owner, Hattie Maloney, who lives in the Panama Canal Zone and ends up dealing with both romantic and military intrigue.

It was directed by Edgar MacGregor, with choreography by Robert Alton[2] and scenic design and costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois.

The cast featured Ethel Merman as Hattie, Arthur Treacher as Vivian, Betty Hutton as Florrie, James Dunn as Nick, Phyllis Brooks as Leila, Joan Carroll as Geraldine, Rags Ragland as Woozy, and Pat Harrington as Skat.

The cast featured Bebe Daniels as Hattie, Max Wall as Eddy, Claude Hulbert as Vivian, Frances Marsden as Florrie, Ivan Brandt as Nick, Georgia MacKinnon as Leila, Richard Hearne as Loopy and Betty Blackler as Elizabeth.

Hattie, eager to make a good impression on her prospective stepdaughter, spends three weeks' wages on her elaborately frilly outfit.

Florrie, a singer in the night club, develops a crush on Nick's very proper butler Vivian Budd ("Fresh as a Daisy").

Jerry gives Hattie advice on how to behave like a lady at a party where she is to be presented to Nick's boss, the Admiral ("I’m Throwing a Ball Tonight").

Hattie overhears the plot to blow up the Panama Canal control room, finds the bomb and throws it out, saving the day.

[9] Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times wrote that "By hiring a trio of knockabout comedians, Mr. De Sylva has given it all the advantages of a burlesque show...Everything is noisy, funny and in order."