A bribed doctor opens a medicine cabinet and pushes aside medicines, revealing a hidden compartment behind holding several bottles of Hennessey cognac.With much of the film""s action occurring within a theatrical boarding house (the Footlights Club) for young, star-struck, vulnerable ingenues and debutantes, it is filled with bitchy and sassy, and stage-struck young women - who laugh and heckle each other, shed ears, express their hopes, dreams and aspirations, spout wisecracks, barbs, and insults, and genuine, heartfelt words of experience.Previous films had only made fun of drunks and lushes (e.g.,The Thin Manseries, or W.C.Fields"" films).Its release was threatened when the alcohol industry offered to purchase the film""s negative and remove it from circulation, but then praised and supported the film following its popular release (and critical success).Although the film was not a commercial success upon its release and criticized as sentimental soap-opera, it attained well-deserved status as one of the greatest films of its kind.