- The Marx Brothers try to help the owner of a circus recover some stolen funds before he finds himself out of a job.
- Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter lets his accomplices steal the money, so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus, together with lawyer Loophole try to find the thief and get the money back.—Michael Zolk <mzolk@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de>
- A wealthy young man forsakes the fortune of his rich aunt to run the circus in which his sweetheart and he perform. But when the evil owner steals the money to pay off the mortgage, the only people who can help are the strongman Goliath's assistant Punchy, circus hand Antonio Pirelli, and Antonio's shyster friend, J. Cheever Loophole. Oh, and a gorilla named Gibraltar.—Gary Dickerson
- A circus strongman named Goliath (Nat Pendleton) and the circus midget Little Professor Atom (Jerry Maren) are accomplices of the bad guy Carter (James Burke) who is trying to take over the circus. In the animal car, they knock Wilson (Kenny Baker) out and steal his $10,000 that Wilson plans to pay off various bankers. But they unintentionally leave a cigar as evidence.
J. Cheever Loophole (Groucho Marx), a lawyer from New York, arrives to handle the situation over the stolen money. He suspects both Goliath and Professor Atom of being in cahoots with Carter. Loophole then teams up with con artist Antonio 'Tony' Pirelli (Chico Marx) along with carnie Punchy (Harpo Marx) to investigate.
Loophole caves in when he sees the menacing Goliath, and gets nowhere with Little Professor Atom. (His attempts to get a cigar from Atom are foiled by the ditzy Tony). In Atom's mini-trailer, Loophole's attempts to ask for a cigar from Atom to compare it with the one at the crime scene are ruined when every time he asks for a cigar, Tony gives him one. When Punchy sneezes and knocks the furniture over in Atom's tiny room, the midget threatens to sue. Loophole, ever ready to solicit business, offers his card, (which Atom accepts!). In order to help Wilson, Loophole first tries to get the money from Carter's moll, Peerless Pauline (Eve Arden), but fails miserably.
Then Loophole calls on socialite Mrs. Dukesbury (Margaret Dumont), and cons her into paying $10,000 for the Wilson Circus to entertain the Newport 400, instead of a performance by an orchestra conducted by a Frenchman named Jardinet (Fritz Feld). The "400 of Newport" are delighted with the circus; when Jardinet arrives, Loophole, who also delays Jardinet by implicating him in a "dope ring," disposes of the Frenchman and his orchestra by having them play on a floating bandstand down at the water's edge.
At the climax, Tony and Punchy cut the mooring rope and the musicians play the Prelude to Act Three of Lohengrin by Wagner, serenading the waves. Meanwhile, Carter and his henchmen try to burn down the circus, but are thwarted by the comic trio, along with the only witness to the robbery - Gibralter the gorilla (Charles Gemora), who also retrieves Wilson's ten thousand dollars.
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