Expecting to put on a musical show, singing and dancing college students are brought to a struggling hotel to be guinea pigs in an ancient Greek-themed eugenics experiment.
Sylvia Smith and Dick Winters share a romantic kiss at a dance, but Sylvia is called away before Dick can learn her full name. Sylvia's father is about to lose his California hotel, the Casa Del Mar, thanks to the financial blundering of his new business partner J. Davis Bowster. The mortgage is held by eccentric heiress Carola P. Gaye, whose current fascination is with the ancient Greek-style eugenics championed by Professor Hercules Dove. Carola plans to use the hotel as the center of her "Body Beauteous" selective mating program. Looking to raise funds with a collegiate musical show, Bowster gathers talent under the pretense of recruiting good-looking young people for Carola's eugenics experiment. Among the group are Dick Winters (still searching for his mystery girl) and Daisy Schloggenheimer (taught to resist male attention with physical force). Under strict orders to prevent any romance between the "guinea pigs", Bowster has great difficulty keeping the boys and the girls away from each other on the train ride back. Dick and Sylvia are reunited at Casa Del Mar, where Professor Dove's daffy daughter Gracie (called "Calliope") selects the male and female pairs for the experiment. The mismatched lovers are none too pleased to learn about the eugenics program, but they rally together to put on a minstrel show in time to save the hotel for Sylvia and her father.—Jimmy L.
Sylvia Smith and Dick Winters share a romantic kiss at a dance, but Sylvia is called away before Dick can learn her full name.
Sylvia's father is about to lose his California hotel, the Casa Del Mar, thanks to the financial blundering of his new business partner J. Davis Bowster. Sylvia finds Bowster hiding from his creditors and the two try to buy more time to pay off their debt. Bowster improvises a story about the hotel hosting the best collegiate talent for a musical showcase, but the ruse unravels when he can't explain how he can afford to bring all those students to California.
After eluding the creditors (with the sheriff on their side), Bowster, clad in a makeshift toga, is invited into a car with eccentric heiress Carola P. Gaye and Prof. Hercules Dove. Both are dressed in Greek togas and consider Bowster a kindred spirit. Carola, who holds the mortgage on the Casa Del Mar, is fascinated with Prof. Dove' s philosophy of ancient Greek-style eugenics and plans to use the hotel as the center of her "Body Beauteous" selective mating experiment.
Bowster claims he can round up enough good-looking young people for the eugenics experiment if he recruits college kids under the pretense that they'd be putting on a musical show. With fistfuls of Carola's cash, Bowster hops aboard a train to gather the top collegiate talent from around the country. Among the group is Dick Winters, who's still searching for the mystery girl he kissed at the dance. He's taken to sending postcards of his face to every girl named Smith in the state of California.
Under strict orders to prevent any romance between the "guinea pigs", Bowster has great difficulty keeping the boys and the girls away from each other on the train ride back. They're always sneaking kisses behind his back and taking advantage of every dark tunnel the train passes through. Johnny Jones sweeps pretty Eleanore Wayne right off her feet at the train station and carries her to a back car where they dance and sing together to "Rhyme for Love". One of the final additions to the group is corn-fed Daisy Schloggenheimer, taught by her mother to resist male attention with physical force. Bowster finds himself on the wrong end of a punch to the jaw on a couple occasions, due to misunderstandings with Daisy.
Prof. Dove's daffy daughter Gracie (called "Calliope") rides into town on a four-horse chariot, accompanied by her friend George Hymen. Calliope drives recklessly on the wrong side of the road, causing motorists to crash all around her. To do some poses she lets go of the reins and the horses race uncontrolled down the street, nearly pulling the chariot in front of an oncoming train. Trained by Calliope herself, the horses speed up when the driver says "Whoa" and stop when the driver says "Giddyup".
Considered by her father to be a perfect physical and mental specimen, Calliope is constantly searching for her ideal mate, based on the measurements of a statue of the Greek god Apollo. (George falls short of Prof. Dove's standards.) Calliope greets every man she meets by wrapping a measuring tape around various parts of his body and reading the results (invariably "32").
At Casa Del Mar, Dick is reunited with Sylvia, but they are forbidden to spend time together. The two sneak off to be alone, but can't seem to escape the chaperoning watch of Carola, Browster, or Prof. Dove. Finally they decide to dive off a pier and kiss underwater, where no one can stop them.
Calliope selects the male and female pairs for the eugenics experiment using her special intuition (aided by pokes and shocks provided by the stage hand working under her seat). Still thinking they're just putting on a musical show, the kids are largely dissatisfied with the pairings, which break apart their natural romances. (Dick is paired with Carola, for example.)
The college kids decide to ignore their selected partners and spend time romancing whomever they please, much to the frustration of Carola and Prof. Dove, who spill the beans about the nature of the experiment. When the students learn their true purpose at the hotel they are ready to leave, but they rally together to put on a minstrel show in time to save the Casa Del Mar for Sylvia and her father.
The sheriff shows up with Carola and Prof. Dove to stop the show and arrest Bowster, but the students help to hide Bowster and lure his pursuers into a trap. One by one, the sheriff, Prof. Dove, and Carola are called to a telephone set up inside an elevator car. The elevator takes them down into the basement where they are dragged into a meat freezer for safe keeping. Locked inside the freezer, they burn the arrest warrant to keep warm while the minstrel show goes on without a hitch.
Calliope finally finds a man who measures up to her standards ("32"): it's been George all along.
Carola, newly fascinated with astral fields after meeting an exotic mystic at the hotel, is no longer interested in Prof. Dove's eugenics.
