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IN the opening scene Molly Tobin and
her brothers are indulging in a rough-and-tumble game in front
of their shack in Hannibal, Missouri; the time is the beginning
of the 20th century. Molly is a wild, uninhibited, backwood girl,
who immediately reveals that what she lacks in culture or polish
she more than makes up for with spunk and vitality ("I Ain't
Down Yet"). Some day, she announces confidently, she will
be powerful and rich. In search of such a future, she goes on
foot to Leadville, Colorado, and gets a job singing in the Saddle
Rock saloon ("Belly Up to the Bar, Boys"). There she
meets and falls in love with Johnny Brown, who before long proposes
marriage to her ("I've Already Started"). On their
wedding night Johnny mysteriously deserts his bride for a week,
but when he returns he showers a fortune on her: $300,000 which
he had received from the sale of a claim. When all this money
is accidentally burned Johnny is only temporarily taken aback.
He promises Molly he will find another claim and once again make
her rich. He is as good as his word: Setting off for Colorado,
he becomes one of the wealthiest miners there. At an elegant
social event, to which Jimmy and Molly are invited, Molly introduces
herself with her customary boisterousness ("Beautiful People
of Denver"), but finds herself snubbed by her social peers.
Undaunted, she announces a huge party in her own house. When
nobody shows up, Molly decides to brush the dust of Colorado
off her shoes and set of with Johnny for Europe.
A few years later, in a Paris salon, Molly is the darling
of royalty. But, unable to forget how she had been snubbed in
Colorado, she is determined to avenge herself. She invites all
her highborn friends to come home with her, where Molly throws
another gala party. This time the cream of Colorado society shows
up and is impressed by the distinguished foreign visitors. But
some of the less desirable elements in Colorado break in on Molly's
party, with the result that a rowdy free-for-all ensues. The
party disintegrates into a fiasco, Molly decides to go back to
Europe in the company of Prince de Long. Johnny, however, insists
on staying home, where, after the passage of time, he begins
to miss her sorely ("Soliloquy").
In Monte Carlo Prince de Long begs Molly to divorce Johnny
and marry him ("Dolce far Niente"). Molly hesitates
because she has not forgotten Johnny ("I May Never Fall
in Love With You"). The memory of Johnny sends her back
home. She books passage on the Titanic on its maiden voyage.
When the Titanic collides with an iceberg on April 14,
1912, sending almost fifteen hundred passengers to their death,
the hardy Molly manages to survive, being one of the seven hundred
carried to safety in lifeboats. Back in Colorado, she finds Johnny
waiting for her, and her friends ready to salute her courage
with the rousing refrain of her own song, "I Ain't Down
Yet").
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