This is one of the later Vitaphone shorts--known as a "Melody Master". These later musical shorts generally were more straight forward and had simpler sets and no real story to tie it all together--just a famous band of the day doing their stuff.
This in an unusual short in that it features a female band leader and her all female band. It begins with Rita herself dancing to the song "When You Are Smiling" in her apartment as her mother yells at her. Finally, the frustrated mother calls the doctor as Rita won't stop dancing. However, her boyfriend steps in--announcing he will make her a star. Then, after a quick montage, you see the VERY energetic Rita dancing about with maracas--singing a Mexican-inspired ditty. Then, Emily Adrian comes out and dances, though her dancing looked more like an acrobatic routine than dancing. It was NOT especially graceful. The way the songs are linked and with the beginning of the short it all comes off more like a condensed film than just a music video--which I liked. However, I was not a huge fan of the music itself. It wasn't bad--but didn't exactly bowl me over like many of the other Vitaphone shorts.
