Libby has managed to get Maine home. Libby stands at Maine's bed and says to the butler Mr. Maine's charm escapes me. Maine is going on location shooting for a movie at six o'clock the morning after. But during the night, Maine wakes up with an idea to find the singer he met earlier. He drives to the Cocoanut Grove and asks the maitre d' Bruno for the little dark singer who sings with the Glenn Williams orchestra. Tough luck, but Maine is told that most bands meet at a place on Sunset Boulevard. Bruno shows him a few actresses that Maine should be interested in, but he can't get Esther out of his mind.
Esther sings 'The man that got away'
Take it honey. Come on! Take it from the top
The man that got away
He goes to the place on Sunset and finds them. Danny plays the piano and Esther sings The man that got away. After the song, Maine and Esther sit down to talk. Maine tries to describe her singing and compares it with fishing, boxing or bull fighting. You're a great singer he finally tells her. You've got that little something extra. That's what star quality is, that little something extra.
'You're better than that. You're better than you know!', Norman tells her
Now what are you doing wasting your time singing with this band?
He tells her to stop wasting her time with the band and try to make a career on her own. Maine drives her home. Esther is moved by what he has told her. All she can think about is washing her hair. Back in the room she rents Esther shows him her scrapbook with old newspaper clippings and tells him about her dream of a hit record. Maine tells her that he might be able to help her find a job at the studio. Don't settle for the little dream, go for the big one. Maine takes one last look at her before leaving.
Back home, he makes a call to Oliver Niles, who's sleeping, to tell him about the girl he found. Niles is not quite as excited but Maine tells him that he will bring her around the next morning. Meanwhile, Esther wakes Danny up and tells him that she's leaving the band: Are you crazy or something? he asks.
When the band leaves, Danny wishes her good luck. Maine is more or less unconscious when he leaves his home at six in the morning for a five week on-location shooting at sea. Esther stays in her room, waiting for Maine to call her. Out at sea, Maine tells the crew to find her, but he doesn't remember her adress, only the neighbourhood. No one really cares about his directions anyway. Esther sings for a shampoo commercial, works at a drive-in. As for Maine, as soon as shooting wraps up he resumes his search for her and finally finds the house she lives in, but Esther has moved. But one day when he hears the shampoo commercial he is able to trace her. He finally finds her on a roof sunbathing.
You sat an hour too long, honey!
You sat an hour too long, honey!
Esther gets a screen-test but her career is almost over before it has started when the make-up people completly change her look. She is dressed in a pink dress and has blonde curls when she meets Maine again. He hardly recognizes her, then starts to laugh hysterically. I've been sitting in that chair since six o'clock this morning she says. You sat an hour too long, honey! In his private apartment, Norman wipes it all off, back to her natural look.