If I Had My Way (1940)

Bridge construction worker Fred Johnson is raising his 12-year-old daughter after his wife's death, but when he is killed suddenly in an accident, responsibility falls to his two friends, Buzz Blackwell and Axel Swenson. They take young Pat to New York, but are given the brush by Fred's well-to-do brother and his socialite wife. They end up contacting her elderly great-uncle, an unsuccessful vaudevillian, and his wife, who are only too happy to raise the youngster. Unfortunately, the money that would make that possible is used by Axel to buy a failing Swedish restaurant drowning in red ink. In order to salvage their investment, Buzz comes up with a novel idea.