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In 1913, at the infancy of the film industry, erstwhile studio prop boy Michael Linnett Connors sees understudy Molly Adair perform on Broadway and, convinced that she is star material, persuades her to sign a personal contract with him.  Next, Mike induces the president of Globe Pictures, Lyle P. Stout, to give him a chance to direct Molly in her first picture.

Mike's lively imagination and tireless energy propels Molly from the queen of the "pie-in-the face" Keystone Cops to leading lady, and with Dave Spingold as his producer partner, Mike rises to become the head of his own studio.  Molly falls in love with Mike but, believing that he is only interested in making pictures, marries her leading man, Nicky Hayden.  Upon learning of the marriage, Mike, who is in love with Molly, feels betrayed and tears up the newlyweds' contract.

As their stars continue to rise, his falls until he is down and out.  Thanks to Dave and Molly, however, Mike gets a chance to come back, directing Molly's new picture.  With only one reel left to be shot, Nicky is killed and Molly seriously injured in a car crash,and the film's financial backer, Mr.  Roberts, orders Mike to finish the picture with a double.  Believing that Robert's suggestion would ruin the picture and Molly's career, Mike refuses and steals the unfinished negative until he can persuade Molly to come back to the set.

After the success of the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer, Mike convinces Roberts to finish the picture in sound.  Mike's enthusiasm renews Molly's will to live, and after the picture's success as a "talkie," the producing team of Mike, Molly and Dave marvel at the progress of Hollywood.

Note:
The working title of this film was Falling Stars.  According to materials contained in the Fox Story Files at the UCLA Library, treatments for the film were first presented in Oct 1938, but Buster Keaton was not included in the script until 26 Apr 1939.  Life notes that this picture, presented to coincide with the American screen's fiftieth anniversary celebration, was Hollywood's first large-scale attempt to dramatize its own history.  The cast was filled with silent film stars. Hank Mann, Heinie Conklin and James Finlayson were members of Sennett's troupe.  Program notes contained in the production files at the AMPAS Library claim that this was the first time that black and white and color film stocks were combined in one picture.  The Keystone Cops sequence was shot in black and white and the rest of the film was in color.  According to news item in HR, the train sequences were shot by Mal St. Clair at Muroc Dry Lake, CA.  The film was budgeted at $2,000,000.  Another news item in HR adds that the gross receipts from the premiere went to the Motion Picture Relief Fund.