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Mexican immigrant Manuel “Manny” Torres assists in moving an elephant to a wild bacchanal at a Kinoscope Studios executive’s home in 1926 Los Angeles. Nellie LaRoy, a brazen, determined self-described “star” from New Jersey, captures his heart right away. Manny expresses his desire to be a part of something greater as they snort cocaine. Manny assists in removing young starlet Jane Thornton, who overdosed on drugs, while the elephant amuses partygoers by passing through the area. Jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer and Chinese-American lesbian cabaret vocalist Lady Fay Zhu will also be present. When Nellie, a flamboyant dancer, is discovered, she is quickly hired to take Jane’s place in a Kinoscope movie. However, while shooting, she obnoxiously upstages the star. Jack Conrad, a kind but troubled, frequently married film star whom Manny meets and befriends, and drives home the inebriated Jack, who assists Manny in getting assistant jobs at Kinoscope (such as finding Otto Von Strassberger a new camera to film Jack in an outdoor love scene before nightfall); Manny rises through the ranks of the studio system. Elinor St. John, a gossip columnist who also tracks Jack’s career, reports on Nellie as she rapidly becomes a “it girl.” Manny adeptly adjusts to technical advancements as sound film replaces silent films in the late 1920s, ultimately landing positions as a director. Despite Manny’s support, Nellie struggles to meet the demands of sound film and escalates her drug use and reckless gambling, damaging her image. Nellie, whose institutionalized mother is depicted, prods her inebriated father Robert to engage in a battle with a rattlesnake in front of partygoers before falling asleep. Fay kills the snake and extracts the venom as Nellie struggles with it and it strikes her in the neck. Nellie gives her a passionate smooch. Jack starts to notice that his popularity is waning by 1932, but he continues to perform in low-budget Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movies. Sidney has acquired his own musical film and orchestra in the interim. Executives order Manny to dismiss Fay, a Kinoscope title writer, due to her alleged lesbian relationship with Nellie as Hollywood becomes less libertine. While rehearsing lines with his new wife Estelle, Jack is shocked to discover that George Munn, a longtime friend and producer, killed himself. Nellie lashes out against upper-class snobbery at a gathering with William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, puking on Hearst as Elinor and Manny try to improve her image and integrate her into Hollywood’s high society. Jack confronts Elinor after discovering her lie about his waning fame; she responds by saying that even though his star has dimmed, he will be immortalized on screen. When studio execs persuade Manny to ask that he wear blackface for Southern audiences, Sidney is offended. Sidney exits Kinoscope after finishing. In the meantime, eccentric gangster James McKay puts Nellie’s life in danger because of her enormous gambling bills. Initially refusing her requests for assistance, Manny later accepts money from drug dealer/aspiring actor “The Count” on set and goes to James with him to settle Nellie’s bill. When Manny discovers the money was fabricated by his own prop creator, he becomes terrified. James raving about possible movie ideas invites the men to a subterranean party area where people abuse animals. James tries to kill them after realizing the money is fake, but they barely flee, killing James’ goon Wilson. At a hotel gathering, Jack runs into Fay, who tells him she’s headed to Europe and Pathé. Later, a dejected Jack mortally shoots himself in the head in his hotel room. Nellie is asked to emigrate to Mexico with Manny, get married, and begin a new life. She balks at first but finally consents. The Count and his roommate are killed by James’ associate after tracking down Manny, but Manny is spared if he departs Los Angeles. Nellie, in the meantime, changes her mind and dances off into the night. Newspaper clippings about Nellie’s mortality at age 34 and Elinor’s passing at age 76 are shown in a montage. In 1952, Manny, who had fled to New York City and opened a radio store there, returns to California with his wife Silvia and small daughter. However, he goes to a nearby theater by himself to see Singin’ in the Rain; the movie’s portrayal of the industry’s transition from silents to talkies moves him to tears. He then shows them the entry to Kinoscope Studios. Following are vignettes from various movies that cover a century. Manny grins as the attention shifts back to Singin’ in the Rain.For more personality quizzes check this: Left Behind Rise Of The Antichrist Quiz.
