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Broadway musicals were a ready source for the early musicals, and RKO's smash Rio Rita led the way. Some of the adaptations were close, while others strayed wildly from the originals. Among the Broadway stars repeating their stage roles were Irene Bordoni in Paris, and Ziegfeld diva Marilyn Miller in Sally. Such films as No, No Nanette bore less resemblance to the stage success than it did to the thriving backstage genre. Composers DeSylva, Brown and Henderson found their works transferred more successfully than did Rodgers and Hart or Cole Porter. By the time of the most lavish Broadway adaptation, Whoopee!, musicals were in decline, yet with Eddie Cantor, Busby Berkeley, and Technicolor it scored a notable success.

This chapter covers the Follies of 1918 and 1919. Lillian Lorraine reenters Ziegfeld’s life when he features her alongside his new infatuation, Marilyn Miller, in the 1918 edition. But the independent Miller dislikes Ziegfeld’s attentions and his attempts to micromanage her personal life, especially her romance with costar Frank Carter. Ziegfeld’s meddling spurs them to marry. Despite the backstage drama, the 1919 Follies emerges as the pinnacle of Ziegfeld’s revues to date. It embraces new trends, such as having a unified score written by a single songwriter (Irving Berlin) and including plenty of topical skits and modern songs. The chapter is full of rich descriptions of not only the Follies but also Ziegfeld’s dual nature as a benevolent yet controlling employer. Ziegfeld is now known throughout the land, but how long can he maintain his position as Broadway’s top musical producer?

Beginning with the 1922 edition, the Follies reach the end of their glory days. Ziegfeld needs to find a new way to entertain audiences. As he struggles to come up with another hit, he is devastated to learn that Marilyn Miller plans to marry Jack Pickford. Ziegfeld’s objection to their marriage spurs Miller to claim that he made advances to her and is planning to divorce Billie Burke. Ziegfeld and Burke’s precarious marriage remains intact, despite the scandal. Ziegfeld finds Burke a play that he hopes will heal their relationship, but Rose Briar is not a hit. The latter part of the chapter contains previously unpublished correspondence between Burke and Ziegfeld. Although they are still together, it seems that Burke is more invested in the marriage than Ziegfeld is. The chapter ends on a note of uncertainty for Ziegfeld: he has not produced a hit since Sally and fears he is not adapting well to the preferences of 1920s theatergoers.

As the chapter begins, Ziegfeld is struggling to get his new musical off the ground. He funds the entire production himself and hires Jerome Kern, P. G. Wodehouse, and Guy Bolton to write the play. Sally is different from Cinderella musicals of the past; it has a distinctly modern feel, for in the end, Sally finds not only love and wealth but also a successful career. Sally is a monumental success. The seemingly unstoppable team of Marilyn Miller and Ziegfeld is threatened when she meets Jack Pickford, former husband of Olive Thomas. To Ziegfeld’s dismay, Pickford and Miller become involved romantically. He encounters more woman troubles when Lillian Lorraine has an accident and severely injures her spine; Ziegfeld secretly pays her bills. The chapter includes a brief description of the Follies of 1920 and 1921 and explains how the lucrative Midnight Frolic was forced to close due to Prohibition. The chapter concludes with rare correspondence between Ziegfeld and his parents and between Burke and Ziegfeld during his time alone in Palm Beach. Despite the enormous success of Sally, Ziegfeld still feels insecure about his finances, his place on Broadway, and his marriage to Burke.

This chapter gives a wide-ranging view of Ziegfeld as both a beloved boss and a traitorous one. The close-knit family of Ziegfeld stars, including Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, W. C. Fields, and Bert Williams, is torn apart by the Actors Equity strike of 1919. Ziegfeld’s stars remain loyal to him until they learn that he has joined the Producing Managers Association. When his stars leave, despite his good treatment of them, Ziegfeld is personally affronted. The strike ends, but Ziegfeld’s life continues to be chaotic. Olive Thomas and another showgirl with whom he allegedly had an affair commit suicide. People begin to wonder if there is a Ziegfeld curse. Burke remains loyal to her husband, but she questions his loyalty as his attentions to Marilyn Miller grow more conspicuous. He makes preparations for a show written specifically for Miller that ultimately serves as a hymn to the youth and beauty that Ziegfeld feared was disappearing in the Jazz Age.

This chapter explores the groundbreaking production of Show Boat and the golden age it ushered in for Ziegfeld. Included are detailed stories about the backstage drama, the composers’ efforts to complete the score, and new commentary from Broadway historians on the impact Show Boat had on Broadway. It had controversial themes and broke racial barriers by bringing black and white entertainers together on the same stage. Also, the show was not a star-driven production, meaning it could be revived again and again for generations to come. Meanwhile, Burke has decided to manage her own career, rather than relying on Ziegfeld to find properties for her. Ziegfeld enjoys more success with a witty musical comedy, Rosalie, which boasts a Gershwin score and Marilyn Miller as the star. The chapter ends with Ziegfeld planning more shows that will be as popular as his latest hits. Ziegfeld’s self-assurance reflects the national confidence Americans enjoyed in the late 1920s.

Ziegfeld enters into a partnership with Sam Goldwyn to create a film version of Whoopee with Eddie Cantor as the star. Ziegfeld enjoys certain aspects of filmmaking, especially director Busby Berkeley’s innovative style. Ziegfeld returns to New York with plans for a new show, Smiles, starring Marilyn Miller and Fred and Adele Astaire. The show should have been a hit, but Depression-era audiences find its old-fashioned Cinderella story line uninspired. At the dawn of the 1930s, the revue experiences a resurgence in popularity, with producers like Earl Carroll leading the trend. Ziegfeld decides to produce a new Follies, using nostalgia as its theme. Although the 1931 edition is a moderate success, it is clear Ziegfeld no longer reigns on Broadway. He becomes depressed when he and Burke are separated while she tours with a new play. Ziegfeld’s eccentricities become bizarre during this period; his phobias include red roses, dead flowers, and elephant figurines with their trunks pointing down. The chapter concludes with telegrams between Ziegfeld and Burke discussing Patricia’s care. At this point in Ziegfeld’s life, all he wants is for his family to be together again.

All through this period, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were hard at work on the Dillingham show, She's My Baby, which had begun rehearsals November 7th and had tryouts of a week each in Washington, Baltimore, and Newark. As well as Bea Lillie, the producer had lined up the debonair Clifton Webb, who'd made a mark as far back as 1916 in Cole Porter's Broadway bow, See America First, then graduated to featured roles in As You Were with Irene Bordoni and Sunny with Marilyn Miller. More recently he had won plaudits as an adagio dancer partnering Mary Hay at the Palace and at Giro's nightclub. The ingenue and juvenile were Irene Dunne and smiling, red-haired Jack Whiting, the poor man's Fred Astaire. To their dismay, Rodgers and Hart discovered that Charles Dillingham had lost interest in the show.

This chapter explains how Ziegfeld became an icon for generations to come through the lavish biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Burke is an adviser on the set of the film and is now working at MGM. Next, the chapter provides an in-depth look at other films that use Ziegfeldian production techniques. The chapter concludes with a summary of Broadway and other theatrical productions from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that paid homage to Ziegfeld and his legacy.

Ziegfeld and Burke join forces to make Burkeley Crest into their own fantasy world, which includes a menagerie of animals. Commentary from Patricia and local residents of Hastings-on-Hudson (the town in upstate New York where the Ziegfelds live) is included. The remaking of Burkeley Crest into a family home brings Burke and Ziegfeld closer together. The theater further bonds the couple, although the shows Ziegfeld produces to reintroduce Burke to Broadway prove to be flops. The chapter includes an in-depth discussion of the continual changes taking place on Broadway and the fresh musicians and writers who influence these changes, including P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin. The Ziegfeld Follies of 1917 includes songs that increasingly suggest the archetypal independent and hedonistic woman of the Jazz Age. Burke alerts Ziegfeld to Marilyn Miller, a bright young dancer she spots in a Shubert show. Marilyn is the embodiment of the youth-centered 1920s.

After her husband’s death, Billie Burke reinvents herself in Hollywood. With the moral support of Will Rogers and the professional support of Sam Goldwyn, she becomes a sought-after character actress. Burke agrees to coproduce a new edition of the Follies with Ziegfeld’s former competitors, the Shuberts. The Follies of 1934 boasts former Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice as its primary attraction, as well as a number of up-and-coming talents, including Vincente Minnelli as scenic designer, Bob Hope, Eve Arden, and Buddy Ebsen. Several more Follies followed, the final one in 1957. The chapter includes updates on Ziegfeld’s favorite stars, Will Rogers and Marilyn Miller, and ends with a discussion of MGM’s preliminary plans to produce a biopic on Ziegfeld.