By 1930 America was beginning its long slide into the Great Depression, but in William Randolph Hearst's world all was well. When not overseeing his publishing empire or furthering construction on San Simeon, he was making sure his beloved mistress Marion Davies was fulfilling the Hollywood destiny he desired for her. His fingerprint is all over Floradora Girl (1930), a feather-light romance about a stage beauty (Davies) and her on-again, off-again courtship with wealthy suitor Jack (Lawrence Gray) -- not just in how the very Jazz Age Davies plays a gay '90s blushing blossom, down to how exterior scenes were filmed at his 118-room beach house on Santa Monica Beach. (Delicate pastel scenes shot in the primitive two-strip Technicolor process only add an antique flavor to the story.) Despite how she was savaged in Citizen Kane (1941), Davies was actually a talented and charming screen presence, her work ethic unspoiled by her anointed status. Hearst's insistence in placing her in light, virginal follies like this one may have hindered the natural rise of her star in Hollywood. Nevertheless, Floradora Girl still holds the distinction of being the first film ever screened at Hollywood's legendary Pantages Theater.

By Violet LeVoit