Little Miss Hollywood

In a sun‑splashed Los Angeles of the Roaring Twenties, the precocious orphan Baby Peggy, christened "Molly" by the film’s promotional machine, becomes the accidental centerpiece of a rickety studio’s desperate bid for redemption. When a beleaguered producer, Fred Spencer, stumbles upon Molly’s impromptu tap routine in a back‑alley dance hall, he envisions a new starlet who can eclipse the fading glamour of his former silent‑era idols. The narrative unfurls as Spencer, aided by the stoic yet tender Florence Lee, orchestrates a series of contrived auditions, each more farcical than the last, to showcase Molly’s raw charisma. Douglas Fairbanks, playing a self‑referential swashbuckling mentor, intervenes with flamboyant stunt sequences that blur the line between spectacle and exploitation. Meanwhile, Joe Bonner, a cynical studio accountant, plots to siphon the burgeoning profits, while the earnest Billy Condon, a fledgling cameraman, chronicles the chaos through a lens that captures both the glittering façade and the bruised underbelly of early Hollywood. As Molly’s fame skyrockets, the film pivots to a bittersweet denouement: the child star confronts the paradox of adulation and autonomy, ultimately choosing a modest life over the relentless churn of fame. The screenplay, penned by Al Herman, weaves satire, sentiment, and a meta‑commentary on the industry’s voracious appetite for novelty, rendering "Little Miss Hollywood" a kaleidoscopic portrait of ambition, innocence, and the relentless pursuit of the silver screen’s elusive promise.