Family background, early life, father and vaudeville; beginning of theatrical career, 1920s; theater life during Prohibition; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and motion picture career: transition to sound; social, intellectual and political life in Hollywood; discussion of outstanding films; impressions of Eva Tanguay, Harold Lloyd, Charles Chaplin, Delmar Daves, Jimmie Flood, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, many other s; reflections on comedy. Audio is comprised of narrator's excerpts from the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company's radio program series "Memoirs of the Movies"