On his deathbed, Florenz Ziegfeld, in the throes of a delirium, reportedly cried out: “Curtain! Fast music! Lights! Ready for the last finale! Great! The show looks good! The show looks good!” ZIEGFELD FOLLIES takes its cue from there. The film opens with the great showman (played by William Powell, reprising his role from THE GREAT ZIEGFELD [1936]) up in heaven, sitting in his swanky apartment, where he dreams about putting on a new show. A group of puppets (featuring caricatures of some of the original Ziegfeld Follies stars) entertain him. Fred Astaire appears to pay tribute to the great showman, and then a grand review begins. The following twelve sequences, a variety of sketches and musical numbers, are all in the Ziegfeld tradition.