thinly veils himself as a chauffeur. The Baron avoids paying The Chauffeur the money he owes, by claiming to be very busy, “breathing”. Meanwhile, Erik, the front desk operator, waits on news of his son’s birth, while still attempting to attend to his duties as front desk operator. One of those duties includes dealing with the dancing diva who is Elizaveta Grushinskaya, who enters the lobby with a flourish, along with her company manager Witt, a theatre impresario Sandor, and Grushinskaya’s dresser Raffaela. Grushinskaya has just come from a disappointing performance during which she stumbled. She swears, “I cannot dance any more! Grushinskaya retires!” Her bevy of assistants follow her off to her room to convince her otherwise, while Rafaela runs to the phones at the side of the lobby. Rafaela tries to sell some of Grushinskaya’s jewellry to pay for the shows that Grushinskaya wants to cancel. Next to her is a woman, Frieda Flamm, who has taken the stage name Flaemmchen. She is an aspiring actress, who is afraid that she might be pregnant. Next to her is Preysing, a general manager of a textile mill, who is waiting nervously to hear from Boston to see if his company is going to merge with a Boston company, or if his company is going to become bankrupt. The final man at the phones is Otto Kringelein, who is mortally ill, and has decided to spend his last days extravagantly at The Grand Hotel. Erik discovers that his wife is in great pain while giving childbirth. The Doctor dismisses her pain as insignificant to that which he suffers everyday. He tells a bellhop that he may be checking out today, but the bellhop dismisses the claim, “Sir, you said that yesterday.” Kringelein tries desperately to check into the overbooked, Grand Hotel, but the general manager, Rohna, can not find a room for him. Kringelein works himself into a fury, and passes out. The Baron comes to his aid, and uses his pull to make sure that Kringelein can spend his final days in style. At the coffee bar, two black American entertainers, The Jimmys, sing to the crowd. Flaemmchen waits nervously for Preysing, as she has agreed to be his typist for the evening. The Jimmys tell Flaemmchen all about America, and she wonders if perhaps America is the place where she can find fame and fortune. Witt and Sandor successfully convince Grushinskaya that she must dance, by quoting old reviews of her dancing, that glowingly referred to her as, Fire and Ice. While Grushinskaya finds the strength in past glory to continue to practise, Raffaela sings of her passion for Grushinskaya, and how she wishes they could just retire. The Baron and Flaemmchen cross paths near the cloakroom, and playfully flirt. She enjoys The Baron’s interest in her, and it gives her the confidence to wonder if she could be a movie star in Hollywood. Preysing’s attorney Zinnowitz, hounds him to tell his shareholders that the merger is on with the Boston company, and to restore calm to the shareholders. Preysing stands by his morals, saying that he can’t tell his shareholders things that aren’t true. Zinnowitz tries unsuccessfully to get Preysing to change his mind. Preysing meets with Flaemmchen, and they head off to his room, so that she can type his notes for the meeting. Just then Preysing receives the devastating news that the Boston merger is off. Realising that his company, and therefore his life, is in ruins, Preysing, considers lying to his shareholders. The Chauffeur catches up with The Baron again, and offers him a solution to his debt problems. The Chauffeur describes a necklace in Grushinskaya’s room, that The Baron could steal. The Baron claims that he would never steal, only as a last resort. The Chauffeur jams a gun into The Baron’s ribs, to remind him that his last resort is approaching very quickly. The Baron heads off to The Yellow Pavilion to forget about his worries. There he runs into Flaemmchen, whom he courts. She is ecstatic that a Baron would take such an interest in her. The Baron sees Kringelein alone off to the side of the dance hall, and asks Flaemmchen if she would dance with him. She obliges, and life returns to the fading Kringelein. Preysing interrupts, and demands that Flaemmchen help him type up his notes for the shareholders’ meeting. Kringelein, who used to work for Preysing, tries to hold onto his dream dance with Flaemmchen, and is infuriated that Preysing would want to end the dance, and also that
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