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John Bowers, the actor whose roller-coaster career and tragic death allegedly inspired the movie A Star is Born, heads the cast of 1927's Ragtime. Bowers plays Ted Mason, a tin-pan-alley songwriter who composes a love ballad dedicated to debutante Beth Barton (played by Bowers' real-life wife Marguerite de la Motte). Alas, before Mason can get the song published, the sheet music is stolen by ambitious vaudeville hoofer Goldie Martin (Rose Dione), who in turn gives it to her dancing partner-husband Slick Martin (Robert Ellis). When the song becomes a hit, Beth is banished from her high social circles for stirring up "disgraceful" publicity. But not to worry: Mason writes another song that puts Beth back in the good graces of her friends, whereupon the grateful heroine marries the hero on the spot.