The love-struck Malloy added another detail: "We was to be married." Outside, Marlowe was officially hired to find the woman - Velma Valento.During a brief preliminary investigation, private cop Marlowe learned that the previous owner Mike Florian ran the joint until 1939 when he died while drinking a beer in 1940.The role also could later have served as the model for Bob Fosse""s alter-ego inAll That Jazz (1979).]Its familiar plot was a typical-for-the-time backstage tale about putting on a lavish show - in this case, touring stage productions for major motion-picture houses.After a fight to the death against Hunt on a series of moving car ramps, Hendricks made a fatal jump to his death with the case, hoping to ensure the launch""s success.They split up and looked through the empty hallways for a doctor - Gordo found a nurse""s station with a radio station broadcasting gunshots and "complete f--king chaos.