The Dance of Life was the first of three film versions of George Manker Watters and Arthur Hopkins' play Burlesque. Hal Skelly plays a burlesque comic who begins hitting the sauce when success goes to his head. Disgusted by his antics, Skelly's wife Nancy Carroll divorces him. But when Skelly hits the skids, Carroll returns to his side and helps him start all over again. The original Broadway production of Burlesque starred Barbara Stanwyck, who in 1929 didn't have the marquee value that Nancy Carroll did. The film was remade as Swing High, Swing Low in 1937 and When My Baby Smiles at Me in 1948.