Oh, winter.  Ah, howling wind and careful stepping through yesterday’s detritus as the snow, once so gleaming, turns into dirt-sullied slush.  And after dark, when things get bitter and the stars have lost their glitter, it becomes treacherous beneath unsteady feet.  We’ve had a storm here in New York and I’m cozying inside in that half-melancholic February nostalgia one can savor when forced into quietude. 

I’m as pure as the driven slush, Tallulah Bankhead once said, and having watched the original Selznick-produced A Star is Born (1937), one gets the feeling that it was only family money that allowed her such honesty–which otherwise was and is rare in a business built on selling dreams.  A Star is Born, which is showing on TCM this week in an orgy of Selznick produced gems, is all about Hollywood, and about the sweet poison of success.  Continue reading →