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A Star
is Born (1954)
In director George Cukor's dramatic musical and classic
tearjerker - it was a superior remake of William Wellman's
non-musical, classic 1937 film of the same
name starring Janet Gaynor
and Fredric March that was inspired by What
Price Hollywood? (1932) also directed by Cukor. [Note: It was also
updated to modern times twice as a musical drama - first as A Star
Is Born (1976) with Barbra Steisand and Kris Kristofferson, and second
as A Star Is Born (2018), starring director/actor Bradley Cooper
and Lady Gaga.]; the emotionally-intense psycho-drama also hinted
at the real-life troubles and problems (five marriages) in the
career of its female star - Judy Garland - a victim of the Hollywood
studio system - during the film's making; it was Garland's comeback
and self-referential film (after she had been dismissed from her
lead role in MGM's Annie Get Your Gun (1950) for health
problems), and then suffered from alcoholic binges and suicide
attempts:
- during a late-night gala
benefit "Night of Stars" held at Hollywood's Shrine Theatre,
boozing, womanizing, brilliant, but fading alcoholic movie actor Norman
Maine (James Mason) was searching for one of the dancing performers
- young, aspiring newcomer-star actress and vocalist Esther Blodgett
(Judy Garland)
- haunted by Esther's memory, Norman tracked
her down and found her in an empty, after-hours Sunset Strip musicians'
hangout (with stacked chairs all around); he became transfixed
as he watched her sing the memorable torch song blues/ballad classic: "The
Man That Got Away," accompanied by her pianist (Tommy Noonan)
- the performance was a classic, three and a half-minute uninterrupted
camera take
- now newly-renamed Vicki Lester, her singing career
was launched and on the rise in Hollywood; support from Norman helped
her at the start, but his popularity was in reverse and on the
decline
- Esther's debut lead
film role was in the film's most extravagant
and main production sequence: "Born in a Trunk" (including
various renditions of "Swanee")
- it was a classic, 18-minute sequence, opening and closing it with
the song; it was presented as a career success story, a vaudeville
performer's rise to stardom, and an exquisitely-staged musical "biography" of
Vicki Lester's character; in-between the opening and closing song,
Vicki commented on being a "ten-year-overnight sensation," singing
such classics as "I'll Get By," "You Took Advantage
of Me," "My Melancholy Baby," and "Swanee"
(in a minstrel-like performance, wearing a man's hat and suit)
- Norman proposed marriage to Vicki
during a recording session - and she accepted his "public" proposal;
their marriage was soon tested by the tragic consequences of Norman's
personal self-destruction, disintegration and loss of fame
- in a classic sequence at the
annual Academy Awards Banquet Ceremony, Vicki won the Best Actress
Academy Award Oscar and was giving her acceptance
speech, when the drunken Norman made an intrusive entrance and
interrupted Vicki's speech; while stumbling around, he delivered
his own self-pitying speech to demand recognition from the audience: "Congratulations,
my dear. I made it just in time, didn't I? May I borrow the end of
your speech to make a speech of my own? My method for gaining your
attention may seem a little uncon-unconventional, but, uh, hard times
call for harsh measures. My - I had my speech all prepared, but I
- it's gone right out of my head. Let me see - why, it's silly to
be so formal, isn't it? I-I know most of you sitting out there by
your first names, don't I? I made a lot o' money for you gentlemen
in my time through the years, didn't I? Well, I need a job now. Yeah,
that's it. That-that-that-that's the speech. That's the - I need
a job. That's what I wanted to say. I - I need a job. It's as simple
as that. I - I need a job, that's all. My talents, I may say, are
not confined to dramatic parts. I can play comedy, too"
- Norman
was gesturing wildly on stage and accidentally slapped her when
he flung his arm out and struck her as
she was delivering her acceptance speech for Best Actress
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Norman's Drunken and Embarrassing Appearance
at the Academy Awards
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- Vicki was willing to sacrifice her career to help
her husband Norman regain his stability and sobriety; she
sang the first chorus of "Lose
That Long Face," followed by her confessional breakdown in the
dressing room scene with studio head Oliver Niles (Charles Bickford)
about her despair and concern over her alcoholic husband Norman: "What
is it that makes him want to destroy himself?...You don't know what
it's like to watch somebody you love just crumble away bit by bit,
day by day, in front of your eyes, and stand there helpless. Love
isn't enough, I thought it was. I thought I was the answer for Norman.
But love isn't enough for him....Sometimes, I hate him. I hate his
promises to stop, and then the watching and waiting to see it begin
again. I hate to go home to him at nights and listen to his lies...I
hate me cause I've failed too...All he's got left is his pride";
afterwards, she forced herself to go back on stage to sing the song
again
- Norman's stunning suicidal demise was inevitable; in
the film's shocking, tragic but inevitable sequence (of Norman's
suicide), he made one last request that Vicki sing a song for
him: "It's
a New World" - and he also asked for one final look at her: "Hey
- I just wanted to look at you again"; and then Norman walked
into the ocean from his Malibu beach house at sunset - to commit suicide by drowning himself
- in the film's memorable conclusion, one of
the greatest endings of any movie in the 1950s, Vicki was escorted
by her studio accompanist Danny McGuire (Tommy Noonan), to show up
to sing at a scheduled Shrine Theatre benefit concert; she passed
by a wall with the heart and arrow drawn in lipstick by Norman so
many months before (E.B. & N.M.); at the last minute, she was
persuaded to come out of mourning to perform; in front of the curtain,
the emcee (Rex Evans) was announcing that she would not be appearing,
but after receiving a whispered message from Danny, he then excitedly
announced: "Vicki
Lester will appear tonight!"
Vicki's Unexpected Appearance at the Shrine Theatre
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"Hello everybody - this is - Mrs. Norman Maine"
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- before a large audience at the
Shrine Theatre in the film's unforgettable and poignant ending, Vicki
appeared in a spotlight as she delivered a closing, posthumous
tribute line to her deceased husband to honor him, as she proudly identified
herself: "Hello
everybody - this is - Mrs. Norman Maine" - there was a
slight pause and silence, and then the audience stood and burst into
ecstatic applause - the camera pulled back slowly, ending with a long
shot of Esther smiling through her tears
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"The Man That Got Away"

"Born In a Trunk"
"Lose That Long Face"
Vicki's Confessional Breakdown in Dressing Room to Studio
Head Oliver Niles (Charles Bickford)

Norman's Suicidal End

Backstage at the Shrine Theatre - Vicki Remembered Heart
Drawn on Wall (With Her and Norman's Initials)
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