#stardom

#stardom

At the beginning of the series, we learn of his dream to be the next Fred Astaire. With all of Fred's talent, Bob appears bereft of a quality repeatedly noted but never fleshed out, that thing that makes someone a star. Whether it's agreeableness, charisma, some combination, or something else altogether, Bob can't grab hold of what lies beyond himself. So, he's forever left settling-for Oscars, Tonys, and Golden Globes. In conjunction, they reflect back to him the person he'll never be.

The actress Mae West captured the elusive magic of movie stars best: "It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it. And how I look when I do it and say it." Stars are alluring but contradictory in nature, as much emblems of cinema's intimate magic as they are products of their time and place.