I Remember When Stars Were Stars

Last night I walked to the corner in West Hollywood where my bank is located to access the ATM. Instead of an empty space, there was a crowd. Perhaps fifty or so- nearly everyone with digital cameras, flashbulbs, blackberries, wha6t have you! I asked someone what was going on. He excitedly replied: "The Kardashian sisters just went into that ice cream shop!

The Kardashian sisters! The darlings of plastic surgeons whose contribution to show business and the world in general has been less than zero. What is so exciting about these strumpet-wannabes that makes them the subject of the paparazzi? Los Angeles now has become a nightly scene of the hunters and the hunted, regardless of their fame, talent, or purpose in life. There are now dozens of cable TV "starlets" who demand and seem to get coverage in the tabloids.

Do the Kardashian sisters really sell papers? And if so, why? Have they ever rally accomplished anything worthwhile, other than take up space on a cable reality show? I grew up when the movies still had stars and, regardless of what they were really like, they were "somebodies." Lana Turner may not have been the nicest person in private, but she was a performer who sold millions of movie tickets and, from time to time, really had talent. The same for others of that era- from Betty Grable to Dorothy Lamour, from Clark Gable to James Stewart. One could see, across a dining room, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, or Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, or Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck. They were not really approachable, but at least, in their regal posturings, they had something to show for their fame and fortune. It was Hollywood where the Lion roared and so did Jack Warner and Darryl Zanuck and all their publicity professionals who got the scoops for Hedda and Louella.

I remember when there was meaningful glamour. Now, it is emptiness, just as vapidly empty as the brain matter of the Kardashians and their ilk. L A has become empty.