Film Friday: «A Star Is Born» (1954)
In honor of Judy Garland's 94th birthday, which is today, this week on "Film Friday" I bring you one of her most iconic pictures , one that should have given her the Oscar for Best Actress. Groucho Marx was right; it was "the biggest robbery since Brinks." Original release poster Directed by George Cukor, A Star Is Born (1954) tells the s tory of E sther Blodgett (Judy Garland), a band singer who saves screen legend Norman Maine (James Mason) from complete h umilia tion when he arrives drunk at a benefit show at t he Shr ine Auditorium . Once sober, No rman goes looking for Es ther and finds her pe rforming in an a fter-hours club. Impressed by her talent, he convinces her to leave her band and pur s ue a career in motion pictures , prom ising to introduce her to studio head O liver N iles (Charles Bickford). Just as Esther ar rives in Hollywood, Norman is called away to filming on location and is unable to reach her. Assuming that he was bein ...