WilliamM

Opinion New York Times ‘A Star Is Born’ Is Born Again. Let Us Pray. Can the latest remake undo my childhood trauma and restore the luster of the Judy Garland version? By David Belcher Mr. Belcher is an editor in the Hong Kong office of the Opinion section. Oct. 3, 2018 Image The 1954 version of "A Star Is Born" starred James Mason and Judy Garland.CreditCreditUlstein bild/Getty Images Is it possible to have “A Star Is Born” redemption 42 years later? Four decades after I was forbidden as a young teenager from watching Barbra Streisand reclaim the role that Judy Garland (and Janet Gaynor before her) had so perfectly embodied, I’m again experiencing cautious giddiness as a new version opens worldwide this week. The buzz swirling around the third remake of the 1937 movie looks promising, to say the least: Critics and audiences at the Venice and Toronto film festivals have praised Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as the lovers in this tale of the perils of simultaneously rising and falling careers, along with equal praise for Mr. Cooper’s directorial debut and his songwriting. Early reviews are pretty ecstatic. This is exciting stuff, and potentially a huge relief for the previously disappointed among us who had feared for decades that it would be remade for the wrong star. (Actually it was, in a way, with “Glitter,” the Mariah Carey laugh-out-loud campfest from 2001 that ostensibly tells the same story with a slight twist at the end. But let’s not go there.) For those of us who were too young to see it onscreen the last go-round, it’s not a time of reflection so much as potential redemption. Barely a teenager in 1976, I was well aware of the second remake, which was clearly conceived as a movie-with-music vehicle for Barbra Streisand in the same way the first remake was for Ms. Garland. For all self-respecting gay boys at the time, life had taken on new meaning when it was announced Ms. Streisand would star in a remake of the 1954 remake, which to so many of us is (She was notoriously robbed of an Oscar, most likely because of her infamous erratic behavior on the set of the film.) It was going to be a gay boy’s doubleheader: Barbra and Judy would inhabit the same role 22 years apart. God was in his heaven. four years earlier. People had drowned and fallen to their deaths in that movie — including children — but I was allowed to see thatmovie, I screamed. My mother tried to appease me with the reminder that we had gone as a family to see “Gone With the Wind” in its last run in movie theaters that summer before its television premiere. To which I pointed out: “All Vivien Leigh did was whine for four solid hours in that movie! I bet Barbra doesn’t whine once in ‘A Star Is Born!’” But I lost the battle. I moved on. Thanks to the miracle that was VHS in the early ’80s, I got my wish nearly 10 years later — and it was a stunning letdown. Unlike the 1937 version, and particularly the 1954 version, which is close to cinematic perfection if only for Ms. Streisand’s version was mostly panned by critics and borders on ’70s camp at this point, except for the Oscar-winning and timeless “Evergreen.” The vibe between the two leads is more a lump of protoplasm than organic onscreen chemistry. O.K., so it wasn’t as bad as “Funny Lady,” but that’s about all I’ll give it. Fast-forward to 2018 to the . It’s the kind of excitement I’d almost given up on for what would inevitably be a third remake, assuming it would be strolled out at some point with all the wrong stars or that the studio would insist on an ending untrue to the first three. The ending (no spoiler alerts, for a few out there who don’t know the ending at this point) needs to depict how love and fame are equally fleeting and unfair. . As Vicki Lester’s career spins to the heights of Hollywood, you feel as if there is no room for anyone else, let alone a lover. But it’s also a raw depiction of the desperation of living with alcoholism and denial amid the hypocrisy and hysteria of show business. The 1937 version is delicate and stripped of ’30s Hollywood glamour, and , and not dolled up like Jean Harlow or Joan Crawford. And does anyone else besides me still have a crush on a young Fredric March? His pain as his fame dissipates is a study in restraint in an era of filmmaking not exactly known for subtlety. Forty-two years after my parents crushed my dream of seeing the ’70s “A Star Is Born” that turned out to be mostly a dud, I’m waiting for Mr. Cooper and Lady Gaga to make it all right again. It won’t be Judy in her finest hour, but I’ll take what I can get. David Belcher is an editor in the Hong Kong office of the Opinion section.

Of perhaps more local interest, I am picking the Brewers over the Red Sox in the Baseball World Series.

Another suggestion: fly to Berlin now and enjoy the hustler bars.

Just sports and CNN MSNBC PBS and CSPAN,

My first experience with Starbucks was on the west coast of the U.S., and coffee 'bars' in general, Japan. I live very close to a Starbucks, which for me is more important than the qualify of the coffee. It's a place to get to know neighbors.

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I guess we can eliminate several states and one country from our guesses as to where you live!

@TruHart1, I only live 90 miles from NY, and have not bought a ticket.

It is difficult to order a soft drink in the local Starbucks where I read the paper some mornings.

I saw the play with the same cast. I sent a PM to Avalon last night explaining why I disagree with the review.

The brief description of the play is very different from what you wrote above.

I do not remember the plot of "Uncle Bob," but you have it mixed up with some other play. I saw "Uncle Bob," in New York.

Very early in QAF, Gale Harold played a straight role off-Broadway in a play called "Uncle Bob." I don't remember, Mr. Harold talking to audience members after the play. Rupert Graves has appeared on Broadway several times. Mr. Graves is usually quite willing to chat with fans after performances.

Sometimes the interaction between the straight guys is interesting too. The three amigos (Malcolm, Eddie, Reynold) we're interesting. The week after his season ended, Eddie wrote on Facebook about being almost naked on national TV for most of the episodes.

Christian Balic, Spain

I saw Merman in Gypsy twice. The musical was written specifically for her. Ethel played Rose for two years in New York and then for at least six months on tour. The original cast album is Merman at her best vocally, but you do not get a sense of her ability as a comic or a tragic figure during Rose's Turn. I saw Daly and Peters in revivals. I suspect you had to see Merman in person to fully appreciate her, so nothing against others who played Rose.

Peggy Lee could sing blues and jazz (for jazz, try her live recordings at Basin Street East in New York).