Stars fading
UPI Arts & Entertainment - Scott's World
By VERNON SCOTT

HOLLYWOOD (UPI)
Movie stars aren't what they were. Some current "stars" don't qualify for the distinction for lack of credentials. It was different in the glory days of the studio contract system ruled by Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, Darryl Zanuck, Harry Cohen, Cecil B. DeMille, Adolph Zuckor, Sam Goldwyn, David O. Selznick and Carl Laemmle. Those iron-fisted moguls knew stars were more important than scripts. Studios early on put stars' names above the title, never mind the story. Magical surnames alone drew millions to the box office: Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, Barrymore, Gish. They were followed by Gable, Garbo, Tracy, Cagney, Cooper, Hepburn, Colbert, Muni, Harlow, Dressler, Shearer. And later: Flynn, Power, Taylor, Stewart, Crosby, Davis, Crawford, Colman and March. They were STARS, larger-than-life movie actors. There was no TV. They rarely were heard on radio. In the first half of the century Americans flocked to Hollywood in hopes of catching stars at studio gates or in the Brown Derby and Romanoff's. Most stars earned a fraction of what today's "stars" take home. But today's top performers are mere humans who peddle their films on TV. From the '20s to the '50s movie stars commonly were called American Royalty, revered worldwide. King Clark and Queen Carole? We're not talking Sean Penn or Demi Moore. Their aura was enhanced by physical beauty, first and foremost qualification for international deification. The motion picture industry was built on their power to attract the populace to movies to be transported to a better world before, during and after the Great Depression of the '30s. Stars were the product of meticulously disseminated publicity, flattering quotes, flawless grooming and fictional biographies. They were held in awe, given special consideration, the envy of the rich and powerful who paled by comparison. Stars were presented to royalty at the Court of St. James whereas captains of industry and grubby politicians were overlooked. All that is a time gone by. Today's movie actors are no longer special. In cases where current stars' names do appear above the title, the public looks for directors and reads reviews. Actors, no matter how wealthy, are just people. The mystique has long since glimmered away.

Calista who?

Compare your gut reaction to names of today's would-be stars with those of yesteryear: Yasmine Bleeth, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, David Duchovny, Alicia Silverstone and Christina Ricci. Would you rush to the nearest multiplex to see Keenen Ivory Wayans? Or Jerry O'Connell, Janet McTeer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rene Russo, Carolyn Murphy, Elizabeth Hurley or Adam Sandler? Notice both names are needed for identification? And what of such better-known stars as Penelope Cruz, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Denise Richards, Charlize Theron, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Aniston, Camryn Manheim, Matthew McConaughey? These people are listed as stars and can be seen posing in modern versions of the old movie magazines, publications such as Entertainment Weekly and Movieline. This is not to say they are unattractive or untalented, but certainly some are that. What they lack is personal charisma. At the moment there are some exceptions who harken back to the days of genuine movie stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson and perhaps today's biggest box-office star, Harrison Ford. Among them, perhaps only Roberts could be called glamorous. But she is no Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth or Ann Sheridan. Sandra Bullock is not Betty Grable, to be sure. Time and tide have changed and diluted the power of Hollywood studios. The public has many more choices of entertainment and alternative faces and personalities at which to gawk. The scandalous past four-years at the White house and the great diversity offered by television and cable, followed by supermodels, the Internet and Sharon Stone, infamous for her exhibitionism in "Basic Instinct." A modern star of sorts is exemplified by Kevin Costner whose "Dances With Wolves" won uncounted awards, brought him wealth and fame. Costner did well with "Bull Durham" and "Field of Dreams" and now apparently is worth seeing only in baseball pictures. Cooper and Stewart did only one baseball picture each. Nor were Bogart, Brando, Grant or Lancaster limited to sports films. Quick, who are these "stars" and what movie have you seen them in lately: Leelee Sobieski, Joan Gruffudd, Lara Flynn Boyle, Puff Daddy, Queen Latifah, Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amy Yasbeck? Some current stars whose surnames mean something at the box office: Travolta, Schwarzenegger, Beatty, Newman, Redford, Streisand, Foster and Pacino. Their numbers are few, their ranks diminishing. It might be safe to predict that by the year 2101 everyone on the planet will be a "star" for 15 minutes, as Andy Warhol suggested or, conversely, stars will be found only in the firmament.

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