Tea at Trianon: When a Star Was Born

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

When a Star Was Born

Young Judy Garland and her golden voice.

Judy Garland's gifts as a singer and an actress were fueled by one central talent: her ability to want—or, more specifically, to make the whole world want and dream along with her. Whether it was pining for the man who got away, the boy next door who ignored her, the guy who hadn't shown up yet at all, or longing for a safe place beyond trouble and dysfunction (even if she had to go over the rainbow to find it), no one else could convey so convincingly and overwhelmingly the idea of desperately needing something to complete oneself, be it another person or a bagful of heart, brains and nerve.

Julygirl said...: One of a kind! The most captivating, multitalented star of the 20th Century. She could do it all.; September 1, 2010 at 10:29:00 AM EDT
Stephanie A. Mann said...: Ethan Mordden wrote a tremendous overview of her life and work years ago in The New Yorker--I probably have a paper copy somewhere!
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1990/10/22/1990_10_22_110_TNY_CARDS_000357443; September 2, 2010 at 7:00:00 AM EDT