Cinema: A Star Is Born

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One fateful day in 1940, a would-be actress named Deborah Kerr (rhymes with star) was sitting in a London restaurant with an acquaintance of British Producer-Director Gabriel Pascal. When Pascal himself was introduced, he promptly chanted in his richest Magyar overtones: "Sweet lady, you have a spiritual face."

That, as some Englishmen would say, tore it. For, as a result of that brief encounter, the bigwigs of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are now immodestly slapping their own backs with the fervor of flagellant monks. They have acquired, little Miss Kerr, and they suspect that she...