Starlight and Stargazers

Celebrification has thrived for centuries in literature, theater, music, and other cultural spheres, as vividly illustrated by Byron, Sarah Bernhardt, and Paganini. It especially effloresced in cinema after the symbolically named Lumière brothers pioneered movies as light-projected “moving life” to be contemplated and shared in the intimate darkness of theaters. Actors and actresses such as Valent...