Afterthoughts

Abstract

Democracies in Britain, France, and America have produced some strange constellations of celebrity. Sarah Bernhardts renown far outshined Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s in his homeland, and Ethel Barrymore’s in hers. Lillie Langtry followed Bernhardt in being a citizen of the world, traveling in luxury, dressing with style, and using her life to enliven her acting. There was less of Langtry’s acting to be enlivened, to be sure, but enough to sustain the glow.

It is an enormous paradox that democracy … which claimed moral superiority on the basis of extending quality and freedom to all, cannot proceed without creating celebrities who stand above the common citizen and achieve veneration and god-like worship.

Chris Rojek, Celebrity (2001)¹