.IT — gossip, bass & bad decisions
Section 01 of 05 — 24 curiosities
Flashbulbs, stage names, comebacks and the strange rules of being famous.
The top tier of fame, a phrase dictionaries date to 1935 and that one Hollywood guide tried to measure on a scale of 1 to 100.
The thank-you delivered with trophy in hand, now capped at 45 seconds at the Oscars, a limit a marathon from 1943 helped inspire.
A second self a performer slips into on stage, from Ziggy Stardust to Sasha Fierce, and usually retires with great ceremony.
A brief appearance by a famous face, named after a small carved gem and turned into a running game by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Riviera film festival with 24 red-carpeted steps, a famously strict dress code and, since 2018, a firm frown at selfies.
The triumphant return after a quiet spell, a genre Elvis perfected in black leather on NBC in December 1968.
Italian for goddess, first given to opera's leading ladies and now to any star who makes an entrance and expects applause.
An Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony won by the same person, a grand slam so rare that only about two dozen people hold one.
Brief, sudden celebrity, credited to Andy Warhol, although the line he supposedly coined in 1968 may not have been his.
The seats nearest the catwalk, where a fashion show's real hierarchy is drawn up on paper with coloured stickers.
The young woman everyone suddenly wants to watch, named after the mysterious It that made Clara Bow a star in 1927.
Someone who resembles a star closely enough to turn heads, a pastime revived in 2024 by a crowded contest in a New York park.
Fashion's most exclusive dinner, born in 1948 as a fifty-dollar midnight supper and now famous for its themes and its phone ban.
A star with famous parents, slang that took over the internet in 2022 and landed on Collins's word-of-the-year shortlist.
The unofficial goody bag for Oscar nominees, packed with luxury trips and treats, which winners and losers alike take home.
The crimson strip outside every premiere, a tradition so old that its first known appearance is in a Greek tragedy.
A romance that blooms on a stage or a reality set, a word theatre reviewers were already using in 1999.
Hinting at a new romance online with a stray hand or an anonymous foot, a trick borrowed from the jargon of product releases.
The name a performer works under, sometimes chosen for style and sometimes because a rulebook leaves no other choice.
The logo-covered backdrop behind every red-carpet pose, named after a printing technique and designed so no photo escapes the sponsor.
The world's oldest film festival, launched in 1932 on a hotel terrace on the Lido, with wicker chairs and no prizes at all.
The pavement of stars along Hollywood Boulevard, where only one entertainer has collected a star in every category.
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