RoyALL
STARS
Galerie Rue Royale - Bilal McGlothan
By Ryan Tramonte
I am mad bananas for 1970s disaster movies . I was a “ Towering Inferno ” of excitement when Ms . Shelley Winters declared herself a very skinny girl in the water . Flipping ships , earthquakes , volcanoes , and distressed airliners had me sitting on the edge of my bean bag chair waiting for the Sunday night movie . It only got better when they sold me the catastrophe with an all-star cast . While other kids were counting cookies with Bert and Ernie , the simple words “ Ernest Borgnine ” had me counting the days till I could see him save the day , and Stella Stevens . I don ’ t know , maybe it was the intense situations , the shabby special effects , or
20 | The French Quarterly the idea that at any moment the earth could open up and swallow me and my bike whole , which drew me into these movies . What I do know is that the larger the all-star cast was , the more glued to the screen I would be . Hollywood ’ s best and brightest bringing their personalities and humor , their skills and talent , to what would otherwise be a magnificent mistake captured on celluloid made me want to be the hero who battles forest fires and saves Jacqueline Bisset from immediate peril .
The art business is no stranger to all-star casts coming together to create memorable additions to our lives in the form of iconic cultural imagery . From Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue , we