a drinking binge; he is eventually arrested for being drunk and disorderly and receives ninety days in the city jail. Vicki bails him out and brings him home, where they are joined by Niles. Norman goes to bed but overhears Vicki telling Niles she will give up her career to take care of him. He also hears Oliver say that Norman ruined his own career with his drinking. Finally realizing what he has done to himself, Vicki, his career, and the people around him, Norman leaves his bed, tells Vicki cheerfully that he is going to go for a swim, walks into the ocean, and drowns himself. At Norman's funeral, Vicki is mobbed by reporters and insensitive fans. Despondent, Vicki becomes a recluse and refuses to see anyone. Finally, her old bandmate Danny convinces her she needs to attend a charity function because she constitutes the only good work Norman did and which he died trying to save. At the Shrine Auditorium, she notices the heart Norman drew on the wall on the night they met and for a moment seems to lose her composure. When she arrives on stage, the master of ceremonies tells her the event is being broadcast worldwide, and asks her to say a few words to her fans. She says, "Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine", which prompts the crowd into a standing ovation. Cast Production In December 1952, George Cukor was approached by Sid Luft, who proposed the director helm a musical remake of the 1937 film A Star Is Born, with his then wife Judy Garland in the lead role. Garland previously had portrayed Vicki Lester in a December 1942 Lux Radio Theater broadcast with Walter Pidgeon, and she and Luft, along with several associates, had formed Transcona Enterprises specifically to produce the project on screen. Cukor had declined to direct the original film because it was too similar to his 1932 work What Price Hollywood?, but the opportunity to direct his first Technicolor film and first musical film, work with screenwriter Moss Hart, and especially with Garland, appealed to him, and he accepted. It was Garland's first film since leaving MGM. Getting the updated film to the screen proved to be a challenge. Cukor wanted Cary Grant, whom he had directed three times before, for the male lead, and went so far as to read the entire script with him. Grant,