"It's a new town. The old elegance is gone. It used to be one big family, this industry"
About this Quote
Nostalgia, here, isn’t a soft-focus filter; it’s a diagnosis. When Cesar Romero calls Hollywood “a new town,” he’s not just noting updated studios or changing fashions. He’s drawing a border between an old system that felt legible - even if it was controlled, insular, and sometimes brutal - and a newer one that no longer pretends to be a single, coherent world.
“The old elegance” carries a double charge. On the surface it’s manners, glamour, the choreography of premieres and press lines. Underneath, it’s an entire code of conduct: stars manufactured by studios, careers managed like long-term investments, and a shared social circuit where everyone knew everyone. Romero’s “one big family” sounds affectionate, but it also hints at the claustrophobia of that intimacy: protection came bundled with conformity, and “family” is how gatekeepers justify rules.
By the time Romero is reflecting on this (likely in the later decades of his life), the industry has been reshaped by television, the collapse of the studio system, changing censorship norms, and a more transactional celebrity culture. The warmth in his phrasing is real, but so is the grief of an actor watching a craft turn into a market.
The line works because it’s economical: “new town” suggests displacement, not progress. It frames change as cultural migration, with Romero cast as a native looking at a skyline he no longer recognizes.
“The old elegance” carries a double charge. On the surface it’s manners, glamour, the choreography of premieres and press lines. Underneath, it’s an entire code of conduct: stars manufactured by studios, careers managed like long-term investments, and a shared social circuit where everyone knew everyone. Romero’s “one big family” sounds affectionate, but it also hints at the claustrophobia of that intimacy: protection came bundled with conformity, and “family” is how gatekeepers justify rules.
By the time Romero is reflecting on this (likely in the later decades of his life), the industry has been reshaped by television, the collapse of the studio system, changing censorship norms, and a more transactional celebrity culture. The warmth in his phrasing is real, but so is the grief of an actor watching a craft turn into a market.
The line works because it’s economical: “new town” suggests displacement, not progress. It frames change as cultural migration, with Romero cast as a native looking at a skyline he no longer recognizes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nostalgia |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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