Pity poor Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times, tasked with explaining the phenomenon of teen social networking sites in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.

Catherine Conn grew up in a world whose underpinnings were Victorian. She was of a time and a state of mind when it was believed possible to jump into American society through the free pass of stardom, as if such enchantment would automatically rob the world of its prejudices. Denial was often a necessary tool for advancement, even in the theatre: names were changed, accents Anglicized. The composer Arthur Schwartz, who spoke with a distinctly British accent, told his son, Jonathan, "We're not Jewish, we're in show business." Getting out of a taxi once, Kitty Carlisle's mother was asked by a curious driver, "Is your daughter Jewish?" "She may be, but I'm not" was the reply.