Madonna in a downtown Manhattan loft, December 1982. Photo: Peter Noble/Redferns/Getty ImagesIn February 1927, the British novelist Elinor Glyn published a short story in Cosmopolitan magazine that would define the then-nascent culture of celebrity. Glyn’s story explored the concept of It: the mysterious, ineffable, possibly magical quality that stars and other screen luminaries have and ordinary people don’t. Sex appeal, personal charisma, beauty—all of these contribute to It, but It is much more. And so not only a star, but an ideology of stardom, was born.

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Persons: Peter Noble, Elinor Glyn, Glyn, optioning, Clara Bow Organizations: Cosmopolitan, Paramount Locations: downtown Manhattan, British