My upstairs neighbors are  moving, and I’m so sad.  They’re the only people in the building I really felt were kindred spirits. They are buying a movie star’s apartment in central Paris.

The eldest is an aspiring actress, a pretty girl who speaks perfect English, has excellent credentials and had both talent and the support of her family, so I was surprised to find out the other day that she is leaving France to study something completely different abroad.

“What happened?” I said. “Your mother said things were going so well!”

“It was so discouraging,” she said. “Things were going well. Everyone is impressed with [her credentials] and I got lots of leads. But I discovered that the myth of the casting couch is not a myth. The directors who said they would put me in their movies or plays wanted sex first.

“Ninety percent of all the actresses you see in the movies got their first roles this way. Everyone knows it.”
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