Summary
The second half of the poem returns to its beginning, as the speaker describes the headline that announced Lana Turner’s collapse. Unlike the previous lines, the speaker turns inward, subtly reflecting upon the difference between life in California and life in New York City. He realizes “there is no snow in Hollywood” and “there is no rain in California.” The speaker has had his fair share of disgraceful moments at parties, but he has never experienced the exhaustion of a total collapse. In the last line, the speaker addresses an absent Turner, rooting for her to get up.
Analysis
After the speaker recognizes the headline, the poem's serious undertones are revealed through the lines "there is no snow in Hollywood" and "there is no rain in California." Turner's collapse reveals that the images of fame, Hollywood, and stardom presented to a New York audience are less accurate than they appear. California is supposed to be whimsical, glamorous, and carefree: as a result, the popular image of California minimizes the severity of exhaustion, and news of stars who reach a breaking point is often laughed off or taken with a grain of salt.
The speaker then suggests that whatever caused Turner's collapse can't be that bad, because he's attended his fair share of parties and acted "perfectly disgraceful," while managing to get up the next morning and go about his day. If he can handle the chaos of New York City while participating in the city's social scenes, surely Lana can manage the demands of fame in bright, sunny California. His tone and language evoke a camaraderie between the speaker and Turner, addressing her like an old friend, even though he only knows her through her acting and modeling work, in addition to her sensationalized private life. The last line, "oh Lana Turner we love you get up" is meant to be playful, but it also emphasizes the distance from which Hollywood stars are regarded: even though the public is bombarded with celebrity news every day, the true lives of celebrities remains a mystery. Turner, though partially humanized through the poem's undertones, remains an image for public consumption: the "love" the speaker and the American public feel for Turner results from an idea of her, and for this idea to be sustained, she must get up and get back to the work for which she is known.
