Elizabeth Taylor has passed away

Does the death of a film icon merit memorialization on a book commentary blog?

I think so.  I've always thought of Elizabeth Taylor as a modern Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships, and many thousands of words.

A dear friend who worked in the Olympian heights of Hollywood once told me a very touching story about her.  You knew that you were about to receive a visit from the goddess, when a case of Dom Perignon was delivered.  A bottle was put on ice in readiness, and some time after that the lovely woman herself arrived.

She drank just one half-glass as she enchanted the company, and then she left, leaving the rest for her host.

What a gal.

She was tiny, he said, but once you looked into her magnificent eyes, that was all you saw.