"There's no business like show business, like no business I know," Ethel Merman belted in the 1954 film adaptation of Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. The musical's lead song is enthusiastic and upbeat, but there's an undercurrent of sarcasm and tragedy, with a few lines sneaking in how fickle the business is, how actors sometimes get stuck with crappy roles in failing projects, and how they have to keep smiles painted on their faces no matter how bad things get. That whiff of discontent runs through virtually all movies about the performance industry, from live theater to music to filmmaking. Show business may make a handful of people rich, powerful, and renowned, but for every one who makes it to the top of the heap, there are hundreds of strivers who spend their lives climbing only to end up back at base camp.
