Walking into the Hollywood Roosevelt isn’t exactly like walking back in time, but the place is positively swathed in glamour — and the TCM Film Festival. The main lobby – not to be confused with the mezzanine or the ground floor, where you actually check in – is dominated by a lush lounge in its center, and the “TCM Club” off to the side, where under colored lights, passholders can mix, mingle, drink, eat, and be entertained by strangely ambient music alongside vintage film clips. It’s not 1930s chic, but it holds a certain charm and quality, a 21st century riff on the early century lounges where silent film stars may have reclined to see and be seen. Granted, we’re all festival-goers here, not movie stars, but it’s fun to pretend.

There was no pretend glamour at the red carpet for the opening night of the festival (a screening of a restored edition of A Star Is Born, with two of Judy Garland’s children — Lorna and Joey Luft — on hand), held across the street at the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Over the classic handprints and footprints of stars past and present walked a number of stars both past and present, ranging from TV ingenues to Oscar winners. Some reporters and photographers couldn’t place all the names to the faces, but that didn’t stop them from flagging down whoever they could — Tony Curtis, Eva Marie Saint, Ernest Borgnine, Eli Wallach, Tippi Hedrin… Everyone wanted a piece of Martin Landau, who managed the gauntlet adroitly. Alec Baldwin, half-scowling and half-amused, went about halfway before forsaking the rest of the press line for the company of film critic Leonard Maltin. Some stars just sauntered by, or hung out with friends: the lovely Diane Baker (you may remember her as the senator in The Silence of the Lambs) chatted up everyone with such ease many took her to be a press agent. You could turn around suddenly and there would be Jacqueline Bisset, lovely as ever and just as charming; ditto Illeana Douglas, who seemed to materialize out of thin air only to disappear just as quickly.

The stars skewed definitely old-school, but they were anything but snooty — Tab Hunter greeted everyone with a handshake and the declamatory, “Hi, I’m Tab.” (Like you wouldn’t know…) Eva Marie Saint leaned over the velvet rope to confide favorite stars and scenes. Margaret O’Brien pranced about in a little electric-blue outfit, complete with feathers she was happy to show off to anyone. There were a handful of the recently-minted famous, most notably Andrea Bowen of “Desperate Housewives” and Kate Flannery of “The Office,” but the past reigned supreme: heck, even Hugh Hefner showed up!

The Mr. Congeniality award definitely goes to Danny Huston, who talked charmingly about his family, his movies, and what he was looking forward to over the weekend; he went out of his way to thank reporters who mentioned The Proposition (screening this weekend), and projected ease, charm, and classic good looks — you wouldn’t recognize him as the evil villains of some of his blockbuster films. And director Peter Bogdanovich, rocking a cravat, was the last man standing, making sure everyone who wanted an interview got one.

Once the red carpet was rolled up and the velvet ropes down, it was over to the pool at the Roosevelt for a photo-op featuring Esther Williams and Betty Garrett, the stars of Neptune’s Daughter, which was slated to screen that evening by said pool. The two stars posed with some modern-day bathing beauties known as the “Aqualillies” and later chatted briefly with host Ben Mankiewicz before the film rolled. As the sun gradually set, one couldn’t help but feel concern for the performing Aqualillies, who did a water ballet in honor of Williams in what could not have been very warm water. Considering there were only six of them, it was a fun performance, the highlight being when one swimmer/dancer sprang out of the water as if she were part-dolphin. The large crowed around the pool gave Williams and Garrett warm standing ovations, especially when both crooned lines from the film’s Oscar-winning song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

And that it was. An overcast LA day gave way to chilly night on the first evening of the fest, but judging from both the stars and the attendees, warmth was going to be on hand for the rest of the weekend. More people are passionate about classic film than you might think, and it gave the opening night a definite sense of fun, camaraderie, and excitement for things to come.

Check out our photo gallery for more pics, and our TCM Classic Film Festival section for more.