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28

jbhifi.com.au

DECEMBER

2016

EXTRAS

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his own inimitable way, the studio system of

manufacturing celluloid entertainment for the

masses when he said, “ We have our factory,

which is called a stage within a studio. We

make a product, we colour it, we title it, and

we ship it out in cans.”

The production, distribution and exhibition

of motion pictures was originally handled

separately, but as the industry rapidly grew,

these functions became vertically integrated.

These powerful studio executives could

now maximise profits by distributing and

exhibiting their movies into theatres they

now controlled in practically every major city in

America.

By 1930 there were eight corporations that

totally dominated the US motion picture

industry. “The Big Five” – Paramount, MGM,

Fox, Warner Bros. and RKO – owned substantial

production facilities in California, a worldwide

distribution network and an extensive theatre

chain. These five corporations would rule and

monopolise Hollywood for the next three

decades. And then there were “The Little

Three” – Universal, Columbia and United Artists

– who maintained only the production and

distribution parts of the system. They lacked a

sizeable chain of theatres – one of the crucial

elements of vertical integration – to be a

major player, and consequently had to depend

primarily on independent theatre owners to

show their pictures.

Another integral part of Hollywood’s studio

system was its “star system”.

All the major studios had a talent

department whose personnel would scour the

country, attending entertainment venues such

as Broadway shows, vaudeville houses,

regional theatre productions, nightclub acts

and beauty pageants in search of young people

with charisma and potential star quality. Those

with the necessary photogenic credentials

received an all expenses paid trip to Hollywood

to take a screen test, followed by a sound test.

If approved by the studio executive, they were

signed to a seven-year contract with options,

which simply meant that the studio could drop

them at the end of each six month interval of

the contract period if they did not generate

interest from the moviegoing public.

Studio bosses such as Louis B. Mayer

(MGM) and Darryl F. Zanuck (20th Century

Fox) had definite ideas about how a star

should look and refashioned their new talent

accordingly. Now contractually bound and

literally owned by the studio, the newcomers

were exposed to an elaborate star development

apprenticeship. They were taught to walk, talk,

sing, and dance. Teeth were fixed, hair and eye

colour adjusted, false biographies were written

for them, and those with mundane names

had them changed to fit their new image:

Archibald Leach became Cary Grant, Frances

Ethel Gumm became Judy Garland, Issur

Danielovitch Demsky became Kirk Douglas,

and so on. The studio’s casting director would

now cast these fresh young actors into either

small parts in A productions or star them in a

B picture and await the public reaction, usually

gauged by the amount of fan mail the actor

received.

Although this system gave the newcomers

job security, if they ever reached “full star

status” their contract contained many terms

that were highly unfavourable and detrimental

to the actor. With relatively little control over

the roles they were cast in or the movies they

made, the actors could even be loaned out to

other studios without their consent. A studio

could terminate the contract at will but the

actor could not. If they refused to appear in

movies they believed was typecasting them,

they were immediately suspended and their

contract extended to make up the lost time

whilst on suspension. Also, following the

Roscoe Arbuckle sex scandal in 1921,

all actor contracts customarily contained

morality clauses that gave the studio extensive

and often intrusive control over the star’s

private life.

Actors as employees became valuable

commodities and Hollywood created the myth

that stars weren’t made, they were born, when

in fact the studios manufactured their own

homegrown movie celebrities as a mechanism

for selling movie tickets. Publicists, marketing

departments and the Hollywood press joined

together to create this incredibly successful

celebrity industry. Through its movie stars, the

studios would show an idealised America and

the glamour that became synonymous with

Hollywood. 

By 1939 the Hollywood studios,

having gathered together the most

accomplished collection of creative talent in

the history of the movies, were at the height

of their power and productivity. With American

moviegoers buying tickets at the rate of 80

million a week, what could possibly go wrong

with this integrated movie money machine? 

To be continued...

We have our factory,

which is called a stage

within a studio. We

make a product, we

colour it, we title it, and

we ship it out in cans

Louis B. Mayer with two

of his “homegrown”

stars: Judy Garland and

Mickey Rooney

Darryl F. Zanuck with his most

famous movie star, Marilyn Monroe

continued