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lesson: Golden Era of Hollywood 1927-1940

Students will study the Golden Era of Hollywood from the 1927 to the 1940's and learn about the influences and progress that Hollywood achieved under the Studio System of filmmaking. Students should grasp the basic dates and film terminology that will be presented.

THE ADVENT OF SOUND

Any assessment of Hollywood movie making must begin with some discussion of sound enhancement to film. The Jazz Singer is legendary as the first sound film. It was made in 1927 and introduced Al Jolson, a New York vaudeville and stage performer. The film created a tremendous demand for sound by the public when it was released in 1929 and the studios heard that demand!

Sound with film had a thirty year history prior to The Jazz Singer. There were many pioneers in the field in the early days. Each had a name for his technique. Beginning as early as 1889, W.K.L. Dickson made a synchronization of word and picture using his kinetograph, the first such an attempt in America or elsewhere. The Edison Company attempted and succeeded in making a crude version of Mother Goose in 1912. The nickelodeons, from 1908 onward, used sound to enliven their presentations.

After World War I, sound took on a new life. Synchronization, sound to film, done by Lee DeForrest, another pioneer, solved some of the problems of amplification. Bell Telephone's research lab, Western Electric, developed and sold a sound-on-film disc process called "Vitaphone" in 1925. A year later, Bell Telephone offered their system to Warner Brothers, who saw the potential and bought the patent. From a small operation, Warner Brothers Studio, within three years, expanded enough to be included in fierce competition with Loew,'s Zukor's and First National, all film and distribution companies. Will Hayes, guardian of movie morals, was the first to appear in a sound film with a welcome address to theater patrons in 1926. This venture was followed by others; a concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra plus stars from opera, concert and music hall performers.

William Fox was another ambitious and visionary producer who stepped into the competition. His system was called "Movietone". It was he who developed the first filmed newsreels. In spite of these attempts, it was the aforementioned The Jazz Singer that set the stage for movie making with sound, such a vital and enriching component to the medium.

The new technique necessitated the process of installing sound equipment in the entire chain of theaters, a costly and time consuming process for each distributor. Sound also affected the actors and directors. Foreign stars, whose accents were not acceptable, rendered them dispensable. Americans whose voices didn't match their screen personas were also liabilities. Diction coaches were hired but most of the players were simply not able to overcome their vocal problems. With the advent of sound came dialogue writers, screenwriters and playwrights. Many felt the movies were in danger of becoming imitations of the stage. That was not to be.

THE MORALS PROBLEM

The system worked well in the early part of decade, but there were two very serious problems that had to be dealt with. The primary cause was the Great American Depression. At its worst, in 1933, more than 25% of the American work force was unemployed. Banks failed after the 1929 stock market crash and businesses failed. This dealt the industry a severe blow. The studios were not the only part of the economy hurt by unemployment. However, credit was quickly established by the glamour factories and the New Deal began to put people back to work.

The other problem facing the industry in the early 30's was the moralist censure articulated by the Protestant Church, civic and women's organizations and others offended by the moral standards in films. The scandals and licentiousness of the twenties had created the Hays Office in the prior decade. It was the oversight office for the content of film standards. By the beginning of the thirties, the old problem reasserted itself. Martin Quigley, a Roman Catholic layman and newspaper editor from Chicago, weighed in as an arbiter in the conflict. He was assisted by David Lord, a Roman Catholic Priest and advisor on Cecil B. DeMille's King of Kings. Together they drafted the Hollywood Motion Picture Code. It was yet another statement of the industry's articulation of the moral content for film. The Catholic Legion of Decency took the lead in threatening an economic boycott if the code's message was not enforced. With the Depression at its lowest ebb at the time, the code was adopted. By the following year, adjustments were being made to questionable material in films.

By the middle of 1934, Joseph Breene went to work for the Hays Office as head of the new Production Code Administration (PCA). The code was so stringent that films without the seal of approval of the PCA regarding their moral content were fined $25,000. It was because both producers and directors were members of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA); they all subscribed to the Production Code Administration. Initially the Code was adopted to avoid the looming threatened economic disaster. It was dropped by the 1950's to make way for more realistic treatment of social and moral problems in films.

GLAMOUR AND ARTISTRY IN FILM - THE STARS

The ultimate star throughout the entire decade was Greta Garbo. Her luminous face, her graceful appearance, her impression of delicacy, her total illusion projected "Movie Star Glamour". Reams of publicity followed her every move. Her career at MGM started in the mid-twenties, five years before the decade began. Garbo was brought to America, along with her mentor, Mauritz Stiller, by Louis B. Mayer. In Sweden, her native country, she had been a photographic hat model. At the same time, she studied and worked as an actress at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Stockholm. Her most memorable silent was Flesh and the Devil with John Gilbert, handsome leading man, as her lover. For her debut in sound film she was cast as the prostitute in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1921, and the perfect vehicle for the young

screen goddess. The studio's publicity headlined "Garbo talks". Her husky voice and slight accent were sensational. Fans flocked to see and hear her for the first time. Grand Hotel, with John Barrymore as her leading man followed which was another blockbuster for MGM. Other hits were Queen Christiana, Camille, Anna Karenina, and Susan Lenox.plus others. Ninotchka, her last film, was disappointing. She retired from films at 33.

Garbo's fame and admiration prompted Paramount to seek her counterpart in Europe. That woman was Marlene Dietrich, who also had a mentor,: the young German-American director, Joseph von Sternberg. The Blue Angel, their first collaboration, made in Germany, created extraordinary excitement for both Dietrich and von Sternberg. The film established them both as first rank artists. He guided her through her first three films at Paramount, Morocco, playing a tragic muse to Gary Cooper's foreign legionnaire, The Blond Venus, playing a cabaret singer, a familiar role throughout her career, and Shanghai Express, playing Lily, a white prostitute living in China. Subsequently, Dietrich was cast as The Scarlet Empress, playing a degenerate Catherine the Great and Concha Perly, a Spanish playgirl in The Devil Is A Woman.

Norma Shearer, another glamorous and beautiful star from the silents, reigned as the queen of MGM. Her marriage to Irving Thalberg, head of production, made her transition to talkies effortless. He consistently cast her as an over-sexed, restless, and worldly woman. She won an Oscar in 1930 in The Divorcee. Private Lives, Strange Interlude, and The Barretts of Wimpole Street, all adaptations of successful Broadway plays, followed. After the early death of Thalberg, she went on to star in Romeo and Juliet, Marie Antoinette, Idiots Delight plus The Women, her last film in 1939.

Joan Crawford, another MGM player, also easily made the transition to sound. She sustained her career for fifty years by her talent and ambition. The Crawford signature roles included such hits as Our Blushing Brides, Dance Fools Dance, Dancing Lady, all on her home lot MGM. In each of these she played working women as she did in the 1932 MGM classic, Grand Hotel.

The Sign of the Cross, Cecil B. DeMille's epic drama, introduced Broadway star Claudette Colbert to American audiences.. Her next role for De Mille was Cleopatra, another epic that made her a prominent star. Imitation of Life furthered her career as a formidable actress. It was Columbia's It Happened One Night, with Clark Gable as her leading man, that won her an Oscar. The film was the hit of the 1934 season. It is memorable for Gable's and Colbert's change of pace, casting both players in a romantic "screwball comedy."

Bette Davis, originally signed by Universal, left her contract to begin a long career at Warner Brothers. She proved her talent and endurance by being named the First Lady of Films fifty years later. She was an actress who wanted to act. On loan out to R.K.O. in 1934, she played the role of a sluttish waitress who ensnared Leslie Howard, a young medical doctor, in John Cromwell's Of Human Bondage.. Her performance was stunning but she failed to get the Oscar for her work.. The following year she won Oscar recognition for Dangerous. Jezebel, in 1938, with a story line similar to Gone with The Wind, stunned the Academy. She walked off with her second Oscar that year. Dark Victory followed in which she gave another extraordinary performance. She closed the decade playing Queen Elizabeth in Elizabeth and Essex.

Clark Gable originally came to Hollywood from the Broadway stage in the late twenties. He was signed by MGM in 1930 and rose to prominence playing opposite Norma Shearer in A Free Soul at her request. Irving Thalberg, her husband and head of production at the studio, was aware of Gable's appeal and agreed to the duo. Gable became known as "The King" in Hollywood, as much for his talent as for his masculine good looks...In Capra's It Happened One Night, Gable played light comedy. The film shot to the top of the charts. He was a hit with light comedy as well as leading men roles. At the end of the period he won the coveted role of Rhett Butler in Selznick's version of Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone With The Wind.

Spencer Tracy, another stalwart of the period, took second place with the public. A stage actor from Broadway, he was signed by Twentieth Century Fox.. On loan-out from that studio to Warner Brothers in 1933 he became a star in 20,000 Years in Sing Sing. After his success in that film he signed with MGM in 1935. Three starring roles followed: Fury, Captain's Courageous and Boy's Town. "Courageous" and Boy's Town both won Oscars. After that he was known as the "actor's" actor in the business.

James Cagney, born in New York City, transitioned to Hollywood as a song and dance man from vaudeville and the Broadway stage. His father was both a bartender and amateur boxer, an influence he used in his movie career. Warner's signed him and used him in a string of gangster films, a genre in which they specialized. These included The Public Enemy, Each Dawn I Die, White Heat and Angels with Dirty Faces. Broadway's Boy Meets Girl, Busby Berkeley's Footlight Parade, plus the role of Bottom in Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream offered him a relief from playing heavies.

Tyrone Power was destined to be a star. Both his father, Tyrone Sr. and mother Patia, were Shakespearean actors. In direct line on his father's side, Grandfather Edmund had been both actor and concert pianist. Great-grandfather, Tyrone the Elder, was a touring comedian and actor in London, Wales, and his native Ireland. By seventeen the youngest Power left Cincinnati where he was born and had lived with his mother, just after graduation from high school, to live with his father the senior Power in Los Angeles. The young man expected to pursue his star by working with his father in films as he had on Broadway as a child. Shortly thereafter his father died in his arms on the set on which they were both working. Lloyd's Of London launched his career after a number of false starts. Hits followed, In Old Chicago, Alexander's Ragtime Band and Rose of Washington Square. On loan to MGM with Norma Shearer for Marie Antoinette, Zanuck felt his handsome leading man had been neglected. That was the end of Zanuck's generosity with his young star. Suez, another period drama, Jesse James, his first Western with Henry Fonda, were both memorable. The 30's ended on a high note for him playing opposite Myrna Loy in The Rains Came, a drama set in India.

Errol Flynn, an Australian by birth, was the other handsome action hero of the thirties. Prior to Hollywood roles he participated in the making of a documentary in Australia called In the Wake of the Bounty. Among other characters in the film, it featured midshipman Young from the H.M.S. Bounty, who was a direct descendant of Flynn's on his mother's side. . This was his first connection with film and brought him to Hollywood and Warner Brothers Studio. It was Captain Blood, based on the legendary pirate, Captain Morgan that dramatically shot him to public prominence. The Charge of the Light Brigade and The Prince and the Pauper. historical and/or adventure dramas, followed. His greatest triumph, undoubtedly, was the lead role in The Adventures of Robin Hood, winner of two Academy Awards in 1939.

GLAMOUR AND ARTISTRY IN FILM - THE STUDIOS

At the beginning of film production stars and their directors were the really creative artists in film. Most of them came from backgrounds rich in theatrical experience. They were Hollywood's most treasured assets beyond the reach of technicians. Support staff, producers, writers, engineers, cutting editors, art and music directors, plus composers, set crews and most particularly, publicists, all worked within the studio system to create that special glamour and magic of movie making.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the leader of prestige films. The quality and production values in the MGM product were unsurpassed in the mid-twenties. The collaboration of Marcus Lowe and Nicholas Schenck proved to be a dynamic partnership. Together with Samuel Goldwyn, they formed the company in 1925. They hired Louis B. Mayer to head the studio for his many talents, not the least of which was his belief in the twin values of opportunism and high moral values.. After some time, Goldwyn broke from the group and began producing his own films. Lowe owned the theaters and ran the distribution end and Schenck, headquartered in New York, watched the bottom line. The studio trademark was the roaring lion but it was Louis B. Mayer who was the real "lion" at the studio. He was a great showman; flamboyant and tight-fisted. He demanded complete loyalty from his stars and, legend has it, gave as much to them. He regarded all those who worked for him as his extended family.

Warner Brothers Studio was founded in the early years by four brothers, all producers. It began as a very small operation. It expanded exponentially after buying the Vitagraph sound process. Warner Brothers studio's venture into film/sound production, The Jazz Singer, the company's colossal hit, put it in league with the Lowe's (MGM), Zukor's (Paramount) and First National, the independent theater and production company. Within three years of purchase the company was as strong as its rivals. Paramount, founded by Adolph Zukor, was inspired to take a chance on a lengthy product. One or two-reelers were the order of the day, which he made. However, he was aware of the favorable reaction by the public to the great dramatic stage actress Sarah Bernhardt's, Queen Elizabeth. Though a silent, it was a movie that ran for six reels, a phenomenal time in those years. This experience with Bernhardt inspired Zukor to form the first American Art Film Company. He called it Famous Players in Famous Plays. The company evolved into Paramount Pictures.

William Fox, originally a film distributor and theater owner, also became a producer. As the trust companies broke up and distributors became producers, some companies merged. Fox partnered with Twentieth Century and became Twentieth Century-Fox. Conversion to sound completed the five major Hollywood studios. The fifth studio was established by Radio Corporation of America to promote its sound system, Photophone, in theaters. Its partners included Film Banking Company, a small production unit, and the Keith Orpheum Circuit, vaudeville producers, in order to acquire their theaters and control film distribution for products of American Pathe Studios. This amalgam gave birth to R.K.O. Studio.

Three lesser studios of the period worth mentioning are Universal, founded by Carl Laemmle. He was originally a film exchange man who turned producer and formed his own company in the early years. Columbia was founded solely by Harry Cohn, He early recognized Frank Capra's talent and chose him to direct many of Columbia's early films. As Capra succeeded, so did Columbia. That talented combination reached a peak in It Happened One Night and the film won Academy Award recognition for him and Capra in 1934. United Artists was primarily a releasing organization. The founders, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Douglas Fairbanks started the company in 1919. Each player produced his own films to be distributed by U.A., an east coast company. During the thirties, the company was the primary distributor for Samuel L. Goldwyn, David O. Selznick and other independents.

THE MONEY MAKERS

Character players like Marie Dressler, Wally Beery, and Will Rogers were the real money makers in the early 30's. The public could identify with them for their common appeal. This quality made them genuine stars. Janet Gaynor, waif-like, as was the earlier Mary Pickford, became one of the biggest stars at the beginning of the decade. Daddy Long Legs and Tess of the Storm Country were Pickford remakes; both assured her star status. Her greatest role was in A Star is Born.

Kid stars were used throughout the period, but none reached the heights of Shirley Temple. Little Miss Marker made her a star. With tremendous talent and her sweet personality, she was a favorite in the second half of the period. The Andy Hardy series was initially a sleeper. The series paved the way for Mickey Rooney to take leads in Boy's Town and Babes In Arms, which introduced Judy Garland to the world. Deanna Durbin, a youngster from the period, also rose to the top. Her beautiful voice and spontaneous personality seen in Three Smart Girls, her first picture, was an instant money maker.

Mae West, a vamp, a camp and a sexy comedic talent, was shocking to church and women's groups, but men loved her off-beat take on male-female relationships. She was seductive and assertive where most women were submissive. Her hits included She Done Him Wrong, Belle of the Nineties, and. My Little Chickadee, with W.C. Fields, a perfect foil for her wit and charm.

MUSICALS

By 1930, the musical was dead in Hollywood. Too many had been seen in 1928 and 1929. They were reflections of the times prior to the economic crash. However, the perfected use of sound, camera tracking and boom mikes brought new life to the genre. All-star reviews, Broadway adaptations and the backstage story were perfect vehicles for musicals.

Warner's was the first to revive the elaborate musical in 1933. The studio released 42nd Street, Golddiggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade, made with original and creative production numbers. Their stories realistically reflected contemporary America. The pictures were alive with music, chorus girls and sex. Berkeley's distinctive camera work included overhead and traveling shots and stark black and white and geometric patterned dance numbers. The stock players included Ginger Rogers, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell plus James Cagney in Footlight Parade. MGM was also a contender for musicals during the decade. A series of films with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy had great appeal for lovers of light opera. They included Naughty Marietta, Sweethearts, Maytime and Rose Marie and were recognized as quality pictures. Eleanor Powell's tap dancing combined with grace from her ballet work won her starring parts in movies. Broadway Melody of 1936, Born to Dance and Broadway Melody of 1938 were unsurpassed. The production numbers were brilliantly conceived and executed by a genuine trooper.. The story values were thin but a wide array of supporting players were used including Buddy Ebsen, Phil Silvers, Jack Benny, Sophie Tucker and a very young Judy Garland.

Fred and Ginger...no other names were necessary for these two who appeared to dance on air in the triumphant musicals made by R.K.O. Ginger Rogers was already known to audiences from her earlier work in 42nd Street and Golddiggers of 1933. They danced to music by such American composers as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter among others. They were a sensation from the beginning of their collaboration. Much of their effortless partnering was due to the dance genius of Fred Astaire. Of their nine films, Top Hat and Swing Time were the American favorites.

COMEDIANS

Three holdovers from the twenties, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd all made films in the decade, still captivating their faithful fans if not the critics. The four Marx Brothers and W.C. Fields were the fresh highlights of the era. Their styles were widely different. The Marx Brothers, Harpo, Zeppo, Groucho and Chico were physical comedians and employed a hilarious slapstick style. Fields, on the other hand, played the raucous and self-centered loner at odds with others. The characterization enabled him to express gleeful and sly humor. In 1933 he made three of his funniest films, The Old-Fashioned Way, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch and It's A Gift. A more sophisticated comedic genre ran parallel throughout the period. Screwball Comedy made stars of Katherine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur and Irene Dunne. On the male side, Cary Grant was the master followed by.James Stewart, William Powell and others figured prominently. Even John Barrymore, though not a comedian, appeared opposite Carole Lombard in Twentieth Century, an exceedingly amusing film.

CONCLUSION

The decade ended with the release of that historic epic of the South during the Civil War, Gone With the Wind. A personal triumph for independent producer David O. Selznick, the picture was based Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name, a runaway best seller. It generated more publicity than any other film had for its stars, Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Haviland, its director Victor Fleming, production designer Cameron Menzies and art director Lyle Wheeler plus it won ten Academy Awards. Other worthy films for the year were The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Young Mr Lincoln and at least at least a dozen more.

Many of the players omitted from the above material include Jean Harlow, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Kay Francis, Ruth Chatterton, Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyk, Johnny Weissmuller, Warner Baxter, Paul Muni, Bing Crosby, Hedy Lamarr, the Bennett sisters, Sylvia Sidney, Helen Hayes, Virginia Bruce, Dorothy Lamour, Miriam Hopkins, Zazu Pitts, Lew Ayres, Delores Del Rio, Charles Boyer, Ronald Coleman, Robert Montgomery, Brian Ahearn. all stars.and so many others, but they are for another time.

-Patt Lee Garland, Cinemashare Communications Directors