Creation of the Hollywood Star System - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Creation of the Hollywood Star System

Censoring Mae WestSlide2

Edison Kinetoscope

Asst. Wm. Kennedy Laurie Dickson actual inventor

Collaboration, Edison, Wm.

Heise

, Etienne Jules

Marey

, Eastman Company

Patented in 1891

Prototype built in 1892

Device both camera & peephole viewerSlide3

KinetoscopeSlide4

Lumiere Brothers

August & Louis

Parallel development with Edison/Dickson camera, also borrowed from

Marey

Cinematograph-1895

Camera acted as projector & developed the film

Believed cinema was an “invention without any future.”Slide5

Lumiere CinematographSlide6

Early Film

Largely exhibited in vaudeville

Didn’t replace the acts

Instead, focused on historical figures, disasters, natural wonders

Both the technology & the subject matter were the draw

Projectionist was the only star

No place for film actingSlide7

Edison ProjectorSlide8

Rise of the Nickleodeon

Started in 1905

Became dominant mode of exhibition

Store-front movie theaters

Immigrant proprietors & customers

Cheaper than vaudeville

No English language required

By 1907 2,500 in USSlide9

Nickleodeon 1907Slide10

Changes in Film Production

Increase in

nickleodeons

increases demand

More systematic film production & distribution needed

More studios built

Stock companies formed

Shifted to fictional film production

By 1908, eclipsed narrative filmsSlide11

Early American Studios

Edison

Vitagraph

Biograph

Eventually formed a monopoly

The Motion Picture Patents Co.

Also known as the Edison TrustSlide12

Product Differentiation

By 1907, exhibition market saturated

Need to differentiate themselves

Physical setting

Include vaudeville acts

More frequent program changes

Better filmsSlide13

Introduction of Human Labor

Originally referred to the theatrical model

Vaudeville references become more frequent

Cinematographer often stressed

Terms like “posing” & “picture performers” usedSlide14

3 Parts of Film “Reality”

Filmic-what you see on the film; the fictional reality

Profilmic

-what happens while you’re filming, sometimes not included in filmic

Real-reality, what really happens

Pg. 97 in de CordovaSlide15

Films D’Art

& Prestige Films

French productions, began in 1908

US exhibition 1909

Use famous theater actors

& featured names

Pathe

also releases prestige pictures

Theater & cinema compared again

Adds credibility to film industry

American companies follow this example

US companies don’t use actors’ namesSlide16

US Film Star Creation

US companies initially copy French companies

Vitagraph

& Edison, Biograph does not

All strongly emphasize acting

Edison company hires French

pantomimist

Pilar

-Morin in 1909

Allows comparison of film acting & pantomimeSlide17

Famous Players Film Co.

Created

in 1912

Adolph

Zukor

-film producer & exhibitor

Daniel Frohman-theatrical agent

Charles Frohman-Broadway

agent

Became Famous Players-

Laskey

in 1916

Added Jesse

Lasky

, Samuel Goldwyn, Cecil B.

DeMille

1927, becomes Paramount PicturesSlide18
Slide19
Slide20

Factors for Film Stardom

Production of fictional narratives dominant

Status of movies rises

Actual work being ascribed to actors

Production rationalized & systematized

Expanding demand & exhibition

Need for differentiation of product

Differences in meaning become economicSlide21

Mae West

b. Brooklyn, NY 1893

Member of subculture “tough girls” e. 1910s

Becomes vaudeville performer

at 14

Later, seated shimmy “dance”

Briefly in burlesque

Becomes

well-known on Broadway

Sex,

1926

Produces play

The Drag

in 1927Slide22
Slide23

Mae West Arrest

Sex

raided by police in 1927

Prosecuted on morals charges in

NYC

Convicted, sentenced to 10 days on Welfare Island (Roosevelt Island)

Served her sentence as a guest of the warden

8 days served, 2 off for good behavior

Media attention enhanced her careerSlide24
Slide25

Diamond Lil

1928, 4

th

full-length Broadway production

Made her a star

Took her out of the urban underworld

Set in 1890s Bowery

West a tough underworld queen

Falls in love with a Salvation Army captain

Finds out he’s a cop & he becomes hersSlide26
Slide27

Film Censorship

Many censoring agencies in America

Municipal, state, and private

Required changes in films for different reasons

Many for sex, some for race, some for political or economic reasons

Hollywood has its own censorship office: The Hays Office

Trying to avoid federal censorshipSlide28

US Film Censorship, 1920s

Films became more sophisticated

No rating system, so all-ages audiences

Hollywood must appeal to those looking for more risqué content

Also must placate reformers & moralists

Temperance Unions take up the issue

The advent of sound complicates the issueSlide29

Broadway & Hollywood

Complicated relationship

Broadway urban, explicit, less concerned with moralizing

Films must appeal to all, mass entertainment

Many Broadway writers & properties exported to Hollywood

Hollywood embattled by conflict

The Great Depression changes the game Slide30

Paramount Studio

Known as a prestige studio

Until 1932, most cooperative with censors

Falling revenues, mounting debt, on the brink of receivership

Began producing films that other studios wouldn’t touch

due to

censorship

concerns

Buys the rights to

Diamond LilSlide31

She Done Him Wrong

New name for

Diamond Lil

Tries to play down underworld aspects

Language & innuendoes toned down

West’s delivery defies the censors

Released at time of Roosevelt’s Bank Holiday

A smash hit all over America

Makes West a household nameSlide32
Slide33

Production Code Administration

Replaced the Hays

office, 1934

No more “leaving sex to the imagination”

Banished altogether

Defying the moral code must be punished

“No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it.”

“The sanctity of marriage & the home shall be upheld.”Slide34

Forbidden Topics/Depictions

White

slavery

Miscegenation

Venereal

diseases

Sex perversion, i.e. homosexuality

Actual

child birth

Complete nudity

ObscenitySlide35

I’m No Angel

Released 1933, a smash hit

Takes West out of the underworld

Most ardent fans are young women

Concern for young women’s

vulnerability

Payne Fund Study/

Our Movie-Made Children

West no ordinary gold digger or sex object

Depression worsens controversySlide36
Slide37

Censorship Results

Ambiguities eliminated

Oversight much tighter

West’s persona resistant to efforts

Fans can remember her earlier incarnations

West not believable as “reformed”

Her final film loses money;

Parmount

releases her

Conservative sexual values prevail

on film until

1960s