‘Progressive’ Hollywood Fails Women Where Old Studio System Did Not

Oscar season approaches, which means that once again it’s time for the annual cry of … There-Are-No-Good-Roles-For-Women! Maybe “cry” isn’t the best word. ”Whine” is more suitable — from a self-inflicted wound. Here’s a taste of this year’s first-whine from a Hollywood Reporter story titled: Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders:

How shallow is the pool? Some are talking about performances such as Sandra Bullock’s in the feel-good film “The Blind Side

The lack of depth has led to a slew of awards-season chatter, from the expected downplaying — all categories are cyclical — to blanket explanations about studios making fewer awards movies in general. …

But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.

The article is simply wrong on one very important point. These aren’t “old prejudices,” these are new prejudices. (more…)

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Tags: Alice Faye, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Bette Grable, Claudette Colbert
Posted Nov 18th 2009 at 2:55 pm in Classic Hollywood, Politics | 26449889 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/18/progressive-hollywood-fails-women-where-old-studio-system-did-not/%27Progressive%27+Hollywood+Fails+Women+Where+Old+Studio+System+Did+Not2009-11-18+22%3A55%3A48John+Nolte

Esther Ralston: Why Do All My Husbands Want to Kill Me? Part II

Esther Ralston at the height of her fame, mid-twenties.

To read Part I of this series, please click here.

Blessed with a lovely, melodic voice, it’s something of a puzzle why Paramount dropped Esther Ralston’s option in 1929. Esther was a rising star who, between 1924 and 1929, starred or co-starred in twenty-five films. She would seem a natural for talkies.

But the mystery is soon cleared up as Esther explains:

Since I had only a year to go on my Paramount contract, the studio sent me a new contract with a talkie clause to sign. Knowing I had been brought up in the theater before going into pictures, George decided I should ask for a hundred thousand dollars to sign this talkie clause. He sent me alone to talk to Mr. Lasky and Mr. Zukor. They were courteous as always, but explained that the new talkie panic had them worried and they didn’t feel they should have to increase my salary until they were sure I would be adequate in talkies.

Once again, the destructive Svengali-Trilby relationship asserts itself as the guiding principle of Esther and George. (more…)

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Tags: American Venus, British anti-Semitism, Christian Science, Clarence Brown, Dorothy Arzner
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 6:35 am in Celebrity News, Classic Hollywood | 23154617 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/09/29/esther-ralston-why-do-all-my-husbands-want-to-kill-me-part-ii/Esther+Ralston%3A+Why+Do+All+My+Husbands+Want+to+Kill+Me%3F+Part+II2009-09-29+13%3A35%3A03Robert+J.+Avrech

Stars With Pluck

Hedy Lamarr’s perfectly arched eyebrows emphasize her symmetrical features. Considered the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, Lamarr was also incredibly bright, co-inventing, in 1941, a “frequency-hopping device that now serves as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology.” That quote is grabbed from Wikipedia. I have absolutely no idea what it means, but darn, I’m impressed. Anyhoo. Married six times, Lamarr gained and lost several fortunes. After her career was over she was arrested on shoplifting charges.

Screening movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, I’ve noticed an interesting trend—in eyebrows.

During the early days of silent films, female stars appeared pretty normal. Which is to say, eyebrows were lightly plucked, but retained a recognizably human configuration. (more…)

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Tags: Alice Faye, Anna May Wong, audrey hepburn, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard
Posted Jul 29th 2009 at 8:44 am in Classic Hollywood | 19256665 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/29/stars-with-pluck/Stars+With+Pluck+2009-07-29+15%3A44%3A40Robert+J.+Avrech

Reborn on the Fourth of July

Every Independence Day, L.B. Mayer (1884 – 1957) would shut down production at MGM and celebrate twin holidays: America’s birth, and the birthday of L.B. Mayer.

Flags and bunting graced every building and sound stage. There was band music and rows of picnic tables groaning under the weight of food.

L.B. Mayer, a man without a birth date

Every MGM star was expected to attend and pay homage to America-and to L.B. Mayer. For in Mayer’s mind, the two were inseparable. All complied, except Greta Garbo, a woman far too narcissistic to lavish attention on any country or person other than her own mirrored island.

Though Yiddish was his first language, L.B. Mayer delivered a rousing Fourth of July speech. Mayer could be a forceful English speaker, mixing deeply personal anecdotes—usually about his beloved mother—and soaring rhetoric about his adopted home, America.

(more…)

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Tags: Anne Rutherford, Assimilation, Colleen Moore, Fourth of July, Jewish Studio Moguls
Posted Jul 4th 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story | 17423828 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/04/reborn-on-the-fourth-of-july/Reborn+on+the+Fourth+of+July2009-07-04+14%3A03%3A47Robert+J.+Avrech

Megan Fox: Another Cowardly Conformist Who Makes Things Worse for Women in Hollywood

Megan Fox recently stated that her solution to a real life evil Transformer invasion would be to negotiate and ask, “instead of the entire planet, can you just take out all of the white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people in Middle America?”

I also found these quotes from Ms. Fox:

“I don’t want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every single S.A.T. word I’ve ever learned, to prove, like, ‘Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak.’ I don’t want to have to do that. I resent having to prove that I’m not a retard.”

And… (more…)

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Tags: "Transmorphers", Bette Davis, Britain, Fan Boys, fraternities
Posted Jun 10th 2009 at 6:39 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Politics | 1550388 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lscott/2009/06/10/ladies-with-balls-2/Megan+Fox%3A+Another+Cowardly+Conformist+Who+Makes+Things+Worse+for+Women+in+Hollywood2009-06-10+13%3A39%3A54Leigh+Scott

Hollywood Unveiled: John Wayne Walks Like a Girl

John Wayne walks the walk in Hondo, 1953.

It’s in the walk.

Think of Mae West, hands caressing her Rubenesque hips, head tilted, not just sauntering, but oozing forward, the exaggerated female.

Elbows cocked and angled at his hips, moving with concentrated energy, Jimmy Cagney looks like a coiled spring about to explode.

Joan Crawford, leading with her linebacker shoulders, like a tank on the battlefield, determined, dangerous, unstoppable. (more…)

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Tags: Andy Hardy, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Harry Carey, henry fonda
Posted Jun 9th 2009 at 6:42 am in Celebrity News | 153810One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/06/09/hollywood-unveiled-john-wayne-walks-like-a-girl/Hollywood+Unveiled%3A+John+Wayne+Walks+Like+a+Girl2009-06-09+13%3A42%3A35Robert+J.+Avrech

TCM Pick O’ The Day: Monday, February 9th

12:45pm PST – Mildred Pierce (1945) – A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden Dir: Michael Curtiz BW-111 mins, TV-PG

An interesting exercise would be to watch a double feature of the just released “He’s Just Not That Into You” and today’s pick as example number 11,283 of what’s wrong with Big Hollywood. Liberals dominate Big Hollywood and more women are in positions of power than ever before, and yet “Into You,” like most female driven films today, alternately portrays its five female leads as home wreckers, one-dimensional neurotics, or pathetically needy near-stalkers — but all are as emotionally dependent on men as is possible. Compare that to Hollywood 64 years ago when men (many of them conservative) dominated the film industry and created a slew of top-shelf melodramas populated with complicated, flawed, but very human and usually very strong (at least at the fade) women like Mildred Pierce. (more…)

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Tags: He Just Not That Into You, Joan Crawford, Woman's picture
Posted Feb 8th 2009 at 4:03 pm in Today's Pick | 4526222 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/02/08/tcm-pick-o-the-day-monday-february-9th/TCM+Pick+O%27+The+Day%3A+Monday%2C+February+9th2009-02-09+00%3A03%3A36John+Nolte