Silver Tongued Director
(American Magazine, 1943)
A short article written in praise of the movie director George Stevens (1904 – 1975) and his social skills that are applied while working with difficult actors.
Hollywood History
Betty Grable
(Pageant Magazine, 1952)
“For three consecutive years, 1946 through 1948, Betty Grable was the highest salaried woman in the world. For the past ten years she has never left the list of the nation’s ten biggest box office attractions. She also gets more fan mail (from 3,000 to 10,000 letters a week) than any other star in the motion picture industry. Oddly enough, most of it comes from women hungering for the Betty Grable beauty secrets.”
William Powell – Smooth Operator
(Collier’s Magazine, 1940)
This is a 1940 article that recalls William Powell’s climb to the top of the Hollywood pantheon:
“When the talking pictures came in, the transition didn’t bother him at all. Many of the silent stars turned out to have voices that squeaked like the brakes of a 1914 automobile. Powell had been training his voice ever since the fateful days of high school.”
1939 Movie Talk
(Coronet Magazine, 1939)
This article looks at the goings-on in 1939 Hollywood and what an unusual place it was. The article was published during the early portions of the year, so the reporter really had no idea that that quirky little town was about to have its best year, both artistically and financially.
Leaving Hollywood
(Collier’s Magazine, 1956)
Here is a short, well illustrated article about the love shared between Grace Kelly and Prince Rainnier III:
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people who looked more in love. Every time I turned around to change film or grab another camera, they’d start whispering, holding hands… like any just-engaged couple. Pretty romantic.”
The Young Barbara Stanwick
(Liberty Magazine, 1932)
This interview with Barbara Stanwick (b. Ruby Catherine Stevens 1907 – 1990) will give you a genuine insight to her character, its a wonderful read.
Stockings for Movie Stars
(Coronet Magazine, 1944)
$2,500.00 stockings, anyone? (in today’s currency, that would be $41,519.00) This is the story of Hollywood’s go-to-guy for outrageously priced, beautifully tailored silk hosiery. Unbelievable.
Unskilled Labor Descended on Hollywood
(Photoplay Magazine, 1934)
With the unemployment level at an all-time high, many Americans heard that there were jobs to be had in Hollywood as movie extras; jobs that require one to simply walk back and forth, pantomime at a dinner table and wear nice costumes. With few other options available to them, thousands of people headed West only to find that there was very little work, sub-standard housing and too many sharks wishing to take advantage of them. This article tells their story and explains how FDR’s National Recovery Administration took it upon themselves to decide who could pursue this work and who could not.
Shirley MacLaine at 22
(Modern Screen, 1956)
Arriving in Hollywood by way of The Trouble with Harry in 1955, and cute as buttons – Shirley MacLaine (b. 1934) was the adopted little sister of the Rat Pack, that odd movie star whose sensitive skin burned too easily in the California sun and one of the few starlets who was actually capable of sewing her own clothes.
The Story Factory
(Rob Wagner’s Script, 1935)
Motion picture studios manufacture motion pictures. Motion pictures are shot from scripts. Scripts are developed from stories. Stories are written and sent to studios by undertakers, gamekeepers, chocolate dippers, steamfitters, pretzel-makers, judges, dentists, trapeze artists, carpet layers, parachute jumpers, nurses, tea tasters and amateur winders. It is a platitude that everyone owning a pencil fancies themselves a writer.
‘I Remember William Powell”
(Photoplay Magazine, 1930)
A magazine article by Leonora Ross in which she recalled her high school days with one of Kansas City’s most famous sons, actor William Powell (1892 – 1984). At the time this article appeared, Powell had some forty-two films to his credit (37 of them silent) with his best work yet to come.
If you would like to read more articles from Photoplay Magazine, click here.
CLICK HERE to read about Powell’s most famous film: The Thin Man…
‘The Grapes of Wrath”
(Click Magazine, 1940)
The attached article is illustrated with three color photos from the set of the movie, this short article details why The Grapes of Wrath (Twentieth Century Fox, 1940) was such a different movie to come out of Hollywood and explains how thoroughly both the art and costume departments were in their research in depicting the migrant Okies in their Westward flight:
Realism, keynote of the book, was the keynote of the picture. Henry Fonda, who plays Tom Joad, lived for weeks among the Okie farmers from Oklahoma to understand their problems…
As a result of Steinbeck’s literary efforts, medical aid was offered to California’s migrants – Click here to read about it
Click here to read a 1935 article about the real Okies.
Perhaps Steinbeck saw this 1938 photo-essay while writing his novel?
Humphrey Bogart and his Feud with the Hollywood Press
(Pageant Magazine, 1956)
There was a time, Humphrey Bogart maintains, when he saw all interviewers and tried to answer all questions put to him…
But I can’t take it anymore, I’ve had to cut the fan magazines off my list entirely. Just the sheer smell of them drives me crazy. They smell of milk. The interviewers themselves treat you like a two-year-old child with their will-Debbie-marry-Eddie and can-Lance-Fuller-live-without-a-wife kind of idiocy. You know the whole sorry groove of the thing.
You can read about David Niven HERE
Enter, Esther Williams
(Collier’s Magazine, 1942)
There is a new girl out at MGM in Culver City named Esther Williams (1921 – 2013), who is a cross between Lana Turner and a seal…Miss Williams happens to be that fortunate thing known as ‘a knockout’ – in looks and one of the greatest swimmers in the world.
Click here to read about Marilyn Monroe and watch a terrific documentary about her life.
The Birth of Special-Effects Makeup
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1939)
Here is an article about one of the most innovative minds in the nascent world of Hollywood makeup design; it belonged to a fellow named Jack Dawn (1892 – 1961). Dawn was under contract at MGM for decades and worked on over two hundred films, his most being the film that is discussed herein: The Wizard of Oz (1939, MGM). The article briefly touches upon the thin, rubbery masks that he created after having made numerous in depth studies of human bone and muscle.
Guess Whose Coming to Hollywood…
(Coronet Magazine, 1959)
The Coronet entertainment writer was quite correct when he identified Sidney Poitier (1927 – 2022) as the first actor of African descent to earn beaucoup bucks and achieve leading-man status in dramatic rolls in Hollywood. Born and raised in the Bahamas, Poitier’s predecessors in the film colony were many, but they were all song and dance men. The attached column clearly outlines what made Poitier such an actor apart.
The Oscars: Hollywoods Self-Adoration Fest
(Stage Magazine, 1938)
A tongue-in-cheek magazine article from 1938 about The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and their annual gala devoted to over-confidence, The Oscars. Written eleven years after the very first Academy Award ceremony, and published in a magazine that catered to New York theater lovers, the article was penned by an unidentified correspondent who was not very impressed by the whole affair but managed to present a thorough history of the award nonetheless.
Director Frank Capra was awarded his third trophy at the 1938 Oscars…
Oscars for 1938
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1939)
Attached is short report listing some of the highlights of the 11th Academy Awards ceremony that was held on February 23, 1939 in downtown Los Angeles:
• Director Frank Capra received his third Best Director statue for You Can’t Take It with You
.
• Walt Disney was awarded an Oscar for the best animated short film, Ferdinand The Bull – in addition to a special award for his innovative work on
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• The Best Screenplay Oscar went to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw for his efforts on Pygmalion.
An amusing, if blasphemous, article about the 1938 Oscars can be read here…