Hollywood Golden Age

For over one hundred years, Americans have loved the communal experience of going to the movie theater. The popularity of motion pictures gave rise to the Golden Age of Hollywood, which existed from the late 1910s through the 1960s. The era introduced the idea of the glamorous movie star. Technological and artistic innovations abounded, which transformed the medium. How did celebrity and spectacle define the Golden Age of Hollywood?

Hollywood Golden Age Definition

A Golden Age is a period in history when art is at its peak. Hollywood's Golden Age can be thought of as the period when moving pictures ceased to be a technology and transformed into art. Many of the elements associated with film today, such as movie stars and film studios, first came into being during this period from 1915 through the 1960s.

Fig. 1 -Birth of a Nation Poster

The Birth of a Nation, a Troubling Start

Film historians generally agree that The Birth of a Nation in 1915 was the film that launched The Golden Age of Hollywood. The film is an adaptation of the 1905 novel The Clansman by Thomas Dixon Jr. The film boasted many innovations which developed what a motion picture could be. Despite its artistic achievements, the film was highly controversial for its overtly racist storyline depicting Ku Klux Klan members as heroic defenders against evil African Americans during Reconstruction. Beyond the film's technical achievements, it highlighted the medium's ability to reflect or impact social issues.

Innovations of The Birth of a Nation

• Closeups
• Fadeouts
• Large battle scenes
• Use of extras
• First full-length sequel

Social Responses to the Film

Birth of a Nation was extremely popular with most White audiences. African American audiences reacted to the film's racist depictions by staging NAACP-led boycotts and protests. The New York Times called the film "inflammatory," and white allies like Jane Addams opposed it.

Birth of a Nation and KKK Revitalization

Birth of a Nation didn't just entertain audiences but also influenced them. The film turned out to be equally inflammatory, as the New York Times review stated. The popular heroic image of the KKK the film created turned the group into merchandise, a party theme, and more, and shortly after the film's release, lynchings skyrocketed. The KKK was reborn in November of 1915, just months after the film was released.

Fig. 2 - A black and white photograph of a movie theatre in 1922

The Silent Era

From 1894 to 1929, films were only "motion pictures" without sound. Before The Birth of Nation, many silent films were simply curiosities similar to carnival attractions. They were usually shown on a continuous loop with piano accompaniment in venues called nickelodeons. As silent films progressed, they found an audience and became more elaborate. By the time of the Golden Age of Hollywood, they were often accompanied by live orchestras playing the film score. They had title cards throughout the film to deliver the dialogue and narration.

Motion Picture Patents Company

Before the studio system and the film industry relocated to Hollywood, an organization known as the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPCC) tried to control the industry. The producers and distributors attempted to use patents on film recording and projection developed by Thomas Edison to maintain control of the industry. Many of their methods and assumptions did not align with where motion pictures would eventually head.

Tactics of the MPCC

• Made films around New York City using stage actors

• Didn't identify the stars of films

• Believed the public wouldn't want to watch a film more than ten or twenty minutes long

End of the MPCC

Several factors contributed to the end of the MPCC. Their attempts to hold the industry through patents proved too costly to litigate as many production companies, distributors, and theater owners ignored them. In 1917, the company was dissolved after it was found to violate anti-trust laws. The film business had already started to move West to Hollywood for better year-round shooting weather and escape the reach of the MPCC back East. The era of the studios was ready for feature-length films and big-name stars in sunny Hollywood, California

Fig. 3 - A frame from the trailer for the film The Petrified Forest from Warner Brothers

The Studio Era

The Studio Era is often considered the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The Big Five and the Little Three had almost complete control of the industry, from production to distribution to screening. The studios signed a pool of talent who they developed into household names. 95% of films released in the United States between 1930 and 1948 were products of the eight studios. New technologies like sound and color films combined with further artistic advances to bring the stars to audiences in increasingly exciting ways.

The Big Five

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Paramount Picture Corp
• 20th Century Fox
• Warner Brothers
• RKO Radio Pictures

The Little Three

• Universal Pictures
• United Artists
• Columbia

Hollywood Golden Age Actors and Actresses

The studios often viewed stars as a product as much as the films they made. Although studios occasionally loan stars between themselves, the stars were usually signed to four to seven-year contracts with a studio that had complete control over every aspect of their lives. Studios forced stars to change their names, appearances, public images, and love lives to appeal to the press and the public. The stars had to perform in whatever role their studio told them or lose their contract. Although their public lives were sometimes as much of a performance as their films, the public became infatuated with the Hollywood stars, curated by studio publicity.

• Humphrey Bogart
• Cary Grant
• Clark Gable
• James Stewart
• Rock Hudson
• Spencer Tracy
• Gary Cooper

Hollywood Golden Age Actresses

• Marilyn Monroe
• Ingrid Bergman
• Marlene Dietrich
• Rita Hayworth
• Bette Davis
• Katharine Hepburn
• Grace Kelly

Fig. 4 - A black and white photograph of director Orson Welles

Hollywood Golden Age Time Period