Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s

308 Pages·2011·3.43 MB·English

by  Adrienne L. McLean

Glamour in a Golden Age
S T A R
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AMERICAN CULTURE / AMERICAN CINEMA
D E C A D E S
Each volume in the series Star Decades: American Culture/American Cinema pres-
ents original essays analyzing the movie star against the background of contempo-
rary American cultural history. As icon, as mediated personality, and as object of
audience fascination and desire, the Hollywood star remains the model for celebrity
in modern culture and represents a paradoxical combination of achievement, talent,
ability, luck, authenticity, superficiality, and ordinariness. In all of the volumes, star-
dom is studied as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and indus-
trial contexts that enabled a star to be “discovered,” to be featured in films, to be
promoted and publicized, and ultimately to become a recognizable and admired—
even sometimes notorious—feature of the cultural landscape. Understanding when,
how, and why a star “makes it,” dazzling for a brief moment or enduring across
decades, is especially relevant given the ongoing importance of mediated celebrity in
an increasingly visualized world. We hope that our approach produces at least some
of the surprises and delight for our readers that stars themselves do.
ADRIENNE L.McLEAN AND MURRAY POMERANCE
SERIES EDITORS
Jennifer M. Bean, ed., Flickers of Desire: Movie Stars of the 1910s
Patrice Petro, ed., Idols of Modernity: Movie Stars of the 1920s
Adrienne L. McLean, ed., Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s
Sean Griffin, ed., What Dreams Were Made Of: Movie Stars of the 1940s
R. Barton Palmer, ed., Larger Than Life: Movie Stars of the 1950s
Pamela R. Wojcik, ed., New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s
James Morrison, ed., Hollywood Reborn: Movie Stars of the 1970s
Robert Eberwein, ed., Acting for America: Movie Stars of the 1980s
Anna Everett, ed., Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s
Murray Pomerance, ed., Shining in Shadows: Movie Stars of the 2000s
Glamour in a
Golden Age
Movie Stars of the
193 0
s
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EDITED BY
ADRIENNE L. McLEAN
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Glamour in a golden age : movie stars of the 1930s / edited by Adrienne L. McLean.
p. cm. — (Star decades : American culture / American cinema)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–8135–4904–0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978–0–8135–4905–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures—United States—History—20th century. I. McLean, Adrienne L.
PN1993.5U6G53 2011
791.430973'09043—dc22
2010013761
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British
Library.
This collection copyright © 2011 by Rutgers, The State University
Individual chapters copyright © 2011 in the names of their authors
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
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Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Larry and my parents,
and with dearest love always
to Cary Grant

C O N T E N T S
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Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:Stardom in the 1930s 1
ADRIENNE L.McLEAN
1 Not of Hollywood:Ruth Chatterton,Ann Harding,
Constance Bennett,Kay Francis,and Nancy Carroll 18
MARY DESJARDINS
2 Shirley Temple:Making Dreams Come True 44
KATHRYN FULLER-SEELEY
3 Gary Cooper:Rugged Elegance 66
COREY K.CREEKMUR
4 Bette Davis:Worker and Queen 84
LUCY FISCHER
5 Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo:
The Sexy Hausfrau versus the Swedish Sphinx 108
ALEXANDER DOTY
6 Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford:Rivals at the Glamour Factory 129
DAVID M.LUGOWSKI
7 Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland:Romancing through History 153
INA RAE HARK
8 Jean Harlow:Tragic Blonde 174
SUSAN OHMER
9 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers:Modernizing Class 196
ADAM KNEE
10 Myrna Loy and William Powell:The Perfect Screen Couple 220
JAMES CASTONGUAY
11 Clark Gable:The King of Hollywood 245
CHRISTINE BECKER
In the Wings 267
ADRIENNE L.McLEAN
Works Cited 273
Contributors 281
Index 285

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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This book would not have been possible without the con-
tributors whose work it contains, and I am deeply grateful to them and for
the wonderful passion with which they approached their subjects—and a
heartfelt thank you to those who went out of their way to make my job
smoother and less onerous than it could easily have been. Additional
thanks to Mary Desjardins for her kindness and generosity in sharing copies
of her documentation of the 1938 “box office poison” issue, and to Kathy
Fuller-Seeley for her expertise in all things relating to Motion Picture Herald.
I send loud and fervent huzzahs to my series co-editor, Murray Pomerance,
for his energy and enthusiasm, and for being such a great colleague and
friend. Finally, the staff of Rutgers University Press was, as usual, superla-
tive in every way, and I thank Marilyn Campbell and Leslie Mitchner for
their continued patience and good humor and for guiding the project
through in peerless fashion; special appreciation goes to Eric Schramm for
his expert copyediting and to Ann Weinstock for the wonderful cover
design. It is simply an unalloyed pleasure, and always has been, to work
with everyone at Rutgers, and I am filled with gratitude for their help.
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