Glamour in a Golden Age
pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
61
Paperback
Release Date:16 Dec 2010
ISBN:9780813549057
Glamour in a Golden Age
Movie Stars of the 1930s
Edited by Adrienne L. McLean
Rutgers University Press
Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Gary Cooper-Glamour in a Golden Age presents original essays from eminent film scholars that analyze movie stars of the 1930s against the background of contemporary American cultural history.
Stardom is approached as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and industrial contexts that enabled these actors and actresses to be discovered, featured in films, publicized, and to become recognized and admired-sometimes even notorious-parts of the cultural landscape. Using archival and popular material, including fan and mass market magazines, other promotional and publicity material, and of course films themselves, contributors also discuss other artists who were incredibly popular at the time, among them Ann Harding, Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, Kay Francis, and Constance Bennett.
Stardom is approached as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and industrial contexts that enabled these actors and actresses to be discovered, featured in films, publicized, and to become recognized and admired-sometimes even notorious-parts of the cultural landscape. Using archival and popular material, including fan and mass market magazines, other promotional and publicity material, and of course films themselves, contributors also discuss other artists who were incredibly popular at the time, among them Ann Harding, Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, Kay Francis, and Constance Bennett.
The central characteristic of 'glamour' in the starry heavens of 1930s Hollywood received illuminating backlighting in McLean's collection. A construct encompassing elegance, luxury, romance, and sex appeal, glamour shines, even scintillates, through the galaxy of celebrities covered in this sparkling volume in the 'Star Decades' series. Recommended.
The central characteristic of 'glamour' in the starry heavens of 1930s Hollywood received illuminating backlighting in McLean's collection. A construct encompassing elegance, luxury, romance, and sex appeal, glamour shines, even scintillates, through the galaxy of celebrities covered in this sparkling volume in the 'Star Decades' series. Recommended.
ADRIENNE L. McLEAN is a professor of film studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is the author of Dying Swans and Madmen: Ballet, the Body, and Narrative Cinema and Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom, and the coeditor of Headline Hollywood: A Century of Film Scandal (all Rutgers University Press).
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Stardom in the 1930s
1. Not of Hollywood: Ruth Chatterton, Ann Harding, Constance Bennett, Kay Francis, and Nancy Carroll
2. Shirley Temple: Making Dreams Come True
3. Gary Cooper: Rugged Elegance
4. Bette Davis: Worker and Queen
5. Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo: The Sexy Hausfrau versus the Swedish Sphinx
6. Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford: Rivals at the Glamour Factory
7. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland: Romancing through History
8. Jean Harlow: Tragic Blonde
9. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: Modernizing Class
10. Myrna Loy and William Powell: The Perfect Screen Couple
11. Clark Gable: The King of Hollywood
In the Wings
Works Cited
Contributors
Index
Introduction: Stardom in the 1930s
1. Not of Hollywood: Ruth Chatterton, Ann Harding, Constance Bennett, Kay Francis, and Nancy Carroll
2. Shirley Temple: Making Dreams Come True
3. Gary Cooper: Rugged Elegance
4. Bette Davis: Worker and Queen
5. Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo: The Sexy Hausfrau versus the Swedish Sphinx
6. Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford: Rivals at the Glamour Factory
7. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland: Romancing through History
8. Jean Harlow: Tragic Blonde
9. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: Modernizing Class
10. Myrna Loy and William Powell: The Perfect Screen Couple
11. Clark Gable: The King of Hollywood
In the Wings
Works Cited
Contributors
Index
