Every now and then I get the urge to read about Hollywood. Not the Hollywood of today, which has no real stars, only celebrities and box-office hits. I mean the Hollywood of the old days, the studio system, and the stars of yesteryear who really twinkled. Men in tuxedos and women in satin, diamonds, and furs. Those were the days when the big studios made dozens of movies a year and you could expect to see your favorite actress in a new release every few months.
In order to keep that system going the studios needed a star who would bring people to any movie with her name above the title. Nowadays I sometimes think the special effects are the stars. They seem get more people to buy tickets than the people who act (or do not - oh, how standards have fallen!) in them.
Thus The Star Machine (2007) by Jeanine Basinger, who is the chair of film studies at Wesleyan University. She has chosen a score or so of actors and actresses who were made by the star machines of the big studios during the 30s, 40s, and early 50s.
We learn the real story about Lana Turner. (The real story is that she was, indeed, discovered sitting at a soda fountain.) We watch the studios put potential stars in small, unimportant roles while they, sometimes literally, groom them. New names are only the beginning. New biographies are created, new hairdos and wardrobes chosen, orthodontia, language lessons, training in how to walk, even how to smile, are a full-time job for the potential star.
Stars whose careers are discussed in depth in this wonderful book include Tyrone Power and Loretta Young, who are shown in the photo above, Lana Turner, Errol Flynn, Deanna Durbin, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Norma Shearer, Charles Boyer, and William Powell. A great place to start if you're interested in learning about the classic age of American film and the stars who made those movies classics.