Link to my post in Bright Lights Film Journal.
The Motion Picture Production Code was adopted by all of the studios in 1930, and more strictly enforced beginning in 1934. This is the infamous “Code” that took much of the sex and fun out of Hollywood movies for many years. Below are some of the more interesting guidelines or rules from the Code. Principles
Mary Pickford started the Screen Stars Shop in 1930, selling used clothes and jewelry of Hollywood stars. It closed within a year.
Florence Lawrence, once the most famous movie star in America, is alone and forgotten.
Florence Lawrence’s train arrives in St. Louis, March 25, 1910, 5:18 pm and is mobbed by several hundred fans, in the first publicly advertised appearance by a movie star
On May 3, 1938, an independent theater owner named Harry Brandt paid $300 to place an ad in the Hollywood Reporter. That ad could have ended the careers of Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Kay, Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Edward Arnold.
In 1913, D.W. Griffith left Biograph Studios. A short time later, he placed ads in four trade papers, touting himself as the greatest filmmaker ever.
The stories of actual heroes, forgotten for the most part, who risked their lives in movie theaters to save others. Two of these heroes lost their lives.
