The Star System and Classical Hollywood

After listening to the guest lecture on Monday and Wednesday of this week, it was apparent that there were many different defining characteristics of the Studio System in the Classical Hollywood era. However, the characteristic of the Studio System that intrigued me the most was the way in which different studios contracted specific actors for their projects, known as the Star System.

I learned in the lectures that in the Studio System in Classical Hollywood stars were tangible products of immaterial production. The Star System effected the way in which the films were made because after the stars were discovered and contracted by the studios, they became the studios' main tool to sell the their products. The stars that were contracted by studios were the greatest representation of what the studios were capable of as a company. As years passed, the public began to associate particular stars with certain studios. The star system effected the films because the stars essentially became the faces of the biggest and most powerful studios. In some cases, most big stars ended up having a trademark, of sorts, that they used in all of their movies. For example, Judy Garland, who appeared in countless MGM movies, was always expected to sing in her films. Humphrey Bogart, in addition, was always expected to be seen in his raincoat and fedora at some point in all of his films. In essence, if a consumer wanted to see Judy Garland sing, they would attend a film made by MGM studios, ultimately increasing the success of MGM as a whole.

After researching "The Biograph Girl" after the lecturer briefly mentioned her on Monday, I realized that she is a perfect example of how the studios treated their contracted actors and actress as tangible products of immaterial production. "The Biograph Girl" was a woman named Florence Lawrence acted in a total of over 35 movies. In all of her movies, Lawrence was never credited with her performance. Each one of her roles was performed anonymously. As a result, Florence became known as "The Biograph Girl" due to her association with Biograph Studios. Her anonymity made her increasingly more famous as the mystery of what her real name was became more intriguing to her fans. In addition, fans now wanted to see "The Biograph Girl" in more and more films, which lead to her title as the first "movie star" of the Classical Hollywood era. The idea that Florence Lawrence was an anonymous actress who was used as the face of Biograph Studios in order to sell more tickets to the studio's movies is a prime example of how Classical Hollywood studios used their contracted stars as products to increase their sales.

Below, I attached a link to one of Florence's early films, "The Awful Hats," from 1909. The beginning credit shows that the film was made by Biograph Studios, but as expected, does not show Florence's name on the slide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORwC7gNyUaY