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2

Female

Audiences

of

the

1 930s

1920s

and early

Melvyn Stokes

O1c

of the major

debates

rvithin

film

studies

in

recent years has

locused on

tl're

issue

of

lèmale spectatorship.

Tl'ris

is

explicable in

terrns

of a cornplex

synergy o[

clcvelopments,

i1,:luciilg the rise

of

film

studies

itsctrf

as

a

discipline,

increasing

academic interest

in

r.lirss entertainment

and

popular cultlrre,

the

politicisation

ol

marny French

him theo-

rists

in

the aftermath

of

May 1968, the

n'rodern

ferninist

n-tovement

in

Britain and

the

L.L-ritcd

States,

ancl,

particulaily

in

Britain

developments

in avant

garde fiim-making.

Fgr

the

rrost

part, however,

this

work

has been devoted

to

female

spectal-orship

as

a

ir'

thcoretical

construct.

"I}re

fumale spectatorl

Mary

Ann l)oane

pointedly cleclared,

'is

a

l;

concept,

not

a

person.'1

Seen

against

the background frorn which

it

emerged,

this theor-

etical

preoccupation

is relatively

easy to understand.

Yet

it

has helped

to conceal

(and,

in

all

probability,

irlso to

encourage)

the comparative

neglect of

female

spectatorship

as

delìned

in social,

historical

and cr.rltural

terms.

.c

\\&at

work there has

been

in terms

of thc

irnalysis of historical

female spectatorship

,

has tended

to

follow one

of two

main paths.

Thc

first focuses

on

how

llollywood

l

addressed

women

in

particular

pcriods

(through

fihns tl'rernselves,

product'tie-ups'

ancì

',.

licensing

deals, advertising,

putriicity, and

fan magazines)

as

consllnlers

of conrmodities

:andior

constructed

images

of

fen'rininitl'.2

The

second

endeavours

to

investigate

thc

.,J

reactions

of women

spectators

to

6lm texts

cither by contextualising

their

response

his-

I

toricallyi

or by interrogating

spectators

on

their

cinematic

mcrnories

in

what

have comc

'.

to

be known

as

'ethnographic'

surveys.

While

the

scconcl

pathway seelns

to

offer tltc

'prospectofgettingclosertoanunclerstandingofhowwornetthaveexperiencedcinenla.

and the

rneanings

they created

out

ofthat

experience,

it has so

far

procluced

less thatr

ir

handful

of

publications.a

From tr.l-re

point of

view of understanding

the

Afiericau

fenralc

response

to the cinena,

moreover, ethnography

in

particular

has tlvo

major lirnitations.

The

studies

that

have so

frir

appeared

have

rnair-rly

dealt

rvith foreign ratl-rer

th;rrr

Alrerican

responses

to

Hollywood.

They also

concenti'ate,

for

obvious

reasotts

to

tlrr

with tl-re

avrrìllbility

of sour"cc

n'ntcrirls,

on lcnrale

filrn going

sitrcc

al,tltrd

1940.

ln

this clrlptcr-,

I

will

i,xirntinc

lvlra( av,tilablc

rrr.ttcrilt]s

Iltctc

rttt'lo

r.oltsl ttltl

rt

Itis

'

ltttyoI li'tttitlt'spt'tlitlorshiP

lìrr';ttl

tittlit't

ìrt'tiotl:

lllc

t()]0s'ttrrl

r"ttlt' l()lor'

lll

(ilì('l)ì'l'

lltis

tv.ts.l

(

I lt( l.ìl

1,r't

i.rl: it

s,t\\,,

,uììr,tì11

ttt,ttty

,llti

t lt.lttrl.t

ttt,tlt.lt

,

lll,

1'lrr\\rllì

(,1

lllr'

r,lll(l11

"y',1(lìt,

llrt lrtrllr'r

'lr'vr'l6ptttlttl

ol

tttot'ir""l'tt'l"rtr'llt'

ltttt"\'rllorl

ol

"'rrtttrl'

,

,trr,l

llr, l,,riilrilril1i,,

r,l

nrrIr'l,,rrrr,rl

,,'ll

r{l,ill.rlton,,l

llr,

rrr,lrr,ltl

l,'r \\|lrr,

rr,

ll

\ .1,

ll lvlAt-E

AUDIENCES

OF

THE

1920s

ANiD EARLY

1930s

llrt'

Ig116d

i*rrcciiatelv

alier

the

ratifìcation o1 the

ninetcentli

amendment,

giving them

lltr' vote

(1920).

It witnessed

lhe

sor:iarl

and cultur:r1 changes

and conflicts

of the

1920s

'rttl

tl-re

enormous and r,vide-rirnging

efÈcts

of

the

Great Depression.

Tìrc

analysis

of

lrrnalc

spectatorshilr

in this era,

therefore, rnight perhaps

offer fresh perspectives

orì

lrolh

the history

of the cineraa

and

tl-re history

oi

wornen

themselves.

Ihe

'Myth'

of the Dominant

Female

Audrence

'l'lrt'

carly

exponents

of

'scientifìc'

audience research,

Gcorge Gallup

(who

founded

r\rrrlicnce

Research Inc.)

and

Leo

Handel

(of

the

lvlotion

Picture

Research Bureau),

set

,ul

lo

challenge

what they

saw

as a

widespread

myth that

women

made

up

a

decisive

rr

r,rir »ity

of

cinema

audiences.

Surveys done

try

ARI ior

RKo in

1937-39

discovered that

rvrrrrcn

rnade up'only'51 per

cent of movie-goers.s

]n Hollywood

Looks At lts

Audience

(l'r'r0),

Handel

-

citing surveys

conducted

in

t\ewYork

City in

Decernber 1941 and

l,

rrvir

in April

7942,

as well as

ARI hndings

-

insisted

that men and

women

attended the

rttovics'ilt

about

equal rates'.

Handel did concede that

there lvas evidence to

the con-

tr,uy,

l)ut he

disrnissed

one

1942 survey

conducted by the

Women's

Institute

of

'\rr,lrcrrce

Reactions,

r'vhich found

women n'raking

up 65

per

cent of the

rnovie

audience,

.r,,

rrrrst

icntilìc

and'unrepresentative'.6

l'lrt'r'c

has

been

a

tendency,

on the

part

of

present,day

film

scholars,

to assume

that

t

',rllrrP

aud

Hanclel were

making

statements

that transcended

the period in which

they

\v.r(' rììildc.

Cìarth

lowett,

lbr

example, rather

than

regarding

ARI's Iìndings

concerning

llr,

1rl1;;11.l11io,

of women

in

audiences

as

relating to

the late

30s

(when the surveys were

,lrn(

),

siìw

them

as

effèctively

destroying

the'long-hekl'belief

that wolnen

constituted

,r ,lr',r'

rrrajority

of

the audience.T

It is highly questionable

whether results from

one

l,r'r

rotl,

cvcrl

if accurate,

can

be applied to another.

Women

may have

made

up 51

per

,

{

nl

(}l

thc

audience

towards

the

end

of the

1930s

and in the 1940s,

but

there is

no

trr'(

(

ss,rry

presumption

that the same

is true for

earlier or

later times.

Moreover, whiie

I

l,r r

r, lt'l

lr

inrself

was har

dly ever reluctant to make

claims for the

accuracy and

'scientific'

n,rtur(

()l

I'ris work,

he

was

careful

to

qualify

what he

said

in

dismissing

the idea that

\yrnr('n

rì'riìdc

up 65-70 per

cent of

audiences generally

by admitting

the

possibility

lllr.rrlilr

rrol

the

probability)

thtlt'this

proportion

held

true at

some time in the past'.8

li'lrr.t'

thc work

of

cìallup and

Flandel,

the

evidence we have in

relation to

the gen-

'ìr,

,f,'r

rorrrlrosilion

of

audiences

is iargely

impressionistic.

In 1920,

a New Yorlc

Tirues

':

ivrrlIr

r'stirrLrtcd

that

60

per

cent of

movie

audiences

were women.e

]'he

trade press,

in

',il1",{'(lrr('rìt

yt'rrs, optccl iirr

even

higher figures.An

article

inPhotoplay

in

1924

set the

lfr,fl,(rIi(rrìrrl

rvorlrcrrat75pclcerìt;oneinMovingPictureWorldin

1927thoughtthey

rrr,r,l,

rr1,

.rrr

;rslorrishing tì3 per

ccnt of

cinema

audiences.l0

A

local

survey

of

school-

,lrrlilr.rr

irr llv;rrrsvillc,

Irr<lirrnir,

in

1923 produced some

rare empirical

evidence to

sup-

Irrsl

llrl

ttoliott ol

rìì()r('

rv()lììcrì

llrirn rrrcn attending

t]re movies. It

suggested, during

llt, tt llltt:', llr.tl

lxrys',tllt'rttluntc

itt

tltc nrovics

dcclinccl while

that

of girls

increased.ll

',rr,

lr

i

'.1

rtn,rl('s

,ttt.l :ttt vr'vs ntrty

ltitvc bccrr

irr;rccur-atc

indiviclurlly,

btrt

collectively thcy

,ttl:li,

.l

,ltr

ttttlrrt'r:itrc

lvt ìllltl ol t'vitk'rttt

l() l)utlr(ss

lht'it[';r

ol ir

plcrlortrirrantly

lcruale

.rtlrlr

n(

(

\\llrcllrct

u,,,ttt,

tt

r,'.tllV

lor

nt, rl

,r torrsirlt r'.rlrlr'

trr,rjor

ily

ol

llrt.

i

irtt.rttlt

:ttr.li

'

,rr,'

,,1

llrr''o,,lr(l

l(l',,

lr,rrvcr,,r.nr,l\,,r{llr,rll\,

lrcrrl

lr',rsitrr;rorl,rrrtcllr.rrrllrr,

l.rrIllr,rt

I

l,,llt'tv,,,,,1

tl',,

11 .r',',trtr,,l

llr.rl,

l,ollr

llrr,,rrrilr llr, rr orvrr ,rll(

l(l.lìr,. .rrr,l llr,.t

,rl,ilrly lo

:

43

j

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7

44

IDENTIFYING

HoL

LYWOOD',S

AUDIENCES

influenceflìen,theywereitsprimarymarket..Ithasbecomeanestablishedfact,,asserted

theExhibitorsHeraldandiovingPictureWorldinMarchlg2S"thatwomenfanscon-

stitute

the

n1u;o'

pt"t"t'gt

of

iut'o"'gt

or

at

least

cast

the

final

vote

in determining

the

majoritY

Patronage''12

'ITheassumptio"'o"thtpartofanindustrydominatedbymen'thattobeprofitable

I

,,

ril;;;.1

n

ui.ty,o

*or,r.r,

had

a

profor,d

effect

on

rhe

way

that

American

cin-

I

i

ema

rleveloped

during

the

1g20s

anci

i93òs.

A

high

proportion

of

20s

lilms

were

tèmale-

,

:Itl;;'.il.rrr.

""a

romances.l3

.Ihey

were

often

written

by

women

scriptwriters,

liequently

aclapting

material

from

popular

fiction

also

rvritten

by

women

mainly

for

'

women.1l

They

featured

female

stars'

who

outnumberecl

their

maie

equivalents

and

,"

seemed

to

spring

frorn

an

apparently

endless

pool

of

talent

(the'

1920

census

listed

I

14,000

actresses)'15

i'-'

tht

"t'idttade'

such

f,lms

gave

place

to

a

whole

new

genre:

the

'

.-om".r's

film'.16

During

the

{ìrst

haif

o{

the

30s'

according

to

Tino

Baiio'

{ìlms

of

this

type

mad.e

up

over

u

q'''"u't"'

of

all

the

movies

on

Filrn

Daily's

'Ten

Best'

list'

17

The

star

system

ltself

was

primalily

aimed

at

womell

(one

theatre

manager

lvould

later

describe

most

movie

hott"'

ut

'Valentin'o

traps')"r3

Women

made

up

the

great

,

,rirn,,

"t

",ovie

fans

and

the

discursive

apparatus

attacherl

to

the

cinema

in

the

form

of

fan

magazines

and

articles

on

the stars

in

newspapers'

periodicals

and-women's

mag-

az-ines.

w&s

acldressed

mainly

to

them'

As

Kathryn

H' Fuller

has

observed'

the construc-

tion

of

this

discursive

apparatlls

from

1915

onwalcl

amounted

to

a

rnaior

reconligurationoftheinlagesofaudiencesandfansthathadbytheig20smadefan

magazines,themulo.p.o*ot.,.oftheimageofafenrale-dominatedmovieaudience,,l9

As

the

Americo"

ttÀo-y

moved

from

one

based

on

production

to

one oriented

toward

nass

consumption'

the

f,lm

in<lustry

was

also

quick

to

appreciate

the

import-

anceofwomenu..on.o*.,..CharlesEckertnotedthat.statisticswidelydisseminated

11 in

the

late

1g20s

and

early

1930s'

showecl'that

women

rnade

80

to

90

per

cent

of

all

pur-

i

:irJ;^*,r,r,

,r.,.rr'Through

adverrising

associated

with

product

'tie-ups' and

licensirrgdeals,businessandtlrestudiosincombinationSetouttosellarangeofcom-

i

modities

,o

*o*""

*ouie-goers'

These

include<l

goods

(clothes'

cosmetics)

designed

'forwon-rensownuse)ut*ti-t'*moregeneralhouseholdproducts(forexample'appli-

;r,

ances).

The

need

to

appeal

to

women

as

conslrmers

in

turn

influenced

the

character

of

,l

the

flms

being

''ud"'

'Loaern

Iìlms'

offered

wider

opportunities

for

showcasing

procl

;,

ucts

and

story-lines

were

frequently

created

or

arnended

in order

to

tàcilitate

tie-ups'rr

Whetheritinvolvedtheproductionofparticularkinclsoffilms,thedevelopnrentofthc

star

system,

or

the

attempt

to

appeal

to

women

as

consumers'

a

weight

of

evidencc

",,_."cred

that

the

movie

industry

of

the

1920s

and

early

30s

was

clearly

orieulctl

ouSb v-

towards

serving

(and

therefore

making

a

pro6t

from)

a

dominarlt

female

irttdience'

Theattempttomaxirrrisethelcrnalcirtrdiencealsoaflccte«llocalcclnditiorrsoIexhi

i'

bition.

It

helpecl

<leternrine

tvlror

fìlnls

wcrc

sltowtt

(at

onc

Poirlt'

lvlolly

lìashcll

jj

r.

i"

;;il,.thc

,.matincc

arrtlicner,.,

lr.rtl

t.rrsitlt'r.rrlrlt,

rrrllrrcncc

.r'r

nr.vic

prtttltrcti.tr

i ar.tot1t'cl'.,ttlltrity.l

et'r'l;rirt

slrtts"')

ll

rrr'rv

wt'll

lrtltliti.rr;llly

ltitve

irt{lttcttcccl

tlrt'

(

.ì.,;,;;,,;:,i

,,y'"'"'tl'".v

u"'r'

rltt't'rr

r\""t'ltttti

lrt

lt'trtttr'Allt'tt'

ittr

lltitk'ol

l()l-7

irt

'l'ltr'rtltr'Nhttltt\ 'ttt(tttt'tttl'lt't"t""llll'"tlirrtlt''trlr''ttltvttlltr'll'tslltr'Itirrtilr'rl(()lììl)()

ittt,tt|.ttttllttrrliv.tlrrt.'trlltltrr.rllr.tr.l.ltll{.,ttl,.l'.lllll'.llr.tlllrr..tltl..,.trrv..ll.t:ltltttl.sll.,ttl.l

(",rllr,rrlllrt.ttrl,y,ll)|("llllll'lolltr'tl

'rtrrtl'tltltr'r''rtll'llt''rrrl("llt'lr)lrrtlttlrttl'lll(ll('l'l\

FEMALE AUDIENCES OF THE 1920s AND EARLY l930s

ation'. The

magazine's

recommendations,

AÌlen

noted,

included'art

works

in

the lob-

bies, attractive fàbrics and designs for interior

decoration, and subdued and

flattering

lightingl

23

Early

Social Studies

\Mhile the movie industry

of the 1920s

and

30s

operated

on

the

assumption that women

were

the most

significant

part

of

its

audience, it did not

itself

take any

public

steps to

confirm

(or

investigate

further)

that assumption.2a

There are, however, a number

of

sources from outside

the

industry

that shed light on women's movie-going

habits and

preferences

during

this period.

From

the

earliest

years

of

the century

onward,

many

Americans

manifested an

increasing concern

over

the impact

of movies on

those

who

attended

them. One

expression

of this

concern

was

the demand

that

movies should be

censored. Another

was the attempt

to investigate

movie

audiences

themselves using the methodologies

of

social science.2s Since childlen were thought

to be especially vulnerable to such

influ-

cnce, most

of these

earliest

investigations

(Portland,

Oregon,

in

1914; Iowa

City

in

1916;

Providence,

Rhode

lsland

in 1918) focused

upon them.26

ln

1926, two

psychoiogists

conducted

a survey into the viewing tastes

of adults

in rural

New England.2T Although

lhcse studies seemed to suggest, in general

terms, the kinds

of

movies audiences

(cspecialiy

young

audiences)

liked,

they

did

not

indicate whether females

differed

from

tutales

in their

cinema-going preferences.

lfhe first

real evidence

that

this

might

bc the

case

came

from

the

results

of

a

survey

in 1923

of 37,000 high-school

students in

76 cities done

jointly

by the Russell Sage

Itrundation, the National Board of

Review

of

Motion

Pictures and Associated First

National Exhibitors. While most

of tl.re differences turned up in the last part

of the sur-

v()y

were geographical

(boys

and

girls in

New England had as

their favourite

frLn Way

lrown

East

[1920],

while

their

equivalents in eastern, central and western

states

pre-

lcrrcd I'he Four Horsernen

oJ' the Apocalypse

[1921] ),

some evidence of

different

gender

lrrc{erences

emerged

as

well.

Girls

in

the South,

for example, also

voted

for

Way Down

Iir.rt,

while

boys from

that section

supported

'lhe

Birth

of a

Nation

(1915).

In

terms of

l,rvorrrite

actors, boys preferred

action or Western stars

(Douglas

Fairbanks was

their

lilsl choice); girls

opted

for stars of

romance

(Rudolph

Valentino,

perhaps

predictably,

loPP('1[

thg poll in

this category).28

A

sulvcy

launchcd by Alice Miller Mitchell rn 1926 into

the movie-going

practices of

l{),0irJ

(

ìhicago

childt'en

both

confirmed

and elaborated on such clifferences. Mitchell's

'.,tttt1rlc

was

clrawu

liotn

thrce

groups:

children attending high

schools

and

the last four

yr',rrs

ol

glatlc schools,

juvcr-rilc

delinquents, and members of the

Scouts.

In making her

rurvt'y,

slrc rclicd

1rrirnirrily

uporl written questionnaires,

though

she

also tested

the

,lr

{

ilr.r(y ol

lhcsc ;rgirinst rrratcrial

acrltrired

in

a

number of

'fol[ow-up'interviews

and

ItlIl

,r

rrrrnrlrt'r'ol

'grorrp

<listtrssions'. lìccause thc

survey was conducted under super-

vt'*'rl

r ontlilions

(lìr'r:x.rrrrplc,

irr elirssroolns, with lcachcls

plescnt),

together

with

the

I'r,

Illr,rl

llr«'tlrLltt'ttwctt'itsl<t'tl tltr'it

rr;uttt'sirì(l ir(l(lr'('sscs,il ispossihlcthalsomechil-

rlrlrr

r,'r1,,rrrrlt'tl irr w,rys

llrt'y

r['r'lrrt'tl un(otìlt(ìv('tsiill rtrrtl sali', Yc't

rrtiurir

obviorrsly ditl

Itlllltlttrlirrrrtl.rlcrl

lry1;,,'..

llri11,,r,rrr,l

\v('r

(

1(ìl irrrlirrt,l lrrlr6wtlIr'ist'llrt'irirrrswq;s

lt

tt' lrìlrl irr rv,ryr llrr'y 111,11, rv,'ll lr,rvc l, ll rv, r,

(

\lr('( l('(l

ol

llrlrrr.

l

ltt'tlurslionlr,ult'

/R

,t"j

Page 3

8/10/2019 Stokes - Female Audiences of the 1920s and Early 1930s

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/stokes-female-audiences-of-the-1920s-and-early-1930s 3/10

46

IDENTIFYING

HOLLYWOOD'S

AUDIENCES

@u e 31ùc

,f

b

,e, lrd

eÌ Ì,

rw ld rritbllì

ln

ù (

ri

hi

$*r

,r.rrrr r§§*

e,

i4

k ,à[ r ,

i*iar, §,

b,

'ù'

bQr. n.i &

rl i È U *Y5d

e

;d,,à

Adri

 d. ll.

h.r 6

,@ rldìl;ri

td U"

àe R;È.6.

h{s

tlsr sv{e .l* À&

r

((4,hJ

rr lil

lhi*.' Àg rtr'ìre-

I

I

IVALE

AUDIENCES

OF THE

1920s

AND

EARLy

t93Os

Sr ottts)

-

althougl'r 10 per

cent

of

each group

attended

with

an

older brother

or

sister.

Ml.st

girls of all

ages

(apart

from

scouts,

for whom

the

opposite

was

true)

went to

rvr.'ning

rather

than

afternoon

perf-orma[ces.

sixty per

cent of

their

movie-going

(or

rrt,rrly

ail

in

the

case

of the girl

scouts)

was concentrated

at the weekend.

Girls,

like

boys,

trsrrrrlly

selected

which

movie

to

see

themselves,

independently

of

their parents,

and

rvt'r'c

rnost

influenced

in

their

choice

by

reports

in

the daily newspapers,

foliowed

(in

the

,,rsc

of

high

school

girls

and scouts) by

the

title

of

the

film

or

(among

grade

school

pgir'ls)

by

the

posters

seen

in

movie-theatre

lobbies.

But tirey were

aiso much

more likely

I lrrr

rr

boys

to

be

influenced

by

the

presence

in

a

fi1m

of

a favourite

actor.ro

'l'he

sexes

also

differed

substantially

in

the kinds

of

Iìlm

they

pr.eferred.

whereas

llrc

lroys

expressed

a clear preference

as their first

choice for

westerns,

followed

by

,rrlvt'rrture

fìlms,

comedies

and rnysteries in

that

order, the

most popular

fiÌms

chosen

lr'st

by girls

were

romances,

foliowed

by comedies

and

westerns.3l

euite

apart

from

tlrt'

Problems

of

delìnition

invoived in

distinguishing

between

some

of these

descrip-

Irv.

crrtegories,

the

general

preferences

concealed many

cross-clrrrents.

l)elinquent

grrls'

lor

example, liked

romances

and

westerns

better

than

any

other

types of

rrrovics;

girl

Scouts,

by

contrast, preferred

comedy,

mystery

and tragedy

as

their first

r

lr.itcs

and were

not impressed

by romance

pictures.3z

Thstes

also changed

in

accor-

,l,rrrtc

with

age. The

most popular

type

of movie for

grade

school

girls

was

the

w'stcrr;

for

older high

school

girls,

it

was

the

rornance.33

'v\lhile boys,

especially

r'(,unl{cl'boys,

dismissed

film rornances

as

too'mushy',

girls

-

perhaps

on the defen-

rrv.

irguinst

male prejudice

-

rationaiised

theil

preference

as

a'practical'choice.

one

yitr

I rrPProved

of romances

'because

they

show

the different

ways that

people

love

one

,ìnr)llìcr

and how

some

are

crooksl

Another

preferred

them

because

they'give

me

an

r,[',r.l'love'.

A

third

liked

watching a

romance

film'because

it

sets a

person

to

Ilrrrrl<ing

about

the

future'.3a

M itchell's

survey

findings

undermined

what she

described

as

the'popular

belief'that

,'lrh'r'chiltlren

attended the

movies

more

often

than

their

younger

counterparts.

she

lrrrrrrtl

that

grade schools

girls patronised

the

movies

more

heavily than

high school

grrli,I''l'hiscouldwell

beareflection,of

course,of

thegreaterrangeof

activitiesavail,

,rl,l,'

t. oldcr

girls.

one

of the most

pior-reering

features

of Mitchell's

work

was

her

,rll''nìlrl

[o contrast

the

attractiveness

of the

movies

with

other

forms

of

leisure.

It

ilrr

rrrltl

huvc

givcn

considerable pause

for

thought

to those

apparently

concerned

by

the

,rll

;,,'r

virsivc

cll'ccts

of

movies on childrcn.

In

terms

of

ph1,sical

activities,

g9.7

per

cent

rrl

1',rrl

Sr'orr(s

prcli'rrcd

hiking

to the

5.8

per

cent who

liked rnovies.36

For high

school

p;irl'',

tlrc

torrrPur:rblc lìgrrrcs

wcre

(r0.7

per

cent

to 23.8 per

cent

and

for

grade

school

f

ir l', {'

L.l

|t'r-

rt'rrt lo 29.9 pcr

cout.

when

it

canre to

the

choice

of riding

in

an

automo-

lrilt ol

r'ltlt't

lrtìlìrrìcrìl

iìl lltc

rttovics,

69.11 pcr

cent

o[

girl

Scouts

expressed

a

preference

l"r

,llll(,

tirlirtr',,

rts

()l)l)()s('(l

lrr J2.

l pcr

ccnt

lirr

nrovies.

Thc

cornparable

lìgures

for

high

,,,fr,,,,1

liirlsrvt'rr.(r'r.()|('r((.tìl

lo

17.(rPcrccnl

ultt.l lìrrqra(leschool

students6T.4per

I

r

lrl ll

)r)

o

lrr'r

(

('ttl.

Ilt

lt't ttts

ol

sot

irrl

;rr'livitit's,

llrt' lrias

wiìs

cvc6 llorc

obviotts:

84.5

I',

r

r i

nl

ol

ljr

oUlr

l)r('l(,t

t('(l

.rllr.ntlilrri.ì

l)iìt

lv

l() llrr.(r.7

|cr.t.r,rrl

r,vlt0

ltrcli,rrcti

rDovics;

{t11l,

l,('l

rr'ttl

ol

lrililt s,lt,r,rl

riitl',,rtr,l z'1..1

1rr'r

rcnl

ol

tirrrrlr.s,lrool

r,,ir.ls slrrtrctl

llrr.

',,r'rtl',

Itr'lltctrrr'(llrr'volr.

lol

ntovtr.,,\v,t..

l.l.ii

l,r,t

((.nl

,rrt,l l,t.

ll)(,t ((.nl

t(.sl)(\liVt.lV).

l\lrrri.r,.rrr,rrl.,rl,ll,

y'1;l',r.rrt,,

(1,1.',,'11

|r.r

rr.nt

to

,,),);rr.1

rlnt),rrrrl

lri1ilr,,,lr,rol

liill:,

47

r

v

-t,

:*

Wvue$ttr&ls,

ttY*"trdj

§ $

ì

{

{rla*Bd.F6i}xsB

d ,,e

.u,r ù

ù." . {*ùìl

Id"th.eÀn;À

"*,r h,

,r.r.

tuti

 ,Fb $ ,.. a

Éa.

-d5, '- ,{,

'-,

èl

{}il

À eri"-

^,.

r

"Il.

d Ì

* i1.,,

--,.-,-..*

'ii

"wù.

G

r,

lek

:i

'l

^e

( ..-krJq

h'g

.H

[. i&.:t,

,Èk

{

#§{

o",r4

*,,*rH

4Ut k r-s*r .

"-"

ffi

",n,-+ff

',

s,H$,ffi

i

*#

im"

ffi':u§#

.

k§tw

v&i

tk d &rtu,r r tw

"t

l:]Jfu

t&L &lr@nlh,rlÈffi@

qs 4

d.V

er

'.'lq

&

ù

ry.

&brrkHdirtìortl,k.ù |k

drid

.l@d*

@*

_a

b

m.s,

hr.&*ÈdIb. FF{ ,

ù . tu,l.rmth

tu.eraleF

& ffia*

Yd th tffi&

ii

k

r& Ird t d i& r#&l

*- YÈd§Mt:rkre'eM.x,1

,ryldu@Flùrlelrlil kÈ,q

'.

*l d& h ,È *l nÙr lr

'

&. h*lih*,Mdrb 6M

dlw,ikdthnmHrl rÈl

k.&

tu ru,

s. tun rb

"

d1ryBM"s&rrc,Ldry

;,li';,',,rr.ìiià;+ . ,.-,.. : -,

.

rilI§ffi

':H

From Movie

Weekly, I I

August 1 923.

itself

had asked:

'How

did

the

pictures make

you

feel?

'On

sorne

of

tl.rc

quiz

papcrs,

Mitchell

coldly

remarked,'unpublishable

terms

were

written aficr

this

tlltcstiotr.'r')

Mitchell's

team discovcred

that

therc

was

an'itpproxirlatcly

cqtt;tl'itvcragc

rttlcrt

dance

of

girls ar-rtl boys

at thc lrrovics,

allhough

liill

Scottts,

in

partictllrtr',

tctttlctl

[o

urr

lcssfieclrrcltlytltirnthciìvcritq('(orrct'or

lrvirt',t

trcllilor llrt'ltt,tiolrlyol

tlriltllcrr).Vt'r

y

li'w

girls w('lìl

(()

tltt'lttovit':

ltlolt,ì ltli,

llrc

l"'1", llìr'\'llsll'lllY

'tllr'lttltrl'ìtt

1',tott1':

'tt1'l

lltit((oi1lì,uti(.,1

l,y

.r,lrrltt'

(

)rrlr'

,r

tnttr,rt

rll

ol

lirt

l', tvr'trl

lo

lltt trtovit

r

rvlllr llrt ir

l,.rr

(nl:

lltt

1,,t,(rtl.ti',(r,,,1

llt,,',,

rilt,,,lt,l

\'rll,rl

lr.lìl

ll')llir.r,l,

r,rltoolr't',)

lo'l'l')(lirrl

Page 4

8/10/2019 Stokes - Female Audiences of the 1920s and Early 1930s

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IDENTIFYING

HOLLYWOOD'S

AUDIENCES

(by

a5.5

per

cent

to

35.7

per

cent)

preferred reading to

movies.

Only grade school

girls,

by

52.7

per cent to 36.9

per

cent,

preferred going to the movies

instead of

reading.3T

Vy'hen

it came to

recollections of

particular movies,

Mitchell pointed out, children's

memories

tended to

focus

especially

on

two categories:

fllms they had seen

recently

or

'large,

important

... superproductions'

such as The

Birth

of a Nation,

The Covered

Wagon

(1923),

and

The

Big Parade

(1925).

Most

of

the comments

on

individual

films

she actually

cited and

identi{ìed by sex, unfortunately,

were by boys and tended to

con-

cern'action'

movies iike The Sea

Hawk

(1924).

One

movie

that

was occasionally cited

by

girls

was

1r

(

I

927),

with Clara

Bow. A tale of romantic

misunderstanding

and upward

mobility,

which Iìnished

with

saiesclerk

Betty

Lou

(Bow)

winning

the

hand of

her

boss,

department

store owner Cyrus

Waltham

(Antonio

Moreno),

it appealed to one

high-

school

girl

because

-

she

improbably asserted

-'it

was so

like

real iife'. One

of

the

ques-

tions in

Mitchell's

survey covered

the

'thrills'

children had

had

at the movies.

If

was

one

of

the fìlms

rnentioned by

girls in response to this

question.

At

one

point,

Betty

Lou

jumps

into the

water from Waltham's

yacht

in

order

(helped

by Waltham himself

)

to try

to save

his existing lìancée. One

girl considered

this scene

('when

tliey

decided

they both

had it')

had given her the greatest thrill

she

had

ever experienced

from

a 1ì1m.38

I

Generally, while

boys were

most

thrilied

by the

action

sequences

in Westems and war

movies,

girls thought

fihns of

romance

(full

of scenes

of

'loving

and

kissing and

marry-

''

ingl as one described

it) were far more thrilling.3e

While

pioneering, and shedding

some

light on

the

female experience

of cinema-

going, the

Mitchell

investigation

also

had

a

number of

significant

drawbacks.

The sur-

vey was confined

to children.

(The

occasional

references to adult

movie-going

were in

the form of

impressionistic observations.

Mitchell, for example,

wrote of the movies

as

'a

veritabie escape

for the housewife

who,

passively

submerged

in

drab

realities,

finds

a

brief

relief

in Iìlm dreams that

might have come true'.4o)

There were

important

gaps

in

the

questions

asked.

The investigation

was restricted

to one locality only.

The same

year

in which the

results

of

the Mitchell survey

were published,

however,

also sirw

the

publi-

cation of the

Iìrst

of

two studies

which

-

while also

local

in

character

-

provided

infor-

mation on the

movie-going

practices and

preferences of

women

from

differing

age-groups

and social

backgrounds.

ht

1924-5, Robert Staughton

Lynd and Helen

Merrell Lynd,,assisted by a team

of

field workers, embarked

upon the

first detailed anthropologicàl

investigation of arr

American

community.

In

1935, they

conducted a

follow-up

survey

of

the same

city.

The community

they

selected

was Muncie,

Indiana.

The

results

of

their suveys werc

published as

Middletown

(1929)

and Middletown

in

Transition

(1937).

The

first

study

_'{confirmed

some

of

the

findings of the

Mitchell

investigation.

It noted that the atten-

i;.

dance

of high

school

girls

at

the

movies

was

'about

equal'

to that of

boys

ancl thrrl

both

girls and boys

more commonly

went

to the

movies

without their

Plrcrrls

(although,

in the three upper

years of

high

school, 33

per

cent ol

girls

attcrrclctl tlrt'

movies rnore often

with

their

parents tlran

withoul thcn.r, cornparcrl

with

2l

l)cr

ccrìl

of boys).al

'l'lrc

rrrovics,

tlrc

Lylrtls

nolt'rl,

hrrtl

lrtovoli.t'tl

t ttllurltl tortllit

I

rvilllirr llrr"lr4irltllt'lrtrvtt'

torrrrrrrrnily.

A rrrlrrlrt'r' ol

lrrirl.ll,

, Lrsr rv,,lrr,'rr':

,

lttl,s lvt'rt'

lirllrlirrli

lo

',

lr',ttt ttI

lltt'

rrr6vi..s',

wltilt' llrt lor,rl N4irrislt

r

r.rl

r\',',r,, l.rlron

\v,r\

('rlrr( \'ìinl'

lror,lililv

lo lltr' :ltrrwittli

I

l:MALE

AUDIENCES

OF

THE

1920s

AND

EARLY

1930s

ol r»ovies

on sundays.

In

opposition

to

these forces

(according

to

the

L},rrds)

were

the

uw

ners and

managers

of the local

theatres

(whom

they characterised

as

'a

group

of men

ru lòrmer peanut-stand

proprietor,

and a

sometime bicycle

racer

and race promoter,

,rrrtl so on

-

whose priinary

concern

is making

money'.)a2

whether,

and under

what

circumstances,

aduÌt women

went

to the cinema

reflected

llrcir

social position

in

the community

at large

and, if

married,

the social

and religious

olrinions

of their menfolk. one'Middletown'

woman

cited by

the Lynds had

been in

the

lurhit of going

to

the

cinema

once or twice

a week

with her

working-class

husband.

He

It,trl, however,

subsequently

been

converted

to religion

and had

become a preacher

in

a

tt'vivalistic

sect.

Neither

he

nor

his wife

any

longer went

to

the

movies, the woman

rxPlnlngd, in

a curious

blend of

moralism

and

practicality, "cause

our

church

says it's

wrong

-

and it

saves money,

too'. At

the

other

extreme

were

a number

of liberal

husbands

r r

tctl

by the Lynds

who'everyweek

or so'stayed

home

with the

children

so that

their

wives

*trlrl

go

to the movies.a3

It

is not at all

clear who, if

anyone,

these women

went

with.aa

wlren it

came

to

analysing

the tastes of

audiences,

Middletown

was largeiy impres-

qiorristic.

Its

authors

cited'the manager

of

the

leading

theater'as

the only

source for

the

t

lirirn that

the most popular

stars in the

town were, in

descending

order,

Harold

Lloyd,

(

ihrriir

swanson,

Thomas

Meighan,

coÌleen Moore,

Douglas

Fairbanks,

Mary

pickford

attrl Norma

thlmadge.

In terms

of

the

movies

themselves,

the

authors

claimed,

the

lat11,«:sl

crowds were

drawn

to Harold

Lloyd

comedies. There

were

comparatively

few

l,orular

comedies

of this type,

however.

Expensively-produced

westerns

and

spectacu-

l,rls, irrcltrding

The

coveredwagon

or

The

rlunchback of

Notre

Dame

(1923),'drew heary

lr.rrscs'.

Ilut

the

kind

of movie

that packed

the

rnotion

picture

houses

of Middletown

'wrcl<

alter

week'

was aiways

that'rvith

burning

"heart

interest"'.as

precisely

what

was

tttr'ir

n

t

by

this

was

reasonably

clear: it

meant, in

the Lynds'

words,

'sex

adventure'

or

'sen-

rirtiorral

society'

lìlms. At

one time,

four

of these films were

running

simultaneously in

l\l

r(

l(l

lclowrì:

The

Daring Years

(7923),

sinners

in silk

(1924),

women Wo

Give

(1924)

,r

ttr I

'/

7rr'

Price

she

Paid

(

1

924). on

another

occasion, the

city's

movie-goers

had

a choice

rrl

I|rlcc: Name

theMan('astoryof

betrayedwomanhood',

1924),RougedLips(1923),

rttrl

'/7rr'

()ueen

of Sin

(1924).46

Irr

rrrost

of the films

of this

type, worlen

were

the main

characters.

It

was widely

lrt'licvctl

that

such fiLns

had a special

appeal

to female

spectators,

who were

inscribed

ittl,

llrt'

nroclc of

addrcss

of much

of

the

publicity

surrounding

them.

'Giris ',

a large

lllrr"llirtctl

atl

prcrnisccl

the

potcr-rtial

viewers

of one film,

'You

will

learn how

to handle

'r'rrrl'()uc'wcll

tirrrr-nbcd'copyoftl-re

MotionPictureMagazinein'Middletown's'public

ltlrr,rr

y

lrtrl

an

arlicle

on

'nrovie

l<isses'that

was

clearly addressed

soleiy

to women.'Do

yuu

r('(()llrìizc

your littlc

liictrd,

Miic

Busch?',

one caption

enquired,

Slrt

's

lr,rrl hrls

ol

liisscs, brrl

nt'vcr s(:crìls

to grow

blirsé. At least,

you'll

trgree

that

she's

glvitrli

ir goorl

itttilrtliolr ol

lt

petson

crrjoyirrg

this onc,

and if

someone

should

catch you

lrr'ttr,tllt lltt

tttisllt'lor'irtttl

lroltl

yorr

llrt're lilie

lhis,

wlxrl

wotrltl

you

ckr? Struggle?

But

ttr,tl'.tlt1i l,rv,

,lrvirrr'lt'ir

ottt'ol

lltt'lrtsl

llrirrr4s l\,lorrle

lllut'tlocs.

(larr't

yotr

jrrst

hcar

l\l.rrrr,

l'rr,r,orl r

Irr,,rri

lioirrri l,illy

l,,lliri

Il lrllrr'',lt,l

trol lt.N', :ttllr,t|trl

rorrr,rrrrI

rrr llrr'rrr

lo,r[l|r.,11

l() l(.tìt,ìl(.rttovit'1ir,..rs

irr

i

49

t

4B

l

I

l

I

:

Page 5

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IDENTIFYING

HOLLYWOOD'S

AUDIENCES

'Nlr,ltllItrr vn',

theyapparentlyhacllittle

cl-rance

of

attraciir-rgìargeaudierlces.

l)owrrto

rlrt,;,rrt

i1. Ships

(1927),

an

expensivc

spectacuÌar

about

wl-rirling,

failed

at the

town's

l,.,rtling

theatrc,

its

exhibitor

assertcd,

because

ihe

whale

inras the

real hero

in the

film

,urtl

conscquently'there

wasn't

enorLgh

"hcarrt

interest"

for

the

wtltlen'.48

'['he

secoud

stucly

of Nlurrcie,

a dccirde

later,

foulld

that rnovic

advertisements'were

interchangeable

with those

o1'1c)251

Many

captions

rvere

still

designed

to

trppeal

pri-

marily

to

girls

('You

Can't

Love

a Malried

Man'or'\\4rat's

a

Baby

between

Sweethearts

More

or

Less?').

One

change

since

1925

had been

tl-re

introctr-Lction

ol'Saturday

mat-

inées

showing

a special

ploglamlne

for

chilc -en

of botli

sexes"ae

In

terms

ol specifically

female

cinen-ra-going

practìces,

the

Lylrds

tòrind that

in

Mr-rrlcic,'especially

in

the

bet-

ter-class

houses,

trdult

fenrales

predon'rirlate

heavilv

in

the

audiences

and,

as

one

pro-

clucer

remarked,

"set

the

type

of

picttlrc

that

will

'go'

"

'

They buttressed

this clairn

about

N,lnncie

(which

they thought

was'probably

reprcsentative

of ot1-rer

locaiities')

r'vith

an

estimate

fì'om

tl-rc

owner

of one

of

Muncie's

'bettcr

theatres'

that

his audiences

'con-

sistetl of

60

per cent wotnen

over

sixteen,

30

pcr

cent

mtilcs

over

sixteen,

arrd

10

per

cent

children'"5{)

'fhe

L,vnds,

in their

second

investigation,

fbr.rnd

a

comrnunity

characterised

by tcn-

sions

atcl

conllicts.

Some

-

notably

those

revoìving

irrouncl

generational

couflict

and

changes

irr

the

way

gencleled

roles

-were

constructed

-

l-rad

been

considerably

sharpened

by

the

cconomic

clcpression.sr

llut

they

were

also

tnore certain

than

they

htrd

heen

in

Mitldletou,tt

that

tnovies

r'vere

crucialll,

aflecting

pattcrns of

li{c.

Everpvhelc

in Muncie

in

19

j-5 tl-rey

for-rnd'a

sense

of

sharlr, free

behavior

betr'vcert

thc

sexcs

f

patterned

on

the

ilovies]'.

'ì-hcy

founcl

adolesccnts

nrodelling

therlselves

on

the

manner

and

appcaltrnce

of

their

trrvor.rrite

stars.

loan

(lrawford,

they asserted,'has

her

amateur

counterparts

in

thc

high schooi

girls

who

stroll

with

brittle

conftdeDce

in

and

out

of

"Barney's"

soft-

drilk

parl6ur,

"clicl<ing"

with

the

"drugstore

con4roys"

at the

tables'.

Interestingly,

the

Lyncls

sar,l,the

girls

irnitating

Crawf-ord

on

scleen

as

assertive and

confìdent,

in

contr;rst

to

'tongue

tied'young

males.5z

The

desire on

the

part of

girls

to

resemble

their

movic

idols

now

began

at a

very

early age:

even occasional

third-graders,

the

Lynds

noted,

r'r'ere

using

rouge,

brightly

colouring

their fingernails

and

adopting'shirley

]èmple

pernìa-

nent

waves'.

It

also

prodr,rced

conflicts

with

parents:

'Tbe

age

at

which one

get's one's

first

"permanent"',

the

Lynds

noted,'has

becorne

tr standard

subject

of

family

contro

versy

in

Middletown

homes'.sl

The

Blumer

Study

Detailed

infbrmation

on

movie-going

habits and

tastes,

apart

fror-n that contained

irr

episodic

locai surveys,

was

generally

sparse

ttntil tl-re

early

1930s.

Between

lc)33 antl

1935,

however,

a series

of

eleven

studics

lìnanced

try

the

Paync

Fttnd was

publisl'red.

'l'ht

'"-studies

themselves,

as

Robert

Sklar

has

pointecl out,

nrere suspect

lrot-rl thc vcrv

Lrcqirr

ning silce

their

initiator,

William

H. Short

oi the

National

Conrnritlcc

lìrl Sttrtly

,'l

'.r

Social

Values

in Motion

Pictures,

was pro-censorsìrip

ilnil crlnscqttctltly

llrorrltlt'tl llr,

project'from

tl-re beginning

by

his specìal

tlccds

atltl goitls:

lo t1t't

lltt't',itorls

'rrr

llr'

..

r.u6vics,

to

plil

thclr

to thc

wallltr

Yt't

rro{ rrll

lltc

lt,'ittls

ol

llrt'

slttrlir'r

lr.t,l

I't,',

is'

lt

tlrt.srrstt'irlt'1s;t:;Slrorl.()rrr'irrprrrIi,rtl,rt,Ilr'tì,r'tIlllttltrii,rlllr,

[]tltvcl,ll]()l(

lri('llir'),

lrr'lir'vcrl((lì',()l:,llil)rv,t.

l,tr

/,','r'lllrlrrr

lrrrlrtlllllrl',

lllilllrl(

'lolltr'tttorrr"llìrrr(r'lllr

I

I

IVALE

AUDIENCES

OF THE 1920s

AND

EARLY

t93Os

51

tt'r'vailing

influences,

such

as

parents,

teachers

and peer

group

pressure.5s

one of the

lrv.

studies

Blumer

did for

the Payne

Fund

(and

the

only one he

conducted

on his

own)

rv,ts

tledicated

to

advancing

this proposition.

Blumer

later

clairned

to irtrve

circulated

to

.r sirruple

of

nearly 2,000

people

-

mostly

college

and high

school students

an ìnvi

t.rri()n

to write

movie'autobiographies'of

the films

they had

seen

and their

responses

to

tlr.rrr.

Extracts from

over

300

ofthese

autobiographies,

as well

as what

he

regardecl

as

'll'l,ica['exanples

of a number

of

complete

autobiographies,

were

published

in the

lt,tl'

Movies

and

conduct

(1933).

while

the form

used

to

tell people

what

to write

.rl,ottt

in rnost

of

the autobiographies

and the

final

selection

of

material

was

obviously

lr,',rvily

conditioned by the argument

lllumer

wanted

to

mzke,

and

-

as

Kathryn Fuller

It.t:

olrserved

he

consistently altered

biographicai

data when

using rnuÌtiple

extracts

lrrr111

1[g

seven

autobiographies

he pubtished

in full,

there

are still severaÌ

reasons

why

tlrrs

nraterial

ought

to

be

of

interest

to

students of female

(and

male) audiences

and

rlr

r'pliq1.s6

lrr

lhc Iìrst

piace, Blurner

deveìoped

a replrtatiorì

as a rigorous

sociologist. After

',trr,lvirrg

under

George Herbert

Meade and Robert

park,

he taught

sociology

at

t

lri,,rg.

from 1928

to

1939,

when

he moved

to the

university

of california.rt

It,'rli.lty.

In 1955,

he

became president

of the

American

Sociological

society.sT

\\'lr,rt.vcr

the

reasons for

his

altering

the biographical

data in

the

survey

(and

they

r,r,rr,

lr,rvc

been

as

simple as

the desile

to further protect

the

anonymity

of

his

respon-

,1,

,1,,),

when

Blumer

claimed,

as he

did, that

the

segments

he printed rvere'typical,of

tlr,

rrrirtcrial gathered,

there

is

no

especial reason

to doubt

him.s8

In

the seconil

place,

rlr,

',('\

()[

the people

who

wrote

the

extracts is

usually

fairly

easy

to

establish from

tlr,

rr

rrrrtcr.rt.

Thirdly,

the material

actually published

by Blumer

together

lvith

'i,l,lrtr.nirl,

recently

discovered

material

from

his survey

-

is rich

and

cxtensive

enough

t,r

;rr'1

111i1 interrogation

fiom

a number

of

perspectives

that

are r-adically

diffèrent

lr,rrrì tlr()s('

of

Blumer

himself

or

his teanr.se

\Irrr.st

rtll

the

scholars

lvho

have

so

far

addressed

the

issue

of

female

spectatorship

it'tt,

,l,'ttt'soirrottcof

twoways.Theyhaveinterpreteditasaconceptirnplicateclinthe

"1,.

r,rtr(,ns

ol'

[ìh-nic

texts

by

various

modes

of

signification

that

are

themselves

lulr",,rlrlt'Iiorn

senriotic or psychoanalytical

standpoints.

or they have

seen it

as

the

'rlr1r',

r .l

Il.llywoocl's

(and

business's)

attenrpts to

sell

products

associated

with par-

tr, rrl.rr

''r,rrs.r

ccrtain nrovies.

very

few

scholars have

as yet

examined

what

women

,1,,,\r(

tÌ(,(rsrc:rllynratlcofthe fìlnrstheyattendedorhowtheyrespondedtothedis_

,,,rrr',,.1

(()nsurììcrisnllhataccompirnieclsuchfilms.TheBlumer'autobiographies'and

,

,

,l,t'. r)ll('r

ir

nì(ìrrìs

ol

br:ginning

to

do these

things for

the

1920s

(the

survey,

while

rr lrr,lrrjis

w(.r('

r)()t

lrublishctl

until

19.13,

ct1èctively

endecl in

1930

and

almost

alÌ the

,,

r,l,

rr, r,

rt

rorrtrrirrs

is lìrr

thc

Ireriorl

ulr

to lc)29).

Thcy

offer:

consiclerable

evidence

on

ir,'r'

I

111111;111'1

ol

lcrrl

(rrlbcit

rttitirtly

rrpPcr nridcllc

class

and

well-cducated)

tèma1e

r,r,,ilr

'or'r',(r(.tl((l

nr('iuìirìlìs()lrl

()l

llrclìlrusthcysalv,;trrtl

ol'theextcnttowhichthey

,,,',;,'

,,,,,,,,

,,,,

,1

lrt' llro';t'

lilrrrs lo rttlopl

qq

;1;1i11 slylcs

ol

tlrcss

anrl

prttcnls

ol'bcltirv-

I lr,

lllrrrrr,

r

'.ll

\{

\

lì( lrr,l,.,l.t

t'or,,l,lr.,tl

ol

rrrlol

nì.tlton

on

l.rrrl,tsir.s

llì.ti

w()tìì(.n

lì.t(l

'1,

,,

1,,t,,

,l

rrr r,

,l,,rn,,,.lo

llrr.rrroVr,.,

Nlu,

lr

,rl

llrr,,

1,r,

,,,.1,1,,;

,rn

ilìt,Iir.ol \\,()ilt{.tì

,ì,,

l),t.;

=i,, l1

l,rr',rlt,'n,,1.rrr,l

r,

,1,,,lr,lrrrr',

rrr

l,r,.,lr,

l.rlrlr'\\.t\',

lo l,rlrl,r,,rr,,

r,,.rr,

r.rtr.,l

lrrr

llr,,lrr lrv

Page 6

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IDENTIFYING

HOLLYWOOD'S

AUDIENCES

tlr, rrr.rll

rlrtnitt,tlt'tl

ilrstittrtionof

Holly'lvood"Onecommonfantasywasforwomento

Irrr,rsiil.

tlrr.rrrst.lvt.s

iìs the

actress

being

made

love to

by the

male star

(Blumer

himself

lIil|l,]

tl||r

t|iltlt'ltcy

to

làntasise

about

playing

the

romantic

lead

in a

film to

be

twice

as

,

r,11111r .1tì()ltg,

wonìen

thal

men).60

Women,

reacting

to

the

discourse

sulrounding

 t,r

I

r

lr l I I

l,

rrrrrtl

iu the

popular

media as well

as to

movies

themselves,

also

often

reported

ililirltrlrllll',

tllilt tllcy

would lrecome

a

Hollrarood

star

or

at

least

the

wife

of a

star'61

A

Irrilrrlrt.t

0l wornen,

however,

seem

to

have

produced

fantasies

that,

by

selecting

par-

Ir,

trl,rr

t.le

rrre uts

from

the

films they

saw, allowed

them

to

play

around

with

(and

con-

rr.rlu(.ntly

to challenge?)

historically-produced

ideas

of gender

roles

and

appropricte

l,.rrrirk'

hchaviour.

some rejected,

for

example, the

flotion

of

the

passiv'e,

suffering hero-

rrrt'

prcscr-rt

in many

hlms

that

were

primariiy

intended

to

appeal

to

a

female

audience'

'

.,1,1,"

,,rle of

the

fragile,

persecuted

woman

never appealed

to

me', one

respondent

,,

,rsscrtccl;

'it

was aiways

as .

.

. the

woman

who

had

power that

I

saw

myself.'62

Fantasies

,

ol

rlastery

ancl

female

empowerment

were

paralleled

by

fantasies

of female

activisrn

which

may

well

have hacl

their

origin

in

the

serial

melodramas,

starring'action'

hero-

ines

such

as

Pearl

\{hite,

that many

women

recalled

watching

when they

were chil-

',

t1ren.63

One

female

respondent,

for

exampìe,

tiequently

day-dreamed

of being

actively

involved

in

war.

'The

excitment

*

shall

I

say

glamour?

-

of

the

war', she

confessed,

'has

always

appealed

to

me

from

the

scfeen.

Often

I

have

pictured

rnyself as

a truck

driver'

NUTSE,

HEROINE ,64

While

many

women

in

the

Blumer

survey

identified

with

female

stars

to

the extent

of wanting to

copy

their

appearance,

hair-styles,

clothes, jeweìs

and personal

m.annef-

isms,

such

identification

was

often

a complicated

process.

In

the

{ìrst

place,

women

had

a social

identity:

imitating

screen

stars,

at

times,

needed

considerable

personal

coulage'

During

the

1920s,

many

parts

of

the

American

population

disapproved

of anything

linked

to'flapperolatryì

which

they

associated

with

women

who

wore

short

skirts,

usecl

too

much

make-up,

smoke<l,

and

liked dancing

modern

dances

(one

religious

periodi-

cal described

dances

of

this

kind

as

an'indulgence

in

fleshly

lust')'6s

Under

these

cir-

/

cumstances,

to

copy

fashions,

modes

of

beautification,

habits

and

mannerisms

{

associated

with

the

stars

frequently

involved

a

complex

negotiation

between

what

\

*.rrrr.n wante,l

and

what families

and

communities

were

prepared

to

allow'

One

ol

Blumer's

respondents

noted

that

her

new

hair

style'went

over'quite

well

with

her

fam-

ily but

confessed

that'when

i

attempted

to

wear

an ankle

bracelet

one

evening,

I learnetl

that

certain adornments

in

the

"reel"

world

ale

not

always

appreciated

in

the

rcal

world'.66

 

In

the

second

place,

women

reacted

in a variety

of complicated

and

mediated

ways

{'

to

rvhut they

saw

on

rhe screen.

They

had

to be

sure that

what

they

decided

to

imitatc

\

*ould fit their

own

appearance

and

personality.

This

becomes

evident,

for

example'

irr

how women

in

the

Blumer

autobiographies

responded

to

the

clothes

woilr by stars

otr

the

screen.

For

some, this

was a

fairly

straightf-orward

matter:

they

observccì

:r lavottril''

star

wcaring

a

particular

item they

thought

might

suit

them

ancl

set olT

to

httv,

or

l'tt

suarle

their

mothers

to

buy, arr

irnitation

of

it

from

a

local

clcpar-trllclrI

sIorc,tt

titìtlìtt

shol-r.67

For many

others,

h«twcvcr,

il

wirs

uruch

tnorc cottrplicitlctl.

lrlslt'ittl

o{

altt'tttIl

irtg

t<l i6ritirtc

a litv6lr'itc:rclrt.ss

wlrr'rr

il t,rrttc lo

lrttyirtg

el,,lli,'s,

lltt'y lrot.ltrlvt'tl

t,

lt't

titrrlly

l|lrrrr

s.,vr,t.;rl,

rrc1,,0(irrlirrli

l)(.1w1.(.il

llrr.irrr,t1,,t's

lìt1.\(.1ìl('(l

ill

lll()vl(r,,ttt,l

lllt'tt ,rtvtt

53

[-

I

I

t

i

I

I

I

I

f

I

MALE AUDIENCES

OF

THE

1920s AND

EARLY 1930s

ln(lividual

sense of

what would

'go'.

As one girl

explained,

the'styles,

colors, accessories,

r

onrhirrations,

lines

and general

effects'seen in

the movies

were so varied

that it

was

sirrrple

to

pick

out

the

[clothes]

... they most

closely resemble,

and

thus learn

to bring

r)trl

rny best

points.

I have a little

two-piece

sweater

suit suggested

by

something

I

saw

orr

Colleen Moore;

Norma

Talmadge

was

the

inspiration

for

my dignified

dinner

dress;

ilty

next

formal

is going

to

be

a

reproduction

of something

that was

bewitching

on Nita

Naltli.68

lvl,lry

women

of the

1920s,

moreover,

still

either

made

or

altered

their

ow1

clothes.

Wlrilc they were

unlikely to attempt

to copy

a

whole

outfit,

they

adapted

various

fea-

Itttcs scen on screen

for their

own use.

'Most

dresses

worn in movies

are too

striking or

Irrr

e laborate for

me to copy', one girl

declared,'but where

there

is shown a

different col-

lrrt,,r

1rrc11y

cuff,

or a

novel

trimming,

it

is certain

to crop out

in

some

dress.'6e

Ncither

the

personality

nor the

tastes

of women,

moreover,

stayed constant.

There is

cvirlcrtcc

from

the

Blumer

survey

that,

especially

during

adolescence,

many

giris

imi-

lalcrl

thc

on-screen

conduct

and mannerisms

of movie

actresses. This form

of identifi-

raliort

rloubtless

made its

contribution

to

the

forming

of adult

identities.

However,

it

wrll ir

[)l'ocess

characterised

by

great

complexity

and much ongoing

negotiation.

Firstly,

rtururcrisms were

selected from

those

used by particular

stars

in particular

films. While

rrrr('

l,irls

apparently identilied

with

just

one star and

imitated

her,

it

was

rtore

coln-

rrlun l()

cmbrace mannerisms

from

a

variety

of

stars.7o

secondly,

girls

practised

the

tiinv('tììcnts

and gestur:es

concerned in front

of

the

mirror to

see

if

they suited

them and

wrtrkl

'go'.7r

Thirdìy,

since the

point

of such mannerisms

was

to enhance

the

girl

con-

 Frr(\l's

popularity

and

increase

her attractiveness

and

sense

of

self-esteem,

the

next

tle1l 1ry11s to

try them

out in public

to

see

what effect

they had. Those that prompted

util+rv()ur'ilble

responses

were rapidly

jettisoned.

One

girl,

trying to

copy the wide-eyed

l,'L ,l

Mabel

Normand,

soon realised

her

friends

believed'there

was

something

wrong

wlllr nìy

cyes'. A second,

after

endeavouring

to

imitate

Garbo's characteristic

walk,

ftrtlttrl

pcople

inquiring'if

my knees

are weak'.72

Wlrt'n

it

crme

to

the ways in which

they

identified

and

copied female

stars

*

and to

d lr",rcr

rxtcnt in

how they

indulged

in

cinematically-inspired

fantasies

-

women

À

tFqfolr(lcrìts

to

the Blumer

survey revealed

themselves

as

active

rather

than passive

f;

ryer

l.tl()rs.'l'his is

alt important point

in

the

context

of the relationship

between

.ir"-n

{i

4llrl Arrrcriciìtì

fcntinine

ideals

in

the

I920s.

During

that

decade,

traditionaiist

critics

wrrr'

,,nvirrcctl

that

they

were

seeing

a radical

undermining

of

those ideals.

often,

they

rrlrl('(l('(l

llris

rlcvclopnrcrrt

with

the influence

of the

movies.

(Blumer

would

later

egrr'r',

rl(':i(

r ihirrg

llrc

crnotionrrl inrpact

of

'love

pictures'

as'an

attack on the

mores of

rtttt

(

onl('rììpor:rry

lili'l7r)

()pc

116vic

citcd

by many

traditionalists

as symbolising

the

cvll

rllcr

ls

ol

tlrc

tinr'rrì;r

was

()rrr

l)ortt:int

l)aughters

(1928).

itr

tlris

oriliirrirlly

silt'rrt lìlrn

(to

which M(ìM

addctl, at

thc last monìent,

a dialogue

Èl

till{'

,llrl wlt,tl

oltt'

tt'vit'wcr

rclcrlctl lo

as'scvcr;tl

krvc

sotr11s, stcnloriitrr

chccring

and

,l

tlt{rttt\

ol

slrrit'lis'),

lorttt

(it;nvloll

Pl.ryctl

I)iiur;r Mt'tllirrtl,.r

lyrotl

lirrrt'fìirPPcr

rlrvllr',1

lo,l,rtrr

ilr1l.rrr,l lril, ll.rslis,

u,lt,, l.rlls irr lovt.willr

tlrt'sorr ol

,t lrrilliorr:rit.r'.i'l Slrt.

li

llrrtt

rlt',,q;tIrrirtlr'rl,.r:'

llr rnrlliotr,rirr'ir

Irlsl;qql

irrlo

rrr.rrri.rlic wrllr,r

lr.u,l ,lrirrkirrli

4,-

,\t

{

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54

IDENTIFYING HOLLYWOOD'S AUDIENCES

blonde

(Anita

Page) by her

greedy

mother.

But

the

new wife falls downstairs and is

killed, leaving the

millionaire free to find

solace

with Diana.

Many contemporary

critics

condemned

Our

Dancing

Daughters

for its

apparent

endorsement

of

freer relations

between

the

sexes,

petting,

drinking, dancing and

smoking. Yet while some of

Blumer's

respondents

saw the

film as an

encouragement

to

wilder

or

freer behaviour, others

read very different

meanings

into

it.75 To them, the

film's narrative

was essentially

a morai one. The Crawford character,

according to one

girl,

always'played

tàirl

She even

lost her man

but remained'sport

enough to

play

fàirl

In the eyes of another girl, the

fìlm

underlined

the message that daughters ought to trust

and

confide

in their

mothers

more.76

Some

of the meanings attributecl to the

film

by

Blumer's

correspondents,

therefore,

at

ieast

suggest

the

possibility

that flapperdom was

less of a challenge to

existing

stanclards of

morality

and

behaviour than

many

of

its

con-

servative

critics

believed.

Conclusion

During the 1920s and early 30s,

a substantial body

of

evidence sr-rggested

that

womcn

dorninated

American

movie

audiences

-

either numerically

or

becausc, by

naturc

ol

their influence

or-r

tl-reir

mcnfolk anc'l chilclrer-r, they

effectivcly

dccidcd

whiclr

lìlrrrs

wotrlcl bc-

rnosl srrcccssl'ul.

Ilollywoorl rcspottdt't1

1o this uccuttrtrl;rliorr

ol

cvitlcllrc

in ,ì

virriely

ol

wrrys,

inclu,lirru

plrtlrrtirrl,,

lìlrrrs tltil wolìì('n

wt'tt'littotvrt lo

lilic

(lirr

('x,unlìl(,

llrt

tli:;lirrrlivt

ll,r'rrrt'ol

llrr"worrrcrt's

lìlrr'rvlri,lr.r1,1,,.rr,,1

rrr

llrt

r',ttly

ìO:)

,ilt(ll)rilìrolilrlillrIrrrl,ytrrr'.rrr',ol.trlrrrtttrivr',t1r|.11.1111',(rtr,lrr,lrrrliLilrrìr,r),,,r/ilr(:,,ilr(l

I

I

MALE

AUDIENCES

OF THE

i92Os

AND

EARLy

1930s

.r

t.,sumerist

discourse)

that

was

aimed

mainly

at

women.

yet,

despite

the pr.iority

,r,,.rded

them

by

Holl)'wood

itselt,

with

all the

consequences

this

had for

the

movie

rrrtltrstry

in

general,

women

audiences

of this period

have

been

practically

ignored

by

rr

lrolars

writing

fiim

history.

(

),e

reason

for

this disregard

may

have

been

the lack

of

direct

evidence

from

women

rr*vic-goers

themselves.

Much

of what

we do

know

about

female

cinema-going,

as

Itrtlith Mayne

notes,

'comes

from

reports

of

exhibitors,

managers,

and

producers;

,trirsionally

from

critics;

rarely

from

viewers

themselves,.TT

This

is

particslarly

true

of

tlrt'

1920s

and

early

30s

-

a

period

that

is

too

distant

in

time

for

the

effective

use

of

.eth_

iloliraphic'

techniques

and

also

precedes

the

introduction

of

,scientific,

audience

|

('r*'irrch

of the

kind

discussed

by

Susan

ohmer

in

the

fbllowing

chapter.

A way

round

I

lrt'

Ploflsrn

of missing

primary

materials,

however,

is

to

re-examine

a

number

of

social

r,

i('rìcc

surveys

for

the

period

concernecl

to

determine

what

they

have

to

tell

us

about

rv,ilrcn's

experience

of,

and

reactions

to,

the

movies.

This

chapter

has

examined

four

rrrr

lr

s.urces:

those

carried

out

under

the

auspices

of

the

chicago

sociorogy

dep;rrtmei:t

l'',

Alice

Miller

Mitchell

and

Herbert

Brumer,

and

the

two,anthropotogi.al,studies

of

l\lrrrrcic,

Indiana,

both

supervised

by

Robert

and

Helen

Lynd.

Mlitchell

and

the

Lynds

shed

a good

deal

of right

on women's

movie preferences

and

'r,'wirrg

practices

(with

the

Lynds,

in

their

second

survey,

citing

evidence

emphasising

llr.

rorrtinuing

centrality

of the female

audience).

The

Lynds

also

discussecl

the issrie

of

llrr' irrlltrence

of

the

movies

on

women's

appearance

and

behaviour.

These

matters

were

,rlrr,

,111q11g55.4

during

the late

20s

in

a

payne

Fu,cl study conducted

by

Herbert Biumer.

I

lrr'.'

have,

in

recent

years,

been

two principal

approaches

to

trre questio'

of

female

',1'|r'(

t,rtorship.

Both

film

theorists

and

anaiysts

of

how

Holly,rvood

addressed

wornen

as

i

,rt\llnìcrs

have

tended

to

see

women

spectators

in

essence

as passive

subjects.

scholars

rtrrrrli

t'lh,ographic

techniques,

by contrast,

paralleling

work

on

how

women

respond

lrr.1111'1

lòrms

of popuiar

culture,Ts

have presented

them

as

actively

involvec-l

in

con-

'trrr'

littH

a

variety

of

meanings

through

the

interaction

between

their

own

social and

r

rrll.r;rl

iclentities

and

textual

and

extratextual

cinematic

practices.

The

Blurner

r,,rl.r

i.rl

suggests

that,

while

women

were

to a

degree

positioned

by

the

cinematic

'rl,lr',,rlr§,

they

also

responded

in

an

active

way

to

the

films

they

viewed

and

con-

"lr

r r'

l.rl rr

v.riety

of

meanings

(some

of

them

empowering)

from

tr-rem.

Far

from

what

lrr

rrrtr'rrrlt'tl,

therefore,

the

Blumer'autobiographies'can

be

read

against

the grain

to

,ilyi1i.r'l

llr;rl

lònrale

spectatorship

was

funcìamentally'active,

in

constructing

-"urrirg.

 trrrrr

tlrt'

lìlrrric

cxpcrie,ce,

even

if

the actual

meanings

created

were

at times

markedly

l'

rr

r,rrlit.rl

lha,

r,a,y

co,servative

critics

of

'Roaring

Twenties,women

believecl

-

or

li',rt r'r

I

Noles

I

41,r,i,7111111)o.rrrt',rrrrtillcrlrrrliclc,(illr,rii()bscrrrrr,20/21(19g9),pp.142_3.

",r'r', lrrr

Ir.rrrr|lt,(llr,rrlt'slrtlirrr,"llrccrrr.olcl,ornbrrrtl

inMacy,swincl.w,,

ettrtrr.crly

lir'ttr'rvrtl

l'tlilt,\tttrlit;

t:l(Wirrlt't

l,)78),

lìl).

I JI;l\4;rrrn.t,rr

,lirliltr,,l)csilìlrirr ìw{)r.ììcn:

tl,',rrr,rr',r'rr,r'or

rlrIrr.rvs\v((rllr',iltlirrIi

r1,r,/,.r,,ry/r.(r:.,il(rg.r),1,|..1

il;r)iirn(,

\\,rl,ltrr,rrr,

lrtrrtr

rr[,lrtt).,lrl

r,lr,t'r,

l.

lt.u

I t.t)i(,

\r.\v,,:

\\,{lìì(.1,

r.rl,l.ll.tli.lt

,rrtil

'rlrtlrtltotr,llr,l,

lri.r,/,(t'(1,)rilt.1'g,111,),r'lr.rrlollr.llr.rrol,,rrrrll,rrrr.Al,rrtr.(i,rrrrr.,,

55

,\

rii

I

i

Our Dancing Daughters

(Harry

Beaumont,

1928).

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66

I

DENTI FYI

NG

HOLLYWOOD'S

AU

DI ENCES

'

"Puffed sleeves

before

tea-time":

Joan

Crawford,

Adrian and women

atdiences',

Wide

Angle

6:4

(1935),

pp.

24-33;Maria

La

Place,'Bette

Davis and

the

ideal

of consumption:

alookatNow

Voyager',WideAngle

6:4

(1985),

pp.34-43;'Female representation

and

consumer

culture',

Quarteily

Retiew of

Film

andVideo

l1:1

(1989),

special

issue,

Jane

Gaines

and

Michael

Renov

(eds);

Iane

Gaines,'The

Queen

Christina

tie-ins:

convergence of

show window

and screen',

Quarterley

Review

of Film and

Video Ll:4

(1989),

pp.45-60; Susan Ohmer,'Female

spectatorship

and women's magazines:

Holll.rvood,

Good

Housekeepirg

and World Warll',Veh,et

Light

TraP

no.25

(1990),

pp.

53-68; Charlotte

Herzog'"Powder

puff"

promotion:

the

fashion show-in-the-fi1m"

in

Jane

Gaines

and Charlotte

Herzog,

Fabrications:

Costume

and

the Female

Body (New

York Routledge, 1990),

pp.134-59. On constructions

of femininity

in

fan

magazines,

see

)arre

Gaines,'War, women

and

lipsticlc

fan

mags in the

forties', in Heresies

LB

(t986),pp.

a2-7.

3 See

Elizabeth

Ewen,'City

lights:

immigrant women

and the

rise

of

the

movies',

Signs:

A

Journal

of Women in Cuhure

and

Society

5: 3

(Spring

1980),

pp.

45-66.

4

lacqueline

Bobo,'The

Color Purple:

black women as cultural

readers', in E.

Deidre

Pribram

(ed.),

Female

Spectators:

looking at

film

and

television

(London:

Verso,

1988);

Helen

Tàylor, Scarlett's

Women:

'Gone With the Wind' and

Its Female

Fans

(London:

Virago,

1989);

lackie

Stacey,

Star Gazing:

Hollyruvood

cinema and

female

spectatorship

(London:

Routledge,

1994).

The work of

several contributors to

this volume,

including

Martin Barker

and

Kate

Brooks,

Brigid

Cherry Annette

Hill

and Annette

Kuhn

draws

on

ethnographic

research that

sheds light

on

female

spectatorship,

5

Garth S.

Iowett,'Giving

them what they want:

movie audience research

before 1950',

in

Bruce

A. Austin

(ed.),

Current

Research

in Film: Audiences,

Economics

anà

Law,

Vol, 1

(Norwood,

N.l.:

Ablex, 1985),

p.

30.

6 Leo A.

Handel,

Hollywood

Lool<s

At

Its Audience:

A report

of

film

audience

reseqrch

(Urbana,

Ill.: University of

Illinois Press,

1950),

pp.

99-101.

7

Jowett,'Giving

them what they

want',

p.

30.

8

}J.arndel,

Hollywood

Loolcs At

Its Audience,

p.99.

9

W Stephen

Bush,

'scenarios

by the bushel',

New York Times,

5 December

1920, cited in

Richard Koszarski,

Ar

Eteni.ng's

Entertainment:

the age

of

the

silent

feature

picture

1915-1928

(Berkeley: IJnivers§

of

California Press, 1990),

p.

30'

10

Frederick

James

Smith,'Does

decenry

help or hinder?',

Plrotoplay

26

(November

1924),

p.

36; Beth Brown,

'Making

movies

for womei, Moving

Picture World,26

March 1927,

p.

34. These estimates are

cited

in

Gaylyn

Studlar,'The

perils of

pleasure? Fan n-ragazint

discourse as women's

commodified

culture

in the i920s', in

Richard Abel

(ed.),

Silent

Film

(London:

Ath-lone, 1996),

p.

263.

11 Koszarski, An

Evening's

Entertainment,

pp.

28-9.

12

Quoted

in

Charlotte

Herzog,

"'Powder

puff" promotion', Fabrications,p.

157.

13

Molly

Haskell,

From

Reverence to RaPe:

the treatmefit of women

in the movies

(Chicago:

University

of Chicago

Press, 1987),p.49.

14

Andrea

S. Walsh,

The

Women's

Filnt

and

the Female Experience

(New

Y«rrk: Praege r,

1984),

p.30.

On

women scriptwrilcrs,

scc Melissa Sr"rc

Kort,'Shadows of

thc

substancr':

wonìcn screcrìwritcrs

in thc 19.ì0sl

irr

lrtrrcl

'lir«lcl

(c<1,\,Women

urul

ltilttr,Wottrttrr

trtrrl

l,itttrilturct rrew scrics,4

(Ntw

Ytrlk unrl

l,ourku: l"l«rlrnes

rlnd Meicl', l9tlli),

pp,

169-t'llit

FEMALE

AUDTENCES

OF THE

1920s

AND

EARLy

1930s

ST

Lizzie

Francke,

script

Girrs:

women

screenwriters

in

Horlwoo,

(London:

BFI,

lgg4);

cari

Beauchamp'

without

Lying

Down:

Frances

Marion

and

the

powerfur

women

of

arly

Hollywood

(Newyork

Lisa

Dredscrib

ner,

1997).

15

Dorothy

M'

Brown,

setting

a

course:

American

women

in

the

r92*s(Boston:

Twayne,

1957)'

p'213'

Arthough

not

a.,

of

these

*o-.r,

*...

l0cated

in

Horlwood,

a

large

number

of

them

were.

16

Haskell,

Frorn

Reverence

to

Rape,pp.

153-88;

wa

lsh,

The

women\

Film

ancl

Femare

Experience'

pp'

23-48;

idem.,

'The

woment

film"

in

Gary

crowdus (ed.),

The

poriticar

Companion

to

American

Film (Chicago:

Lakeview

press,'rrrr,

rr.

ìrr_rr,'"""

Ura,

rand Design:

Ho,ywood

as

a

Modern

Business

Enterprise

lgi^.lg3g(New york:

Scribner,

1993),

pp.

235_55.

17 [bid.,

p.

23s.

18

Arthur

Mayer,

Merely

Colossal

(New

york

Simon

and

Schuster,

I953),

p.

178.

19

Kathryn

H.

Fuller,

At

the

picture

Show:

Small-town

,

_

F

n

Cu*ur

e

(

Washin

gton,

D.

C.

:

Sm

ithson,"r

rrrrr,,liiil

"

:;;:i,'r '

:;:f

;

r:[{

*,

l0

Eckert,'The

Carole

Lombard

in

Macy,s

window,,

p.

19

21

lbid.,

pp.

2-3,

6-17,

ts_20.

22

Haskell,

Fro

m

Reverence

to

Rape,

p.

1g7

23

leanne Alren, 'The

fiIm viewer

as

consumer

"

Quarterry

Review

of F,m

studies

5:4

(Fa,

1980),

p.

as6.

t4

I,

the previous

chapter

of

this

book,

Richard

Martby

contends

that

Ho,ywood,s

berief

in

a

dominant

female audience was

actually

bur"d

o,

a

considerable

body

of

impressionistìc

and

anecdotal

evidence,

some

of

it

systematicany

gathered.

t§

Robert

sklar

rerates

the

growing

interest

in

sociaì

,.i.r..

to

the

diminishing

influence

of

what

he

terms'the

traditionar

culturar

erite'.

This

was

in

turn

linked

to

(and

may

itself

have

been

defined

by)_the

declining

authority

of

'literary,

judgements

made

on

moral

and

social

questions

by

professors,.l..gyrr..r,

essayists

and

other

cultural

figures''

'social-science

methods',

writes

sklar,

inay

have

been

no

ress

subjective,

opinionated

and

crassbound

than

the

erplanatorymodes

of

layand

ethicar

essayists,

but

in

the

1920s

their

aura

of

modest

,.if_"orrfid.rr".,

precision

and

careful

procedure

eemed

to

offer

a

clarity

and

persuasiveness

that

all

competing

forms

of

social

ctplanation

racked.'

skrar,

Mo

vie-Made

America:

A

curturar

History

of

American

Moties

New

York:

Vintage,

t9g4),

p.

134.

::

::ortlr

rowett,

'Giving

them what they want,,

pp.23_6.

'17

Harord

E'is

ro,es

ancr

Herbert

s.

Conrad,'nu.a

p..t

r.rces

in

motion

pictures,,

-.

ltturnal of

Social

psychology

I

(1930),

pp.

419*23.

tl

Krrszarski,AnEvening\Entertainmeni,p.2g.Thesegeneralpreferenceswererepeatedin

the

study

of

EvansviÌle

school-children

.ir.a

uUolr..iUia.

19

Allce

Millcr

Mitche,,

children

and

Movies(chicago:

university

of

chicago

press,

'

l92e),p.127.

s

ft

'#

Ibld,,

pp.

2 t,

46,

I8,

2(\,42-S,

Zs,3t_2,34_s,

5tì_62.

flild,,

pp.

t{r4*5.

lhlrl,,ppr,

ltltl

111,

Ihld,,

p.

I

l.r.

lhld,,

pp,

etl,

u.

là

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5B

II]ENTIFYING

HOLLYWOOD'S

AU DIENCES

3s lbid.,

p.

22.

36

The

Scouts

were especially'sporty'in

their

tastes,

being

the

only

group amongst

the

girls

to express

a

preference

(by

53.8

per cent)

for

baseball

over

the

movies

(29.6

per

cent).

All

other female

groups voted

decisively

for

the

movies.

Ibid.,

pp.

164,

163.

37

Ibid.,

pp. 164, 166,

165,

i67.

Interestingi,v,

the

preferences

for

hiking

and auto-riding

over

the cinema

were shared

by

the equivalent

groups of

boys

in

roughly

equal

proportions.

Wrile the

boy Scouts

voted

even

more

decisively

than

the

giris

for

parties

over

movies,

differences

appeared

in

the

rnuch

lower

majorities

for

parties on

the

palt

ofthe

(less

sociable?)

high school

and

grade

schoolboys

and

the prefcrence

for

movies

in

place

of reading on the

part of

all

the boys'

groups'

Ibid'

3g Ibid.,

pp. 120, I25-6.

Frustratingly,

there is insufficient

evidence

in

Mitcl-re1l's

book

to

explore

whether

girls actually

icientified

with

the character

Bow

(described

by IvIolly

Haskeli

as

a'working-class

flapper')

was

playing

in

the lihn.

sara

Evans

also

points out

that Bow was

one

of

the

actresses

who,

in

her lilms

'demonstrated

the

proper use

of

nerv

products

and

clothes'.

Haskell,

Frttm

Reverence

to

Rape'

pp' 79-80;

Sara

M' Bvans'

Born

t'or

Liberty:

A

Hitory of

women

in

America

(New

vrrk:

Free

Press,

I989),

p.

1 79.

39

Mitche1l,

Children

and

Movies'

pp. 124-5.

40

Interestingly,

she suggestetl

that

some

mothers

were

using

the neighbourhood

movie'as

a

day [rursery',

leaving

sma11

children

there'whi1e

they

run

to the

dressmaker

or

to the

dentistl

Ibid.,

P.

72.

41 Robert s.

Lyncl

and

Helen

Merrell

Lynd,

Middletown:

A

srudy

in

American

culhtre

(Nen,York:

Harcourt,

Ilrace and Company,

1929),

pp' 257'264-5'

Ibid.,

pp.

268-9.

Ibid.,

pp. 36t,265.

One

working-class

woman

with

slr children

was

ir-rvited,

by

a

fernale

friend

with

a

reputatior

for

teasing

men,

to accompany

her

to

the movies. she

agreed,

convinced

it

was

only

a

joke.

\44-re[

they

actually

did

go, with

thc friend

paying for her

transport

and

adrnission,

she

was

'never

so

surprised

in

my

lifel

Her surprise

suggests that

such

outings

were

not a

common

part

of the

movie-going

culture,

at least

of

working-class

women.

As the

woman

herself

satlly

observed,

the

experience

had

been

two years

earlier

and'I

haven't

been anl,where

since'.

lbid.,

p. 264.

45 Ibid.,

p. 266.

4rr lbid.,

pp. 242,2h.6.

47

Ibid.,

pp.267,242.

48 ibid.,

p.

267.

49

Robert S.

Lynd

and

Helen

Merrell

Lynd,

Middletown

in Transi.tittn:

a Study

in Cultural

ConJTicts

(NewYork: Harcourt,

Brace

and

Company,

1937),pp'261-2'

s0

Ibid.,

p. 261.

51

'ltisourimpression',wrotetheLynds,'thatnotwolicneratiot'tsofAtlrcticarlshavecvct

faced

eacl'r

other

across

as

wide a

gap in

thcir

custorìlrlrY

attitutlcs

rtrd

bcltnvior

as

hrtv,

American

parents

ancl

children

since

the

World

War. Ancl

this

disiunctiort,

wc bclicvc'

has been

increrrsccl

by ttrt-

tlcprcssion.'Lyntls,

ibirl.,

|).

ìr,x.

lìrr

,r

YLty

lì(lr(lìliv('

tliscttssiotr

ol-

qi'tttlt'r

l

()l('s,

s('(

ihirl.,

1'p.

I 7rr

')'

l;.Ì llritl.,

1r;r.

I 7(1,

.Ì(,.).

',

t

llri,l.,1,1,.

I ll)

I

FEIV1ALE

AUDTENCES

OF

THE

1920s

AND

EARLy

1930s

59

54

skJar,

Movie-Made

America,p.

I34.

skrar's

view

of

the

payne

Funcl

Studies

refle*s

rhe

critique

of

them

by

Raymorrd

Moley

and

the

Motion

Picture

producers

ancl

Distributors

Association.

This

was

itseÌf poriticany

motivated.

For

a

recent,

barancecr

assessment

of

the

studies,

see

Garth

s.

Jowett,

ran

c.

larvie,

and

Kathryn

H.

Fulrer,

children

and

the

Movies:

Mediq

Influence

and

the

payne

Funtl

controversy

(Newyork:

cambriclge

universiiy

press,

1996)'

For

an assessment

oftheir

prace

in

the

history

ofauaience

studies,

see

shearon

A.

Lowery

and

Melvin

L.

DeFreur,

Milestones

in

Mass

communications

Research:

MerJi(l

EfÈcrs (New

york

and

Londern:

Longman,

1995),

Chapter

2.

lr5

see,

for

example,

Herbert

Brumer,

Movies

arrtr

conduct (New

york:

Macmilan,

1933),

p.

140.

Ibid.,

pp.

203-7;Jawett

et

al.,

ChildrerL

antl

tlte

Moùes,

p.238.

'làmotsu

shibutani (ed.),

Human

Nature

and

cr*ectiye

Behavìor:

papers

in

Honor

o.f

LlerbertBlumer(EnglewoodCliff's,NI:pre,tice_Hall,

1920),pp.v-vii;/owetternl.,

Children

and

the

Movies,

p.

xv.

Bltrmer,

Movies

and

ConrJuct,

p.

xi.

Sce

fowett

et

al.,

Children

and

the

Movies,

pp.242_301.

l\Iumer,MoviesandC.nduct,pp.65,66,67,6g,71,215,223,251;lowett

etal.,Chilcircn

,

r t

ul the

Moyies,

pp.

243,

250,

258,

27

6,

288,

29

5.

r,

I

llf

uner,

Moyies

and

()mduct,

pp.

62,

63,66,

136,

169;

Jowett

et

al., Children

and

the

Mo

v ies,

pp.

?_60,

27

0,

27

5.

t,.l

lllurner,

Movies

a.nd

Conduct,p.66.

t'ì

I

'l

admircd

Miss

[pearr]

white

fbr

her

claring

and

courage', rernarkeci

one Blumer

rcspondent.

Iowett

et al.,

Children

and

Movies,p.

243.

Also

see

ibicl.,

pp.

246,25I,

276

,rrrrl

lJlumer,

Movies

and

Conduct,pp.

23g_9.

On

the

genre

in

general,

see

Ben

Singer,

'licruale

Power

in

the Seriar-eueen

Melocrram.:

the

etiology

of a,

a,omaly,,

cantent

(

)ltscuro

22

(January

1990),

pp.

9l_129.

t,l

lllurrrer,

Movies

and

Conduct,p.63.

rl

S,',.

1;,',r*n,

Setting

a

Course,

especially

pp.

lg2_-1.

trtr

lllrlrrcr',

Movies

and

Conduct,p.32.

rr"

llf

t,rcrìMovies

attl

condtrct,p.32.

The

dresses

available

in

stores,

charlotte

Herzog

''r(l

li'rc

Gaines

point

out,

were

never

exactly

the

same

in

design

as the

one,s

worn

by

rt,,

s

iu

thc

movies.

Herzog

and

Gaines,

,

,.Fuffed

sleeves

before

tea-time,,,,p.25.

N.vt'r'(hclcss,

rvracy's

sold

haÌf

a milion

imitations

of

the

dress

Joan

crawforcl

wore

i,r

l(tt.y

l),nton

(1932).

Ibid.

t,li

f

llrrrut"r,

Nlovitts

ntd

Contluct,p.3t-

r'u

llrt'1.

Als.

.tt

this p.irt,

see

[{crzog

antl

Gaines,

"'Puffed

sleeves

bcfore

tea-time,,,,

pp.

''ll,

ll.'l'lìc

grl)

l)ctwecn

thc

lìrshions

scerì

or]

screen

or in

magazines

and

trre

crothes

rv,rrrr'rr

irtlrrrrlry

w.rc,;rcc.rding

t.

thcse

writers,

represents,turexplored

cultural

spacel

ll,r,1.,

I,.

ì

L

ll

lllrrrrrlr,

Irlot,ìt:;

tut(l

(.'otrtltrtt.

l)l).,10

3

,24).25(l:

)owclt

c/ ttl.,Ohildrcn

nnd

Movies,ytp

'r'll,

.,,'11,

.,,1,,.

t

lllrrrrrr,r,

Alrtt,tr,:

rtttrl

(

rtt111111

1,111.

t,1

I/,

l0,,l.it

frrrvt,lI

r,/

tt1.,(.'ltiIrItrtt

tttttI

A.lori(s,pp

' lllrilrr|r,

l\lttt,tr.t

tiltrl Lrrt,ltrr

t,

|1,

Ì,

li

I

""

f"rrrl.r

I'

lr,r','..

i

lrr'rt,tiltrt,,r,uttr

lrtr

rit.tltrtlttr

\trt,.tt,tnt

rttutrt

rir

l/rr.

/,r.,t),,

(rrrr,rv

'i(r

,t/

''

it

(r0

42

+7

44