My New Blog: Hollywood At War

-
Three of my greatest passions are writing, history and the Old Hollywood era. When I created Back to Golden Days almost 11 years ago, I wanted to share my love for the films and stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, hoping to find people with the same interests. Learning more about this fascinating period of time and having people taking the time to read my articles has been an absolute joy.
 
Another one of my biggest passions is World War II. I have been completely fascinated by it ever since I learned about it in history class when I was in 9th grade. On this blog, I have written about some male actors who served in the armed forces and actually saw combat during World War, as well as some of the contributions made to the war effort on the homefront, such as the creation of the Hollywood Canteen. But I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to write more. So, I decided to start a new blog, which I named Hollywood at War, where I will be writing about Hollywood during World War II. I actually created the blog last year, but I'm only now putting more effort into it. For now, just to get it started, I'm only reposting articles that I've written for this blog, but I already have a bunch of new articles planned: more extensive ones about some of the stars who served, one about the Hollywood Victory Committee, another about the First Motion Picture Unit... basically anything and everything that relates to Hollywood history during the war.
 
So, if you're a Old Hollywood and World War II nut like me, hopefully Hollywood at War will be a blog you will enjoy. I hope to see you all there.
 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden Couples: Gary Cooper & Patricia Neal

-
Image
It was April 1948 when director King Vidor spotted 22-year-old Patricia Neal on the Warner Bros. studio lot. A drama graduate from Northwestern University, she had just arrived in Hollywood following a Tony Award-winning performance in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. Impressed by Patricia's looks, Vidor approached the young actress and asked if she would be interested in doing a screen test for the female lead in his newest film, The Fountainhead (1949). Gary Cooper had already signed as the male protagonist, and the studio was then considering Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwyck to play his love interest. Neal liked the script and two months later, she met with the director for sound and photographic tests. Vidor was enthusiastic about Patricia, but her first audition was a complete disaster. Cooper was apparently watching her from off the set and he was so unimpressed by her performance that he commented, «What's that!?» He tried to convince Vidor to...
Read more

The Classic Movie History Project Blogathon: Juvenile Delinquency in Mid-1950s Cinema

-
Image
During the eight-year presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, at the height of the Cold War, the United States was the most influential economic power in the world. Despite constant threats of Communism and nuclear annihilation, it looked as though the «American Dream» was finally a reality. People across the country were comfortably complacent, indulging in new cars, suburban houses, television sets and all sorts of new consumer goods. For the nation's adults, who still remembered the hardships of the Great Depression, life had never been better. However, for their teenage children, who had grown up during World War II, shielded from the most worrying of its effects, life was flawed by powerful feelings of alienation and anger. As the number of teens doubled in the wake of the post-war baby boom, young people began turning their backs on the conformist ideals promoted by adult society. Parents could no longer impress their value system on their children, who longed for greater excite...
Read more

Golden Couples: Clark Gable & Jean Harlow

-
Image
At the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, on November 5, 1930, MGM's hugely successful prison drama The Big House (1930) earned writer Frances Marion an Oscar for Best Writing. Hoping that she would be inspired to repeat that accomplishment, Irving Thalberg, head of production at Metro, sent Marion to Chicago, Illinois, to research story ideas. While flicking through the pages of The Saturday Evening Post , she found an article revealing that, in a city where people distrusted the police, a small group of leading citizens met in secret to arrange their own justice for criminals. Marion took inspiration from that story and wrote The Secret Six (1931), in which Wallace Beery and Lewis Stone, stars of The Big House , play two mobsters prosecuted by a half a dozen vigilantes. Thalberg was pleased with the leading roles Marion wrote for Beery and Stone, but asked if she could also fill out one of the minor leads for Clark Gable , a ta...
Read more