Synopses & Reviews
and#147;While 1938 may have been a turkey of a year for Hollywood cinema, Catherine Jurcaand#8217;s book is a genuine feast.
Hollywood 1938 is both an intense, up-close study of the big budget films and box office tactics behind the film industryand#8217;s
annus horribilis, and a savvy meditation on the whole swoop and scope of cinema in Hollywoodand#8217;s Golden Age. Scrupulously researched and engagingly written, Jurca captures the industry infighting, publicity battles, and audience responses to Hollywoodand#8217;s and#145;greatest yearand#8217; with easy erudition and penetrating insight.and#8221;and#151;Thomas Doherty, author of
Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration.
and#147;Catherine Jurca has taken a nearly forgotten event in the history of Hollywood and demonstrated how much it can tell us about the state of the motion picture industry and its frailties, as well as its relationship with its audience, at a critical moment in its development. She deftly challenges claims about the centrality of Hollywood to American culture in the 1930s, questions its relationship with the public, and examines the ways in which the industryand#8217;s perceptions of that public shaped how it made and marketed movies. This is both excellent scholarship and marvelous storytelling.and#8221;and#151;Richard Maltby, author of Hollywood Cinema.
Review
and#8220;A fascinating and substantial contribution to the cultural history of Hollywood film. . . . Highly recommended.and#8221;
Review
“A fascinating and substantial contribution to the cultural history of Hollywood film. . . . Highly recommended.” S. C. Dillon, Bates College
Synopsis
In Hollywood 1938, Catherine Jurca brings to light a tumultuous year of crisis that has been neglected in histories of the studio era. With attendance in decline, negative publicity about stars that were and#147;poison at the box office,and#8221; and a spate of bad films, industry executives decided that the public was fed up with the movies. Jurca describes their desperate attempt to win back audiences by launching Motion Picturesand#8217; Greatest Year, a massive, and unsuccessful, public relations campaign conducted in theaters and newspapers across North America. Drawing on the records of studio personnel, independent exhibitors, moviegoers, and the motion pictures themselves, she analyzes what was wrongand#151;and rightand#151;with Hollywood at the end of a heralded decade, and how the industryand#8217;s troubles changed the making and marketing of films in 1938 and beyond.
About the Author
Catherine Jurca is Professor of English at California Institute of Technology. She is the author of White Diaspora: The Suburb and the Twentieth Century American Novel.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Hollywood Looks at Its Audience
Part One: The Campaign
1. Annus Horribilis
Goldwynand#8217;s Folly
Such a Thing as Bad Publicity
The Moviegoing Habit
2. Exhibitors, the Movie Quiz Contest, and a Divided Industry
The Minds of Exhibitors
The Carrot and the Stick
The Quiz Contest on the Ground
What the Contest Did for Me
Independents Rebel
3. The Campaign and the Press
The Film Industry Speaks Its Mind
Marginal Moviegoers
The Gossip Columnists
The Dailies Have Their Say
Part Two: The Films
4. and#147;The Finest Array of Productionsand#8221;
Ninety-Four Films
The Death of Glamour
Human Films
The Human Side of Screwball
You Canand#8217;t Take It with You
Four Daughters
Boys Town
Marie Antoinette
Thatand#8217;s Entertainment
The Fourth Estate
Conclusion: Motion Picturesand#8217; Worst Year
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Notes
Index