Hollywood in the 1940’s

“In 1939, …, the leading moviemakers of Hollywood could … regard themselves as conquering heroes. The assorted film studios, …, had by now become the nation’s eleventh-largest industry. They created some four hundred new films every year, attracted more than fifty million Americans to the theater every week, and grossed nearly $700 million annually. Just a decade later, Hollywood was in shambles, its biggest studios losing money, its celebrities embroiled in charges of Communist influence, its audiences turning to television.” Our core book, CITY OF NETS/A PORTRAIT OF HOLLYWOOD IN THE 1940’S (1986), looks at whether it was always “Golden” in Hollywood’s Golden Era and behind the Silver Screen in an effort to answer the question: What happened to cause this change of fortune? Its author, Otto Friedrich, was not a “Hollywood Insider.” He was the Managing Editor of the Saturday Evening Post, a senior editor at Time Magazine and a well regarded national journalist and cultural historian who took a distanced view of Hollywood. Together we will explore the era, Hollywood’s movers and shakers, Hays Office Code censorship, famed directors, movie stars, labor troubles, publicity scandals, antitrust problems, “black list” problems. And, oh yes, back stories to some beloved movies - such as GONE WITH THE WIND, CITIZEN KANE, THE MALTESE FALCON, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, ALL ABOUT EVE, CASABLANCA, SUNSET BOULEVARD and others.