The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

By SAMUEL GOLDWYN as told to Eric L Ergenbright WOMEN RULE WHY do you emphasize romance and glamour and beauty so heavily in your pictures? Why do you invariably favor love stories when there are other human emotions just as suitable for drama as love? Why do you stress emotionalism? Why do you avoid grimness and cruelty and sordidness and all of the other harsh but ever-present aspects of everyday life?" If I have been asked such questions once, I have had them put to me a thousand times. And the answer is very simple: Women rule Hollywood! Any producer who disregards the established preferences of women is committing professional suicide. His pictures may be the product of genius. His actors may have the talent of Bernhardt, his director the finesse of Reinhardt, his scenarist the power of Shakespeare — but, unless the finished picture possesses that elusive quality called "feminine appeal," it is certain to fail at the box office. I am ready to grant that life can be grim and cruel. In fact in my own experience I have too often found it so. But women are idealists, not realists. They are emotionalists, not analysts. And, since I have no wish to be a professional suicide, I try to produce pictures which will suit their tastes. Like most veteran showmen, my first instinct is to please the women in the audience. Women have always ruled "show business." The average motion picture theater audience is more than seventy per cent feminine! In the average matinee audience, women predominate by an even larger majority. These figures, which are the findings of actual surveys and not haphazard estimates of my own, speak for themselves. Without the steady patronage of women, theaters and studios could not survive. Still more important in establishing woman's rule over the motion picture industry is the fact that women almost invariably are the arbiters of their families' entertainment. Wives select the shows that their husbands take them to see. Unmarried girls dictate the shows for which their escorts buy tickets. Mothers select the screen entertainment for their children. And, in every case, the picture selected reflects the woman's tastes. It is the woman who cons the drama page and reads the theatrical advertisements, while her husband, after glancing over the financial section, turns to the sports pages and checks up on his favorite football or baseball team. He knows from experience that his wife regards a motion picture as her outing and that she will determine which show they shall see. Show me the husband whose occasional objections have not been overruled in some fashion as this: "I didn't say one word last Sunday when you wanted to play golf. I think you might at least take me to the show that / want to see!" Naturally, most theater owners and most producers, being convinced from first hand experience that such an argument is irresistible, "slant" their advertising to attract women. Check up on the theater ads in your current newspaper and note how many feature the words "love" or "romance." "Please the women and they will bring the men to the theater" — that is one of the oldest and most dependable rules for theatrical success. It is women who are largely responsible for the so-called "star system" in the studios. They are much more inclined than men to become dyed-inthe-wool fans of the sort who idolize their favorite screen personalities, and flock to see the pictures made by those stars without bothering to ask what the pictures' plots may be. Such fans are the very backbone of the motion picture industry. Hollywood produces, each year, approximately 600 feature length films and it is difficult to find that many worthwhile stories. Without the feminine tendency to consider personalities first and plot second, picture making would be far more risky and far less profitable. Men, no matter how much they enjoy seeing pictures, are by nature, and by training and habit, much more analytical. No matter how brilliant the cast, they are quick to detect and condemn story flaws. Instead of asking, "Who's the star?" they are more apt to demand, "What's the picture about?" The average man likes a western ... or a costume picture ... or any other type of story which appeals to his particular taste; the average woman likes any picture in which her favorite stars appear. Not only "matinee idols" of the masculine persuasion but almost all outstanding feminine stars owe their stardom to the women in the audience. Women, even more eagerly than men, flock to see the screen's beautiful women — especially if those stars are pronounced intriguing by Mr. Average Man. "What makes them glamorous?" . . . "why do men find them intriguing?" . . . and women rush to the theaters to seek the answers to those questions. Norma Shearer, I believe, is the greatest "woman's star" in screen history. For every one man who is her ardent fan, she owns the allegiance of at least five women. Norma Shearer, poised, intelligent, superbly gowned, sophisticated, beautiful, is to the average woman the very epitome of feminine charm, the personification of all the qualities which the average woman longs to possess. Furthermore, her pictures have been deftly and deliberately tailored to appeal to women. On the screen, she has moved continually through an ultra-glamorous world of sophisticated romance. She has challenged, in her pictures, the convictions which most women obey — and secretly resent. She has starred in dramas based upon the problems which are understood, felt and shared by most of the women in her audiences. Of course, she has many masculine fans — but the majority of men, I believe, have resented such pictures as "Strangers May Kiss." But, resentful or pleased, they nevertheless have seen them — for women select the family's entertainment. Greta Garbo is another star who appeals far more to women than to men. Test my statement by taking a straw vote in any mixed gathering. You will find that almost every woman present will list her as a prime favorite — but that few men will include her name. Women like her because her pictures, like Norma Shearer's deal with their problems, and because her personality suggests exotic romance. The average woman's life is so cramped by the four walls of her home that she longs for an escape from routine and finds it, vicariously, in such (Extreme left) Chaplin, Cantor, Lloyd . . . deans of comedy because their pathos makes women want to "mother" them. (Center) Anna Sten has uncanny ability to stir women's emotions. (Above) Gloria Swanson did it with gowns. Men see the shows 18 The New Movie Magazine, March, 1935