The New Movie Magazine (Jan-Sep 1935)

HOLLYWOOD If the men had their way, we'd have more slapstick comedy and adventure stories on the screen. Perhaps we'd have a different kind of star altogether from those shown below. If you're tired of love and problem pictures, blame Mrs. and Miss America! Norma Shearer . . . greatest women's star ever. pictures as those which Garbo has made famous. Gloria Swanson was a great woman's star and she was shrewd in strengthening her appeal to women by wearing lavish costumes. Thousands of women stood in line to see her pictures — and her clothes. Thousands of women, every day, attend theaters — and conscript their husbands as escorts — because they want to see the styles which are being created by Hollywood's designers. And never think that motion picture producers, knowing the preponderance of feminine theater attendance, are blind to the importance of "dressing" their stars. A beautiful star, who has the knack of wearing beautiful clothes to the greatest advantage, is a recognized asset coveted by every studio. Joan Crawford would be listed as a "favorite star" by many men, yet I think that she owes her It is women, too, who adore the exotic Garbo. tremendous popularity to the fact that she is an idol of the world's working girls. She represents the girl that they want to become — and her own life story, which is one of struggle and achievement, confirms her hold on their admiration. Recall and analyze her most successful pictures and you will find that they were tailored to fit, that they dealt with, and lent glamour to, the problems of America's working girls. Anna Sten, I think, is destined to become one of the great women's stars, for she has uncanny ability to awaken emotional response in women. To date she has appealed to women more than to men. In what, principally, do the screen entertainment tastes of men and women differ? Chiefly in the fact that women are idealists and men are realists. Women are more concerned with the emotion than with the sequence of dramatic situations which give the emotion birth. They see pictures with their "hearts," whereas men see them with their "minds." Both men and women are interested in love stories, for love between the sexes plays an important part in every normal life. Yet, in the life of the average woman love looms larger than in the life of the average man. The masculine audience does not demand love as the central theme of every Joan Crawford . . . giving glamour to the girls. picture; the feminine audience does. If men, instead of women, comprized three-fourths of the screen's audience, you would see the screen flooded with stirring adventure stories, many of them entirely lacking in love interest. The magazine rack in every corner drug store reflects the difference in feminine and masculine entertainment tastes. The hundreds of "pulp" magazines are published for masculine consumption. Their stories drip action and adventure. Few of them contain any mention of love. Their heroes are red-blooded, two-fisted go-getters. The women's magazines, on the contrary, favor stories in which love is the predominant theme — and love, in every story, is idealized. Compromising the two extremes are "general" magazines. They bid for popularity with both sexes — -and that, of course, is just what Hollywood tries to do in selecting its screen material. But Hollywood never loses sight of the fact that women are its greatest audience, and, in every case, the canny producer favors their established tastes. Traditionally, men love comedy. Being realists, they are quick to detect and appreciate exaggeration. They laugh at "slap stick" which leaves the woman's sense of humor untouched. Yet, even in its comedy-making, Hollywood defers to woman's rule. The great comedians in screen history are those who have appealed to women, and, in every instance, you will find that the secret of their appeal is the flavor of pathos which is ever-present in their fun-making. Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Eddie Cantor are the deans of screen comedy because women like them. There is a wistful, pathetic, helpless quality in their portrayals which arouses in the average woman the "mother complex." They are funny, yet lovable. They exaggerate, yet in {Please turn to page 53) women pick. Women audiences make and break the stars The New Movie Magazine, March, 1935 19