From the outset of the motion picture industry, the audience-based value of the Hollywood star was recognized as a unique social phenomenon in which mass consensus generated cultural icons at a previously unimagined level in American society. New and imaginative marketing techniques were developed by studio publicists, the media, and a broad range of consumer industries to capitalize on that consensus.
If the commodification of Hollywood stardom, the objectification and selling of stars to the film-going public, is viewed as abusive, it nevertheless required those actors and actresses to be complicit to a large extent with their own commodification. Contract stars cooperated in the process of re-creating their personas into saleable products conforming not only to studio expectations and the taste of motion picture audiences, but often conveyed an individuality that emerged from within their own off-screen personalities. Frequently, that component of individuality either was self-constructed (Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn) or was elicited from actors by a Pygmalion or Svengali-like figure, usually a producer or a director (von Sternberg and Dietrich).
Stars engaged in varying degrees of complicity with the star system. Some relished being marketed as trademark studio stars (Crawford, Rogers), others rebelled or fought the system (Davis, Cagney), others rejected it (Hepburn, Garbo). Any method provided fodder for the Hollywood publicity machine serving to enhance star status in the eyes of a star struck and publicity-hungry public. Some, however, allowed themselves to become part of the commodification process only to a certain point. Eager to pursue their craft, they chose to work within the Hollywood system, but resisted being marketed beyond a level of their own personal comfort. Although well-known and appreciated by audiences at the time, these actors and actresses were stars who did not aspire to commodifiable stardom. Frances Dee was one of these.
About the presenterAndrew M Wentink
A graduate of Middlebury College and Columbia University, Andrew Wentink began his career as Manuscript Archivist at the Dance Collection of the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center. Until 2013, he was Curator of Special Collections & Archives at Middlebury College, where he taught for American Studies, Film/Media Culture, and Dance. He is a writer, editor, cultural historian, documentary filmmaker, and recently started his own imprint, TurningPointPress. He is currently writing a book on drag.