The Star Machine
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Overview
From one of our leading film authorities, a rich, penetrating, amusing plum pudding of a book about the golden age of movies, full of Hollywood lore, anecdotes, and analysis.Jeanine Basinger gives us an immensely entertaining look into the “star machine,” examining how, at the height of the studio system, from the 1930s to the 1950s, the studios worked to manufacture star actors and actresses. With revelatory insights and delightful asides, she shows us how the machine worked when it worked, how it failed when it didn’t, and how irrelevant it could sometimes be. She gives us the “human factor,” case studies focusing on big stars groomed into the system: the “awesomely beautiful” (and disillusioned) Tyrone Power; the seductive, disobedient Lana Turner; and a dazzling cast of others—Loretta Young, Errol Flynn, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin. She anatomizes their careers, showing how their fame happened, and what happened to them as a result. (Both Lana Turner and Errol Flynn, for instance, were involved in notorious court cases.) In her trenchantly observed conclusion, she explains what has become of the star machine and why the studios’ practice of “making” stars is no longer relevant.
Deeply engrossing, full of energy, wit, and wisdom, The Star Machine is destined to become an invaluable part of the film canon.
Synopsis
From one of our leading film authorities, a rich, penetrating, amusing plum pudding of a book about the golden age of movies, full of Hollywood lore, anecdotes, and analysis.
Jeanine Basinger gives us an immensely entertaining look into the “star machine,” examining how, at the height of the studio system, from the 1930s to the 1950s, the studios worked to manufacture star actors and actresses. With revelatory insights and delightful asides, she shows us how the machine worked when it worked, how it failed when it didn’t, and how irrelevant it could sometimes be. She gives us the “human factor,” case studies focusing on big stars groomed into the system: the “awesomely beautiful” (and disillusioned) Tyrone Power; the seductive, disobedient Lana Turner; and a dazzling cast of others—Loretta Young, Errol Flynn, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin. She anatomizes their careers, showing how their fame happened, and what happened to them as a result. (Both Lana Turner and Errol Flynn, for instance, were involved in notorious court cases.) In her trenchantly observed conclusion, she explains what has become of the star machine and why the studios’ practice of “making” stars is no longer relevant.
Deeply engrossing, full of energy, wit, and wisdom, The Star Machine is destined to become an invaluable part of the film canon.
The New York Times - William Grimes
Ms. Basinger, the author of Silent Stars and the chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University, ingeniously picks apart the gears and levers of the machine, analyzing the careers of a handful of stars whose ups and downs illustrate the studio system at its smooth-functioning best, or reveal its hidden inefficiencies…Ms. Basinger has a bouncy, bright style and a shrewd eye for identifying precisely the qualities that made this or that actor click with audiences, and, in machine terms, guaranteed durability.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Diving headfirst into Hollywood history, Wesleyan film professor Jeanine Basinger explores the role of studios in shaping the careers of film stars in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Instead of focusing on larger-than-life celebrities like Cary Grant and Bette Davis, Basinger shines the spot on their less-famous colleagues, actors who were carefully groomed to become box-office draws. Among those profiled are A-list performers like Tyrone Power and Lana Turner (whose torrid romance presaged Bennifer and Brangelina), successful second-tier entertainers like Eleanor Powell and Dennis Morgan, and reliable character actors like Walter Pidgeon and James Cagney. Examining the inner workings of a juggernaut that produced stunning successes along with a few misfires, The Star Machine illuminates an important chapter in the annals of moviemaking.William Grimes
Ms. Basinger, the author of Silent Stars and the chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University, ingeniously picks apart the gears and levers of the machine, analyzing the careers of a handful of stars whose ups and downs illustrate the studio system at its smooth-functioning best, or reveal its hidden inefficiencies…Ms. Basinger has a bouncy, bright style and a shrewd eye for identifying precisely the qualities that made this or that actor click with audiences, and, in machine terms, guaranteed durability.—The New York Times
Library Journal
In Hollywood's heyday, studio bosses were on an endless quest to spot, groom, and pamper actors who could be molded into profitable commodities. Basinger (film studies, Wesleyan Univ.; Silent Stars), a well-known film historian and commentator, describes how the old dream factories of the 1930s-50s worked, what was needed to separate stars from character actors and contract players, and the steep price some paid for their fame. The bulk of the book consists of appreciations of stars as widely varied as Eleanor Powell, Deanna Durbin, Loretta Young, and Norma Shearer. Star making was an evolutionary process, and Basinger shows how actors were shaped for changing public tastes, including the girl next door image of June Allyson and such curiosities as the Latina Carmen Miranda. Most of the profiles offer insight about the individuals, but there is little new material on familiar figures like Tyrone Power, Lana Turner, or Errol Flynn. Basinger ends with an appraisal of how today's crop of film celebrities differ from the creations of Hollywood's golden age. Overlong at points, this is still a good choice for public library browsing collections.
—Stephen Rees