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‘A New Movie-Going Public’: 1930s Hollywood And The Emergence Of The ‘Family’ Film

2013; Routledge; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2013.764720

1465-3451

Noel Brown,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. See Lee Grieveson, ‘A kind of recreative school for the whole family’: making cinema respectable, 1907–09, Screen 42(1) (2001), 64–76, for a discussion of Hollywood producers’ early interest in ‘family’ audiences. 2. See for instance Bruce A. Austin, Immediate Seating: a look at movie audiences (Belmont, CA, 1989), 70; and Peter Krämer, ‘The best Disney film never made’: children’s films and the family audience in American cinema since the 1960s, in: Steve Neale (ed.), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood (London, 2002), 185–200. 3. Alice Miller Mitchell, Children and Movies (Chicago, IL, 1929), 98, 105. 4. Edgar Dale, The Content of Motion Pictures (New York, 1935), 17. 5. Cited in Garth Jowett, Film: the democratic art (Boston/Toronto, 1976), 129. 6. Films for Children, The New York Times, 1 February 1920, xxx3. 7. Humanizing the Movies, The New York Times, 18 January 1922, 13; Lary May, Screening out the Past: the birth of mass culture and the motion picture industry (New York/Oxford, 1980), 205. 8. Ruth Vasey, The World According to Hollywood, 1918–1939 (Madison, WI, 1997), 64. 9. Richard deCordova, Ethnography and exhibition: the child audience, the Hays Code and Saturday matinees, in: Gregory A. Waller (ed.), Moviegoing in America: a sourcebook in the history of film exhibition (Oxford, 2002), 159–169. 10. P. S. Harrison. The producers’ new code of ethics, Harrison’s Reports, 5 April 1930, vol. xii, no. 14. 11. Donald Crafton, The Talkies: American cinema’s transition to sound, 1926–1931 (New York, 1997), 539. 12. Film Daily, 4 April 1930, 6; Film Daily, 6 April 1930, 22; Film Daily, 24 August 1930, 3. 13. Film Daily, 1 February 1931, 7. 14. Douglas Hodges, Remember Youth or Lose B.O. of Tomorrow, Declares Barker, Exhibitors Herald-World, 8 November 1930, 44. 15. Will H. Hays, The Memoirs of Will H. Hays (New York, 1955), 443. 16. Exhibitors’ Herald-World, 6 December 1930, 62. 17. Excerpts from Reviews by N. Y. Dailies of New Pictures on B’way this Week, Variety, 20 December 1930, 2. 18. Juvenile Appeal of New Pictures Proves Talking Films Will Stay: Darmour, Exhibitors Herald-World, 20 December 1930, 37. 19. Loew’s Play for Kids, Variety, 14 July 1931, 14. 20. Serials Bring the Kids, Motion Picture Herald, 28 March 1931, 36. 21. Carl E. Milliken, More Productions Being Made with the Kids Directly in Mind, Film Daily, 3 May 1931, 1, 8. 22. M. A. Lightman, Kid Films Bring Good-Will to Exhibs, Film Daily, 3 May 1931, 8. 23. Don Gillette, The Kids—Backbone of the Box-Office, Film Daily, 3 May 1931, 1, 18. 24. Jesse L. Lasky, Modern Material Important in Kid Films, Film Daily, 3 May 1931, 18. 25. Kid Pictures Are All Washed Up; Await ‘Sooky’ As the Final Indicator, Variety, 15 December 1931, 7. 26. Ibid. 27. Advance Press Notice, Tom Sawyer press book (BFI). 28. Ibid. 29. Our Fun’s Not Only for Kids, Skippy press book (BFI). 30. Martin Quigley, For the Whole People, Motion Picture Herald, 4 April 1931, 7. 31. Only 6 out of 30 Films Get Okay for Children, Film Daily, 3 May 1931, 11. 32. Vasey, The World According to Hollywood, 1918–1939, 124–125. 33. Will H. Hays, The Motion Picture in a World at War: twentieth anniversary report to the motion picture producers and distributors of America Inc. (New York, 1942), 40. 34. MPPDA internal memo dated 31/1/1935, record #2511, MPPDA Digital Archive. 35. Chapin Hall, Hope Placed in Cowboy Films to Attract Children to Theatres, The New York Times, 21 February 1932, X4; Summer Kid Drive, Film Daily, 25 May 1932, 2. 36. Mary Pickford Back From Europe; Proposes to Appear in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Animated by Walt Disney, The New York Times, 31 March 1933. 37. Ben Shylen, Announcing a Tried and Proven Plan for Rebuilding Family Patronage, New England Film News, 3 March 1932, 3–4. 38. Family Pix Only Name, Not Reality, Hays Aide Finds Hollywood, Variety, 16 May 1933, 35, 87. 39. Garth S. Jowett et al, Children and the Movies: media influence and the Payne Fund controversy (Cambridge, 1996), 7. 40. Gregory D. Black, Changing perceptions of the movies: American catholics debate film censorship, in: Melvyn Stokes and Richard Maltby (eds), Hollywood Spectatorship: changing perceptions of cinema audiences (London, 2001), 79–90; Vasey, The World According to Hollywood, 1918–1939, 130. 41. Chapin Hall, Attack on Movies Stuns Hollywood, The New York Times, 8 July 1934, E1. 42. Jowett, Film: the democratic art, 254. 43. Richard Maltby, Sticks, Hicks and Flaps: classical Hollywood’s generic conception of its audiences, in Melvyn Stokes and Richard Maltby (eds), Identifying Hollywood’s Audiences: cultural identity and the movies (London, 1999), 23–47. 44. Hays Sees an Era of Literary Films, The New York Times, 27 March 1934, 24. 45. William Lewin, Higher Screen Standards for Youth: Filming of Classics Urged by English Teachers, The New York Times, 15 July 1934, xx4. 46. William Lewin, Movies Bow to Schools: The Film World Launches a New Cycle of Classics Long Favoured by Educators, The New York Times, 1 September 1935, xx7. 47. Ibid; Anne Moray, Hollywood Outsiders: the adaptation of the film industry, 1913–1934 (Minneapolis, MN, 2003), 159. 48. Educating the Film Fan, Variety, 30 May 1933, 5; Body Drops Nine Other Aides, Variety, 14 November 1933, 4. 49. Schools are ‘Naturals’ for ‘Alice’ Tie-up, Alice in Wonderland press book (BFI). 50. National Critics’ Contest 4,000,000 Children in School Tie-up, Alice in Wonderland press book (BFI). 51. Lewin, Movies Bow to Schools: The Film World Launches a New Cycle of Classics Long Favoured by Educators. 52. Variety, 19 December 1933, 51. 53. Build Appeal upon the Three Generations Who Have Loved the Book, Little Women press book (BFI). 54. 28,365 Schools and Colleges; 18,000 Women’s and Literary Clubs are Ready!, Little Women press book (BFI). 55. Joel W. Finler, Box office hits 1914–2002, The Hollywood Story (London/New York, 2003), 356–363. 56. Melvyn Stokes, Female audiences of the 1920s and early 1930s, in: Melvyn Stokes and Richard Maltby (eds), Hollywood Spectatorship: changing perceptions of cinema audiences (London, 1999), 42–60. 57. Hays Sees an Era of Literary Films. 58. Cited in Richard Maltby, The Production Code and the Hays Office, in: Tino Balio (ed.) Grand Design: Hollywood as a modern business enterprise 1930–1939 (Berkeley, CA, 1993), 37–72. 59. Hays, The President’s Report to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., 8. 60. Showmen’s Reviews, Motion Picture Herald, 11 November 1933, 27–30. 61. Alice in Wonderland, Variety, 26 December 1933, 19. 62. P. S. Harrison, Little Big Shot, Harrison’s Reports, 5 October 1935, vol. xvii, no. 40. 63. Nicholas Sammond, Babes in Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the making of the American child 1930–1960 (Durham, NC, 2005), 112–113. 64. Steve J. Wurtzler, David Copperfield (1935) and the U.S. Curriculum, in: John Glavin (ed.), Dickens on Screen (Cambridge, 2003), 155–170. 65. Hays, The Memoirs of Will H. Hays, 487. 66. ‘Teachers’ Manuals’ From Hays Office, A Midsummer Night’s Dream press book (BFI); Richard Ford, Children in the Cinema (London, 1939), 211–212. 67. Lewin, Higher Screen Standards for Youth: Filming of Classics Urged by English Teachers. 68. Lewin, Movies Bow to Schools: The Film World Launches a New Cycle of Classics Long Favoured by Educators. 69. Ibid. 70. Producers Keeping Promises, Aver ‘Decency’ Protagonists, Boxoffice, 5 October 1935, p, 4. 71. Hall, Attack on Movies Stuns Hollywood; Douglas W. Churchill, Sweetness and Light: Hollywood reverts to Elsie Books, to Pollyanna and to Kate Wiggin, The New York Times, 22 July 1934, sm1. 72. Kahane Orders Stricter Scrutiny of Film Material, Film Daily, 2 July 1934, 1, 4. 73. Indiscriminate Penalising of Films Hit By Jack Cohn, Film Daily, 3 July 1934, 1, 9. 74. Film Daily, 16 October 1934, 16. 75. The Public IS Pleased, Boxoffice, 6 April 1935, 4. 76. Andre Sennwald, Children and the Cinema: A Brief Glance at the Nursery and Its Perplexing Relation to the Screen, The New York Times, 23 December 1934, x5. 77. 8,000 Houses to Cooperate on Community Projects, Film Daily, 14 August 1935, 1. 78. Margaret Farrand Thorp, America at the Movies (London, 1945 [1939]), 19. 79. Little Women, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 27 January 1934, 59–63. 80. Little Women, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 3 February 1934, 67–72. 81. David Copperfield, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 23 February 1935, 79–84. 82. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 10 April 1937, 85–87. 83. Little Women, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 3 February 1934, 67–72. 84. For All Types and All Ages, Tarzan and His Mate press book (BFI); What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 1 December 1934, 55–59. 85. King Kong, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 18 November 1933, 55–59. 86. The Bride of Frankenstein, What the Picture Did for Me, Motion Picture Herald, 16 November 1935, 68–70. 87. Fox Midwest to Label All Film Types, Motion Picture Daily, 27 August 1934, 1, 3. 88. Family Films Predominate First Nine Month Current Year, Checkup Shows, Boxoffice, 26 October 1935, 8; Family Films in Last 1936 Quarter Shatter Record, Boxoffice, 26 December 1936, 8; Producers Keep “F” Films in Fore During 1937, Boxoffice, 1 January 1938, 12. 89. See Family Films Rise to 42 P.C. with Council’s Five-Year Aid, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 April 1937, 15. 90. Movies are Guilty of “Escapism”, Can be Proud of It, Hays Finds, The New York Times, 29 March 1938, 23. 91. For a valuable discussion of the audience-base of the 1930s Hollywood serial, see Guy Barefoot, Who watched that masked man: Hollywood’s serial audiences in the 1930s, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 31(2) (2011), 167–190. For a more general discussion of Hollywood family films during the late 1930s, see Noel Brown, The Hollywood Family Film: a history, from Shirley Temple to Harry Potter (London/New York, 2012), 17–64. 92. Alice Miller Mitchell, Children and Movies (Chicago, IL, 1929), 18, 42–45; Edgar Dale, Children’s Attendance at Motion Pictures (New York, 1935), 4, 26; P. Witty, S. Garfield and W. Brink, Interests of high school students in motion pictures and the radio, Journal of Educational Psychology, 32 (3) (1941), 176–184. 93. Graham Greene, Wee Willie Winkie; the life of Emile Zola, originally published 28 October 1937 in Night and Day, and reprinted in David Parkinson (ed.), The Graham Greene Film Reader: mornings in the dark (Manchester, 1993), 234. 94. Ford, Children in the Cinema, 48. 95. Charles Eckert, Shirley Temple and the House of Rockefeller, in: Christine Gledhill (ed.) Stardom: industry of desire (London/New York, 1991), 60–73. 96. Harmony of Home Life Blasted in Family Film, Every Saturday Night press book (BFI). 97. Fantasy Comes to the Screen, The Wizard of Oz press book (BFI). 98. New Judy Garland Film is Grand Entertainment, Meet Me in St. Louis press book (BFI). 99. Dale, Children’s Attendance at Motion Pictures, 4. 100. Barefoot, Who watched that masked man? Hollywood’s serial audiences in the 1930s, 184.