As the film industry was establishing itself at the start of the twentieth century, trade associations played a pivotal role in the emergence of the studio system. These producer-distributor trade associations were forums for internal and external conflicts, as well as the true sources of influence and power in early Hollywood. In The Hollywood Trust: Trade Associations and the Rise of the Studio System, Kia Afra provides a detailed account of three successive trade organizations from 1915 to 1928. By examining the Motion Picture Board of Trade, the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry (NAMPI), and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), Afra outlines the relationships of power in Hollywood’s early years, asking questions such as: How and why did the studio system come about, and what were the industrial and institutional forces that impacted Hollywood’s development? In order to answer these crucial questions, The Hollywood Trust explores the role played by film industry trade associations in navigating important issues facing the burgeoning studio system, including censorship, public relations, trade practices, government regulation, film distribution, labor conflicts, taxes and tariffs, and exhibitor opposition. A vital look at an under-reported aspect of the studio system, this volume fills a gap in the history of the American film industry. As such The Hollywood Trust will be of particular interest to scholars of film history, as well as those concerned with cultural history and the political economics of entertainment.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the US film industry had overtaken aeronautics and car industries to become one of the highest exporters of American products. Mark Wheeler's important new book provides both a political history of Hollywood and a reflection on the relationship between cinema and politics in America, from 1900 to the present day. Wheeler considers the interplay between the movies studios, state and national government and cultural policy and legislation, with case studies of the censorship that followed in the wake of the Hays Code 1930 and the investigations of the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the 1950s that led to the notorious blacklisting of alleged or known Communist sympathisers. His history of political constituencies within Hollywood ranges from the conservative right to the liberal and the communist left, from trades unionists to movie moguls. The book concludes with a look at the politics of show business, addressing links between Hollywood and political activism, films such as 'The Candidate' and 'Bulworth' that have themselves engaged with the political process, and considering the irony that despite the fact that Hollywood is perceived as a bastion of liberalism the two most famous actors-turned-politicians have been Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The story behind the massive white block letters set into a steep Los Angeles hillside—and the city and culture they represent: “Terrific.”—San Francisco Chronicle To so many who see its image, the Hollywood sign represents the earthly home of that otherwise ethereal world of fame, stardom, celebrity—the American and worldwide aspiration to be in the limelight, to be, like the Hollywood sign itself, instantly recognizable. How an advertisement erected in 1923, touting the real estate development Hollywoodland, took on a life of its own is a story worthy of a movie itself. Leo Braudy traces the remarkable life of this distinctly American landmark, which has been saved over the years by a various fans and supporters, among them Alice Cooper and Hugh Hefner, who spearheaded its reconstruction in the 1970s. He also uses the sign’s history to offer an intriguing look at the rise of the film business from its earliest, silent days through the development of the studio system that helped define modern Hollywood. Mixing social history, urban studies, literature, and film, along with forays into such topics as the lure of Hollywood for utopian communities and the development of domestic architecture in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Sign is a fascinating account of how a temporary structure has become a permanent icon of American culture. “An entertaining tale.”—The Washington Post

(Applause Books). "These are memoirs of a kid born in New York City in 1925. His dad, George Senior, was a pianist, composer, and orchestra leader at Proctor's Vaudeville Theatre, and his mother, Helen, played in a classic dance troupe. Hanky-panky ensued. They married, and I soon was the result... I write like I talk. A long time ago I tried making 'talking and telling the truth' one and the same. That isn't just difficult; it means painfully reviewing things you've been led to believe since you were a child. That's very hard to do. Like many, I have marched along adhering to conventions (sex, color, church, party, gang) without examination. There's a wonderful, protective 'togetherness' in that anonymity. You obey or are damned, less joined together than stuck together. You become an echo rather than a voice. This book is about what happens when you stop fearing and think. I like writing, but warmed-over BS is not on the menu. You are the most important thing in life. Every phrase in the book awkward or not is how I think and question everything. I wrote every word as if we were sitting together. I want you to think, too..." George Kennedy, from the preface

From the first, brief moving images of female nudes in the 1880s to the present, the motion picture camera made the female body a battleground in what we now call the culture wars. Churchmen feared the excitation of male lust; feminists decried the idealization of a body type that devalued the majority of women. This history of Hollywood's treatment of women's bodies traces the full span of the motion picture era. Primitive peepshow images of burlesque dancers gave way to the "artistic" nudity of the 1910s when model Audrey Munson and swimmer Annette Kellerman contended for the title of American Venus. Clara Bow personified the qualified sexual freedom of the 1920s flapper. Jean Harlow, Mae West and the scantily clad chorus girls of the early 1930s provoked the Legion of Decency to demand the creation of a Production Code Administration that turned saucy Betty Boop into a housewife. Things loosened up during World War II when Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth ruled the screen. The postwar years saw the blonde bombshells and "mammary madness" of the 1950s while the 1960's brought bikini-clad sex kittens. With the replacement of the Production Code by a ratings system in 1968, nudity and sex scenes proliferated in the R-rated movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Recent movies, often directed by women, have pointed the way toward a more egalitarian future. Finally, the #MeToo movement and the fall of Harvey Weinstein have forced the industry to confront its own sexism. Each chapter of this book situates movies, famous and obscure, into the context of changes in the movie industry and the larger society.