Wednesday, June 30, 2021

A Peek Into The Golden Age Of Hollywood

If you've been reading my blog for sometime now, you know how much I love films.

But what I have always found interesting is that for as much as I love watching films, I don't like the process of making them. I much prefer the process of theater. And the difference is that film is a director's medium, whereas, theater is an actor's medium. In film, the director (and editor) choose what the audience sees. In theater, the actor chooses what the audience sees. Also, film is a more passive medium (a lot of waiting around until a scene is ready to be shot), where as theater is more active and hands-on for the actor. Film is shot out of sequence; therefore, it feels disjointed. Theater has more of a natural flow. And in theater you form a very close bond with your cast members because you have the time to build onstage relationships. In film, you meet your fellow actors on the day that you shoot your scenes together, without any time to form an onscreen relationship.

But what I do love about film is the final product you see on the screen. I enjoy sitting back and watching it unfold before my eyes in sequence.

And what I also love about film is that you can do things with it that you can't with theater, such as, using the camera to invoke an emotion by moving in for a closeup, or panning back to invoke a sense of grandeur of a location. And being that I enjoy photography, I know how powerful the camera can be.

Today I would like to celebrate the art of film; specifically the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920-1960). And although the technical aspect of making films has dramatically changed over the years, the Golden Age laid the ground work for what films have become. Years ago they may not of had the advanced technology to create a film as we do today, yet they were still able to create cinematic masterpieces by being inventive with what they had at that time.

When I look back on some of my favorite films, I am in awe of the talents of everyone involved in making them - both onscreen and off.

So, let's hop into a vintage automobile and take a drive through the Golden Age of Hollywood...

These were the major Hollywood studios back then...

Personally, my favorite studio entrance were the gates at Paramount Pictures...

Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd...

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell at Grauman's...

Their handprints, footprints, and signatures...

Schwab's Pharmacy was a drugstore located at 8024 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, and was a popular hangout for movie actors and movie industry dealmakers from the 1930s through the 1950s...