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Carman will be doing a book signing April 16th and 17th at UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater, as part of the film series Independent Stardom running April 16 to May 26. She will introduce many of the films screened in the series.
When Women Ruled Hollywood
By Emily Carman
2015 has been a landmark year for the plethora of strong female performances in film, ranging from respected acting veterans such as Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years and Cate Blanchett in Carol to Charlize Theron re-branding herself as an action star in Mad Max: Fury Road, to newcomers Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan delivering stand-out performances in the independent films Room and Brooklyn. The previous year also garnered headlines condemning Hollywood sexism in the film industry, with an increasing number of actresses speaking out, including Geena Davis’s criticism of the disparity between female and male lead characters in Hollywood films while thirty-something actresses Anne Hathaway and Maggie Gyllenhaal decried ageism in the business. The Sony Hack revealed how Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence earned considerably less than costars Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper for American Hustle. Likewise, actress Patricia Arquette highlighted wage equality for women (in the film business and beyond) in her 2014 Oscar win acceptance speech.
One might assume that this grim scenario has always been the case. However, when looking back on the classic Hollywood era, a very different picture emerges that challenges the current status quo. Yes, the industry was still dominated by men, but the male studio chiefs and producers adhered to a common formula: to be profitable, Hollywood films needed to appeal to women. That meant developing and marketing films to and for women audiences that in turn were headlined by female stars.
From the 1920s through the 1940s, women ruled Hollywood on and off-screen, when the star system privileged women as its most important currency (in stark contrast to the contemporary film industry). Mary Pickford emerged as Hollywood’s most important international star by the end of the 1910s, commanding a million dollar salary, earning a percentage of her film’s profits, and co-founding United Artists in 1919, which became a haven for artistically-minded talent and independent producers. With the arrival of sound cinema, new female stars emerged in the 1930s and they commanded high salaries as well as creative provisions that rival those of top stars today. Take Ruth Chatterton. Wooed to Hollywood from Broadway, the actress earned a salary of $975,000 (approximately $13 million in today’s dollars) for three films in one year that included costar, director, and story approval. Chatterton also defied Hollywood ageism and played romantic leads well into her forties. And she was not alone—Ann Harding, Irene Dunne, and Miriam Hopkins all migrated to the screen from the stage and maintained vibrant careers as leading ladies well into their thirties.
