The newsreels would show the stars at premieres and openings of special events living a life of luxury or in their elaborately furnished homes, wearing and showing the latest fashions and hairstyles. This was a world away from the cinema goers in austerity Britain who would watch often in admiration and aspiration.

The lives of the film stars were a big draw to audiences who wanted to live and look like their matinee idols living the film star dream, but in reality this was a far cry for many of the working class cinema goers at the time.

The use of heavy makeup, costumes and lighting helped enhance the look of the female film star and gave an unrealistic image of what the women looked like, just as today with air brushing and digital enhancement techniques.

below image of film star Doris Day

The clothes and styles of the stars would have a big influence, even the bodily shapes of stars would be hankered for by the cinema goers. Film star style often led fashion tastes and trends. Females would try to copy the stars styles such as Doris Day, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.

below image of Jane Russel poster for the film ‘The Outlaw’

Whilst the males would hope to copy their favourite stars through the clothes they wore such as James Dean in the white T shirt and Jeans and by getting hair styles such as ‘The Tony Curtis’

below image of tony curtis whose hair style was admired and copied

below image of cult film star James Dean

The nurturing motherly role and the girl next door were other stereotypical roles which female film stars portrayed at the cinema. Examples of this can also be seen through films in the Film Noir genre acting as a contrast to the Femme Fatale.

The Musical films of the 1950’s also showed the nice homely girl next door placed as a contrast to the show girl, all they want is to find a nice husband.

When the talkies arrived many of the female actresses lost their jobs because their face fitted but their voice didn’t.

Stars such as Anny Ondra who was the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Blackmail’ the film was originally shot as a silent film but was later reshot for sound with extra scenes added. Ondra’s thick Prague accent raised concerns so her dialogue was recorded off screen by actress Joan Berry. As sound and talkies grew in popularity Ondra’s British film career came to an end.

The role of women both on and off the screen has been in constant flux ever since the days of the first moving images. The representation and portrayal of women on the silver screen has itself had an impact on society. The cinema helped give women a view on the world in which they lived and helped to form and shape opinions on relationships and behaviour. Many of these images and views were used to reinforce and strengthen stereotypes in society whilst some have helped challenge them.

Many films presented females in a subordinate role to the male co stars. The women would often portray homemakers and mothers whose life revolved around the man. Women were seldom shown going out to work or having financial independence.

Many films have portrayed an image of submissive and glamorous women who would used as a decoration on the arm of the man. Films such as – Gentlemen prefer blondes where the main film plot revolves around the two central characters preoccupation with trying to find rich husbands to look after them.

The world of film was, and still is, to some extent a male dominated industry. As a consequence many film historians have noted that the female is viewed on screen through the male gaze, being presented in a way which carries connotations of subordinace and inferiority to males within the frame.

Roles could be quite stereotypical and often would help to reinforce attitudes such as gender and class differences in society at the time.

Film magazines such as Photoplay and Newsreels such as Pathe and British Movie Tone would have features showing the behind the scenes glamorous lives of the stars. Some of these images were often as fictitious as some of the films which they starred in.

Film cards and photographs of the stars became valuable prized possessions which were collected and exchanged by the cinema goers and would be a talking point in society.

Watch Jean’s memories below of collecting Photoplay:

Hear Bill talking about the stars and fashions shown in the film magazines:

Mary Pickford “America’s Sweetheart” besides being one of the biggest silent screen stars also helped to form United Artists Studio in 1919, with her husband Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and director D.W. Griffith.

below an image of Mary Pickford

In Hollywood in the 1930’s there was only one woman amongst the major film Directors – this was Dorothy Arzner. She worked with some of the biggest stars of the time Clara Bow, Frederick March, Katherine Hepburn, Sylvia Sydney and William Powell to name but a few.

below an image of film director Dorothy Arzner

Another female director was Ida Lupino who was also an actress, she was born in England and went to Hollywood in 1934 and appeared in a number of noticeable films before finally ending up behind in the camera in the 1950’s.

below image of Ida Lupino

Actresses have always appeared in the annual top ten box office stars
Female stars of the 1930’s
In the 1930’s amongst others were Marie Dressler, Janet Gaynor, Joan Crawford, Shirley Temple, Claudette Colbert, and Myrna Loy

below image of joan Crawford

Female stars of the 1940’s
In the 1940’s amongst others were Bette Davies, Judy Garland, Greer Garson, Betty Grable, Ingrid Bergman

below image of Bette Davis

Female stars of the 1950’s
In the 1950’s amongst others were Doris Day, Esther Williams, Susan Hayward, Marilyn Monroe, and Grace Kelly.

below image of Doris Day from the film Calamity Jane

Female stars of the 1960’s
In the 1960’s amongst others Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Sandra Dee, Shirley Maclaine, Julie Andrews.

below image of Elizabeth Taylor from the film Cleopatra from 1963

There were a number of actresses of course who appeared in the top ten lists across a number of decades.

Throughout cinematic history women have played a key role, before 1920 there were more women working in the American motion-picture industry than at any other time in its entire history. As well as film actresses, they became laboratory workers, film cutters, locations scouts, stunt women, script girls, production managers, projectionists, wardrobe designers and seamstresses, hairdressers, scriptwriters, directors, producers and camera women, there is believed to have been some 30 or so women film directors in the silent era.

After the 1920’s as the popularity of films and the cinema grew, the Hollywood Studio System became stronger and exerted a more profound hold on world cinema.

Film making became more technical and competitive, women had to compete more fiercely for work, and they would often be overlooked on the grounds of gender as the industry became more exclusive. Despite this, the motion picture industry has helped develop careers for women over the decades, many of whom have produced fine examples of cinematic story telling.

image of Dorothy Arzner – Film Director

The first full length feature film directed by a women was in 1914 by Lois Weber called ‘The Merchant of Venice’, almost 100 years later the first Oscar to be won by a female director was Kathryn Bigelow for the film ‘Hurt Locker’.

The cinema became a place where women could find employment in the form of, ticket sellers, usherettes and kiosk sales staff.

Working in a cinema at that time was regarded as an acceptable job for women, and one in which she could easily fit around her family commitments by working in the cinema at weekends and evenings.

Staff from The Palladium, Seaforth c.1951

The usherette or ice cream lady as she was known by the children would have a variety of duties to perform to assist in the smooth operation and safety of the patrons of the cinema. Her duties included collecting tickets and showing people to their seats, selling ice creams and refreshments during the intermission and general cleaning and presentation of the cinema.

Staff from the Queens Picture House c.1943

The ticket sellers would work from an area known as the pay box or pay booth and would sell tickets to the public for film shows as well as provide information about new films coming to the cinema.

kiosk sales staff would sell refreshments and sometimes cigarettes and film magazines from a counter at the cinema. They would sometimes be paid a commission on sales.

In some cinemas the usherettes would go around the cinema spraying disinfectant or Flit spray to eliminate the odour of teenagers and dispel any unwanted creatures such as fleas which may have came into the highly populated cinema.

Commissionaires would be on duty at some of the cinemas, their role was to maintain order in the queues and also acted as support to some of the other cinema staff. Commissionaires would often be smartly dressed wearing a long coat and peaked hat bearing the cinema name on a band in the front, almost military like in appearance. At special events, commissionaires would open doors for special guests and would often be the first point of contact to cinema patrons.

The cinema manager would oversee the staff, running and daily workings of the cinema. They would be in charge of staff and make sure they appeared smart and were prepared for what was then, very busy times working in the cinema. The cinema manager would also be the promoter of the cinema and would have to think up marketing strategies or ways of advertising the cinema and forth coming attractions. The cinema manager would also have to know how to work the projection machines in case there was a problem. Some cinema mangers who worked for circuits such as The Rank Organisation – Circuits Management would be in competition with other cinemas as to the best promotion of the films and cinemas, and as film and news reels were distributed between cinemas would benefit from having a good relationship with other cinema managers in the area. Cinema managers would always dress smartly and would greet the cinema patrons upon arrival and departure of the cinema.

The Projectionists would be in charge of running the film shows to the patrons at the cinema. Film shows at the time didn’t just consist of one film as they do at cinemas today, from the 30′s to the 60′s a cinema program would often consist of adverts, sometimes of a local nature, The Newsreel such as Pathe or British Movie Tone, a ‘B’ film, a cartoon and then the main feature film. Cinemas provided a full afternoon or evenings entertainment and the projectionist would have to oversee the film show from what was sometimes a small projection box area, maintaining the film reels and making film reel changes at the appropriate points within the film show.

Cinema Page Boys
Memories passed down through families have been shared with the project regarding both cinema attendance and working at cinemas. One such memory is from Shelagh who’s both grandfathers worked at a local old Picture Houses in the area. One worked in a cinema called The Corona which was on college road as a page boy, the other was a musician who played in a cinema orchestra during the days of silent films.

Page boy’s were employed by some cinemas to promote the cinema and what films were showing. They would wear a sandwich board displaying bill posters and travel around the area as a walking advertisement.

Cinema orchestras and musicians
Before the days of talking film cinemas would have musical accompanying the films to help create atmosphere and feelings. Some cinemas would have whole orchestras or organ players, other smaller cinemas would just have maybe a piano.

Married women found their escapism by going to the daily matinees. They would spend their allowance watching the latest pictures and follow the fashions and hair styles of the glamorous actresses and their role models on the big silver screen.

The influence that film stars had on society at the time was quite remarkable, with limited media influence unlike today. The cinema was the main source of finding out about new views and fashions and what was deemed as in style and beautiful, the men yearned for the stars and the women tried to copy and emulate what they had seen on the screen.

Fashions such as flared dresses with heavy underskirts became fashionable thanks to the film stars who wore them, film magazines would have articles about how to dress and achieve their style, tips on hair and make up and celebrity endorsement of products began.