Historical Hollywood

This chapter singles out accounts of three eras that have preoccupied backstudios. First it looks at films that depict fictionalized versions of real Hollywood scandals from the early 1920s that are set in 1929, the year Hollywood undertook its conversion to all-talking pictures. Then it looks at films about the blacklist, most of which are set in 1951, the year the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee renewed its investigation of the motion picture industry. Finally, it turns to 1962, the year of Marilyn Monroe’s death, signaling to many the end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, as illustrated by the numerous biopics about that star. It closes with a discussion of gossip’s role in Hollywood’s history, as evident in the FX cable series covering the long-standing feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and the making of the backstudio What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which is also set in 1962.