Stars and Their Studios

Can you imagine being the star face of movies and having your name plastered on theater marquees? This was the case for many stars during the Class Hollywood era. Film studios began discovering that certain actors and actresses would attract a larger audience, and thus "the star system was born" (Straubhaar, 192). Simply the names of certain stars would cause a rise in ticket sales. Studios would discover and contract the stars, so then certain actors and actresses would be associated with those studios. For example, Humphrey Bogart was the face of Warner Bros. Stars became the best representation of what studios did. Stars also began to be tied to a certain genre, such as Bogart and his "tough guy" roles. Since the studios revolved around the stars, the studios would then mold the film's genre to a star's reputation. The rise of the studio system was linked to the importance of the star actor or actress (Straubhaar, 192).

 One actress who was the face of many films and associated with genres was Judy Garland. She was discovered as a child by MGM and was then used in the majority of their films. She was their star actress. She had a consistent set of character traits: naive, innocent, little girl who usually sung and danced and always saved the day. Her most identified film was The Wizard of Oz.