Five Easy Steps to Becoming A Star!
1) Get discoveredThe first step in creating a star was discovering talent. Studios established scouting departments that focused entirely on finding new actors. These scouts would go to theatres or radio shows to find professional or semi-professional young actors. They'd also go to night-clubs, dance studios, or even just restaurants to find attractive people they thought might look nice on the screen!
2) Get a screen test
Once the scout found someone they thought had either the talent or the looks (ideally both) to be a star, they’d invite them to the studio where they’d do a series of screen tests. The potential star would be photographed from different angles to see how they looked in print. The potential star would also sit in front of a camera and be directed to turn their head from side to side, up and down. They'd be asked to look directly in the camera, to smile, to laugh, and to frown. This let the studio know how their face and facial expressions looked on film.
3) Sign a contract
If the studio liked what they saw in the screen tests, they would offer the discovered talent a contract, usually promising to “make them a big star”.
The contract was the best way for studios to regulate or control (and exploit) their actors. Most contracts lasted seven years. This meant that for seven years, the actor was an employee of the studio. By adding an exclusivity clause, the actor could not appear in any other studio’s film unless their studio approved and agreed to "lend out" the actor for a specific project.
After signing the contract, actors no longer had any choice of which movies they would be in or what types of roles they would perform. If an actor refused to appear in a certain movie, they were either suspended for a period of time or sent to a “lesser” studio as punishment.
Contracts also usually had morality clauses. This was a way for studios to (try to) discourage actors from any kind of potentially damaging behaviour including using drugs
4) Build an image
More often than not, the image of the actor the studios promoted was either partially or entirely created by the studios and had little to do with the actor’s actual background, interests, personality or style.Name
To begin, the actor’s name was evaluated
A name would be changed if it was:
- boring/very ordinary
- difficult to pronounce
- difficult to spell
- the same as or similar to another well-known person
- didn’t match the desired image
Appearance
A huge emphasis in Hollywood is, and always has been, on appearances (often in place of actual talent). During the era of the star system, professional stylists would help create a star's image by deciding:- what style of clothing the actor would wear (both on and off set)
- what jewelry/accessories they would have
- how their hair would be styled/coloured
- how men would groom their facial hair
- what specific makeup women would wear
Presentation
Finally, the actors were required to complete an apprenticeship at the studio. This apprenticeship included:- acting lessons
- speech lessons
- dancing lessons
- singing lessons
- media training
- table manners
5) Make Appearances
Once a studio had "groomed" a new actor into a particular image…what did they need to make that person a celebrity, or a star? PUBLIC RECOGNITION AND PUBLICITY
Studios aimed to get as much media exposure as possible for their actors. They wanted them in every newspaper, in every magazine, on every radio station, and in every theatre. BUT they wanted a consistent image across all these media.
To ensure a consistent image, the studios carefully managed their actors with the help of publicists. Publicists were in charge of controlling the actor’s exposure. They would create a press book for every film in which the actor performed. This press book included
- portraits
- movie posters
- advertisements for the movie
