On Vacation: When Hollywood was Hollywood
by 
Long before the perfect “candids” of Instagram, decades reigned where stars’ images were managed as tightly as Shirley Temple’s curls, as studios (and their related PR machines) gave birth to the notion of Hollywood fame. The late 1920s-1960s produced some of the most iconic stars in the world — whose names would become known around the globe — aided by images meticulously created on red carpets, in magazine shoots and, yes, on staged vacation photos. Actresses were curated as girls-next-door or sexy bombshells; positive snaps of couples together conveyed happy, glamorous marriages. Yet as the traditional studio system disintegrated and disaggregated, so too did control of its talent. By the 1960s, says film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, talent began taking agency over their careers and their image, and more “relaxed” images were released while on vacation, whether from the growing number of paparazzi or photog friends who tagged along. Regardless, says Mary Mallory, an author and photo historian, it was all about selling stardom: “The posed vacation candids were all about the art of looking beautiful.”
The studios right through the 1960s controlled every aspect of their contract players’ lives. They would fix them up with dates or chaperones for premieres. They chose their wardrobe for personal appearances. They coached them on manners, deportment, skills and attributes that they might not have achieved on their own or been exposed to before. – Leonard Maltin
Film studios thought up every type of subject they could think of that might be illustrated in magazines or newspapers and created images that could be run in them. – Mary Mallory
The studios created personas for these actors and they were expected to live up to that, to those often unrealistic images. – Leonard Maltin
RELATED:
