History of Hollywood: stages of development, interesting facts, photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Hollywood is an area of the American city of Los Angeles, located in California. It is now known to everyone as the center of the global film industry. The most famous actors and directors live here, and the films that are produced here have the highest world rating. Having briefly reviewed the history of Hollywood, it can be noted that during its relatively short existence, cinema has undergone a powerful upsurge in development.

How it all began

In 1853, there was a single cabin on the site of Hollywood. Until the 70s of the 19th century, agriculture flourished in this area, crops were successfully grown here.

Telling briefly the history of the birth of Hollywood, the researchers recall the Wilcox spouses. In 1887 they bought this piece of land and set up a farm here. The name "Hollywood" the couple gave him, marking his boundaries. Wood in translation means "forest", and holly -holly (holly) - trees that grew in large numbers in this area. A few years later, the Wilcox couple began to rent out part of their plot. Gradually, a settlement began to grow around their land, which later became part of Los Angeles.

The birth of the film industry

The story of Hollywood was continued by Colonel William N. Zeling. He created a film company in Chicago, and placed part of it in Hollywood, having bought a plot of land from Wilcox. At that time, all those who did not have a patent for the film business were prosecuted by law. The colonel, on the other hand, was the legal owner of the rights to film, equipment, film copying, so his film business knew no obstacles.

Immigrants played a big role in the development of the film industry. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a huge number of people began to move from Europe to America. Interest in cinema increased, which gave a powerful impetus to the development of cinema. New films were needed to meet the needs of the people. From this time begins the history of Hollywood film studios.

First film companies

A number of film companies spring up at this time. One of them is Metro-Goldwin-Mayer, founded by Russian-born Louis B. Mayer. Before the film business, he was engaged in buying and reselling scrap metal.

Another Paramount film studio was founded by Adolf Zukor, an apprentice furrier from Hungary. The Warner brothers, involved in bicycle advertising, founded the Warner Brosers film company. The famous Universal Studios was created by a Germanclothes salesman Carl Laeml.

Thus, enterprising people who had nothing to do with the film industry became at the origins of the super-profitable film business at that time, playing a decisive role in the history of Hollywood.

Development of cinematography

One of the first films in the history of Hollywood was the western Indian Woman's Husband. Created by Cescil B. deMille.

The nature of Hollywood, cozy houses, streets were ideal for filming various films. As a result, more than 800 films have been produced here annually.

In parallel with the development of cinema, the infrastructure of the city associated with the activities of film companies began to develop. At this time, the appearance of entertainment complexes, clubs, restaurants, financial institutions is characteristic. The entire population of Hollywood was divided into two layers - the urban elite and workers. New film studios appeared on the site of residential buildings on the main street.

The development of the film industry in the history of Hollywood was very fast. Film studios, especially small ones, survived in the face of huge competition, barely avoiding bankruptcy. As a result, they began to unite in film trusts in order to strengthen their position. Later they merged with rental companies. This is how the film companies Warner Bros., Paramount and others arose.

The era of color and sound films

1935 marked the release of the first full-length color film called "Becky Sharp". Directed by Ruben Mamulian.

In 1953The first widescreen film was released. It was Henry Koster's film The Shroud.

The sound cinema was a huge advantage over silent films. However, the transition to it meant a revolution in cinema. There were a number of problems associated with this transition. The first of them is the purchase of expensive new equipment. Initially, it was not perfect enough and had flaws in the synchronization of action and sound. Subsequently, this system has been improved. In addition, the shooting had to be done in complete silence. Movies were filmed at night to avoid extraneous noise.

The next major problem with the move to sound was the loss of foreign markets, which accounted for a third of Hollywood's profits. After all, silent films were sold to any country, attaching the text in the desired language.

Over time, all these problems were solved, and the success of sound films was overwhelming. In the early thirties of the 20th century, almost every American movie theater was equipped with sound equipment. Cinema audiences have doubled.

A new wave in the development of cinema

By the 1960s, the mass audience that Hollywood's film production was aimed at was getting fed up with stereotyped films. The existing studio system began to crumble. New ideas were needed that could interest a sophisticated viewer. On the next wave of development of Hollywood cinema, new names of directors appear, including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and others. Their ideas marked the beginninga new era in the development of modern Hollywood cinema.

Hollywood's first star

Initially, actors who starred in American films told their audience only their pseudonyms. Thus, the audience did not know the real names of the actors, and the producers paid them the same amount of money. For the first time, this unspoken agreement between producers was violated by Universal, which entered into an agreement with actress Florence Lawrence. She first appeared under her own name. The film company arranged a promotion for her before the film was shown, thanks to which she had a stunning success with an intrigued public, becoming the first American star. As a result, the film company made a good profit. This practice has become widespread in other film companies. Since that time, Hollywood actors began to gain fame and fame, world celebrities began to appear. The stories of Hollywood stars have become public.

Hollywood movie stars

Movie tycoons quickly realized that nothing grabs the audience's attention to a film like the presence of a star actor or actress in it. Movie stars began to appear at a rapid pace. Each of the actors had their own role. So, for Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the images of comedians were fixed, for Tom Mix and William S. Hart - cowboys, Lon Chaney - the king of horrors. Female images were divided into innocent girls (Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish), earthly women (Greta Garbo and Gloria Swenson), vamp women (Pola Negri and Theda Bara), frivolous girls(Louise Brooks and Colin Moore).

Because cinema attracted millions of viewers, the public watched with great interest everything that happened around their idols. Scandals attracted particular attention to movie stars. Realizing the role of this kind of advertising, Hollywood strategists began to churn out scandalous stories about Hollywood stars, fueling public interest in them. Over time, the yellow press has become the main source of information about the personal lives of the stars.

Dream Factory

Hollywood is booming. It began to be talked about all over the world. All actresses and actors dreamed of becoming Hollywood stars. A huge number of young people, boys and girls, rushed to Hollywood in search of happiness. They all dreamed of a stellar career. With the light hand of the French journalist Jean-Francois Josselin, Hollywood began to be called a "dream factory", a mirage for seekers of we alth and fame. Virtue and vice, talent, beauty, alcohol, drugs and money are mixed here. Star idols, surrounded by glamor and extravagance, were admired by millions of moviegoers.

Hollywood Detective Stories

Scandals have become part of the life of star actors. Some of them have become Hollywood's unusual detective stories.

In February 1922 director William Desmond was shot dead with a revolver. The main suspect was his mistress, actress Charlotte Shelby. The motive for the crime was the revenge of the actress for the fact that the director had seduced her daughter. However, direct evidence of the guilt of the mother and daughter could not be found. The murder remainsunopened.

The next high-profile Hollywood detective story was the sudden death of actor Rudolfo Valentino at the age of 31. He played heroes-lovers and was very popular with the audience. There was a lot of speculation about this unexpected death. The true reason turned out to be quite banal - peritonitis.

There are a huge number of scandals involving Hollywood stars.

The American public condemned Hollywood for immorality. The so-called "Haynes Code" was adopted, which forbade negatively influencing the moral character of the viewer. However, few adhered to these rules.

A love worthy of a movie adaptation

One of the brightest love stories in Hollywood was the romance of stars of the first magnitude Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The relationship of these temperamental people was very stormy: shooting together, passion, quarrels, drunken fights, breakups and reunions … They divorced twice, marrying again. The development of their relationship, which the stars did not hide from the very beginning, was watched by the entire world press.

Another story of great love is the relationship between Hollywood star Frank Sinatra and star beauty Ava Gardner. For a long time they hid their meetings from society and the press. Frank suffered from love for her, and Ava played with his feelings, starting novels on the side. She drove away from him, and he sought after her. In desperation, Sinatra almost died from an overdose of sleeping pills. After that, the long-awaited wedding took place. Marital happiness, which lasted for several years, was overshadowed by constant scandals, scenes of jealousy, and quarrels. After the divorce, their relationship did not end: they continued to meet secretly.

Love stories of modern Hollywood are also worthy of attention. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are actors whose age difference is 25 years. Their relationship began when Michael was 56 years old. Before that, he had been married for 23 years. Having met the sultry beauty Katherine, Douglas fell in love immediately.

He courted her beautifully for five months, and finally, the couple announced that they intended to formalize their relationship. However, Michael's wife did not give a divorce, demanding huge compensation from his multi-million dollar fortune. But that didn't stop Douglas. For the sake of a new lover, he gave his wife part of his fortune. In 2000, a grandiose wedding took place. None of those around him believed in the strength of this marriage. However, this particular marriage has become almost the most durable in modern Hollywood.