Secrets From The Golden Age Of Hollywood
Movies have been around for over a century now. Throughout the decades, stars have risen, titles have been released, and history has been made. One of the best and undisputed times in film history is what many consider to be the Golden Age of cinema. Beginning around the time of The Great Depression and carrying on through to the sixties, the Golden Age gave us nearly countless new stars and some of the most incredible movies to ever grace the screen. Along the way, a ton of interesting and shocking things occurred both on and off camera!
Dust off your dancing shoes and get ready to paint the streets gold, we’re exposing the most surprising secrets from one of the greatest eras in movie history!
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
Adapting books into movies may seem like all Hollywood is capable of. Once the well of new ideas begins to dry up, producers and directors turned to famous books to find a way to make a quick buck, right? Wrong. Adaptations have been a cornerstone of cinema history for nearly a century! All Quiet on the Western Front, released in 1930, was adapted from a book by the same name just two years after it was published!
The plot was centered around World War I. While it was a popular film, and still is to this day, not everyone was a fan. Pranksters and sympathizers for the Nazis kept storming the theater and disrupting screenings! Eventually, it was banned in Germany by the Nazi Party until the mid-’50s!
City Lights (1931)
Love always finds a way. Sometimes it doesn’t even need to speak to be heard! Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 silent classic City Lights told the tale of the infamous tramp falling in love with a blind flower-seller. Through a series of unfortunate misadventures, he manages to raise money to help her get her sight back. The film was a raging success! The touching relationship between the two characters brought many people to tears.
Even world-famous Albert Einstein couldn’t help but get misty-eyed. After being invited to the premiere by Chaplin himself, Einstein was caught crying at the end of the movie. According to Chaplin, some people were taken aback. The actor and producer later commented that he wasn’t even aware Einstein could be so emotional!
King Kong (1933)
Who’s the undisputed king of the jungle? If you said it was The Cowardly Lion, you’re mistaken. He’s the King of the Forest. The undisputed monarch of any tropical environment is none other than King Kong. This building-scaling beast isn’t just a giant ape. He’s a GIGANTIC giant ape. When you’re larger than life and able to swat at planes like they’re flies, you need a fearsome roar to go with your stature.
Of course, since giant apes the size of a small apartment building don’t exist, people had to get creative. Instead of amplifying existing ape noises, the sound effect engineers had a better idea. To create King’s deep bellowing roar they turned to existing creatures. King Kong’s unforgettable sound was made with recordings of lions and tigers roaring!
It Happened One Night (1934)
Who doesn’t like seeing famous stars give their fans a little something just for being there? It’s pretty common and always sweet to see an athlete give a jersey to a fan. They’re not the only celebrities who give away some unique trophies. Clark Gable, a dreamy, talented, and legendary actor, also gave away something personal.
After winning an Oscar for his performance in the 1934 hit It Happened One Night, he did the unthinkable! He gave the trophy away! A young fan told Gable he really liked the trophy, and in response, the actor gave it to him. Apparently, being nominated and winning was important, not having the award itself.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
We hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but most action scenes in movies aren’t as dangerous as they look. Guns usually don’t have bullets and swords are either dulled or capped off. That’s because most movies are supposed to be make-believe, not snuff films. These safety practices didn’t always exist. In a 1938 rendition of Robin Hood, a particular fight scene wasn’t exciting enough for the director. To enhance the emotions and danger, he ordered the actors to use unprotected swords.
It would have been okay, but he failed to tell the lead star of his decision. After finding out, the star, Errol Flynn, decided to make things even more exciting. Letting his anger get the best of him, Flynn climbed up to the director’s perch to give him a piece of his mind. After a light throttling, he asked if things were exciting enough!
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
If anyone reading this thought 90210 or Riverdale had actual teenagers starring in them, we’ve got a huge wake-up call for you. They’re old enough to be your parents, or at least an older sibling. Due to child labor laws, many adults with baby faces can find great success in Hollywood.
This isn’t a new phenomenon either. As far back as The Wizard of Oz, stars frequently played younger roles to get by. Judy Garland, who we all know and love, wasn’t a young kid in The Wizard of Oz. Sure, she was sixteen. However, she was playing a twelve-year-old. To make her look younger, they bound her chest and placed her in a corset!
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Gone With The Wind isn’t just an incredible book. It’s also one of the most controversial and important films in cinema history. When it was released in 1939, Hollywood, and the rest of the nation, were swept up in the fervor of the story and cast. Critics loved it as did audiences around the world. The film was also groundbreaking during awards season. Hattie McDaniels ended up becoming the first black woman to win an Oscar!
However, due to segregation and other terrible things, she almost wasn’t allowed into the theater to claim her award! Even after winning, she was denied entry to the after-party despite the rest of the cast being able to celebrate the film’s success.
His Girl Friday (1940)
If you thought some people talk fast today, you clearly haven’t seen the film His Girl Friday. Despite premiering on a Thursday, this film was pretty popular most days of the week for quite a while. If you can find a film buff that loves the movie, ask them to recite their favorite line. Also, tell them to slow it down a bit. Why? You might just miss something.
Most verbal dialogue in movies has been timed at around ninety words a minute (which is already pretty fast). That’s nothing compared to this flick! Many researchers have been able to peg the rate of dialogue at almost triple that speed! The movie contains roughly 240 words PER MINUTE! Were actors paid by the word back then?
Citizen Kane (1941)
Not every person is a great orator. Even if you have the ability to captivate an audience, you still need an audience to captivate. Nobody knows this as well as the masterminds behind Citizen Kane. For all the importance this movie commands, it had very few people actually paying attention. Rewind the stream and watch Kane’s infamous speech scene again.
Notice anything weird going on with the crowd? Here’s a hint: There is no crowd. The actor is giving a speech to a still photograph of people! To create the illusion of movement, the production crew poked holes in a crowded photo. They then let light filter through the holes to create the illusion of movement.
Casablanca (1942)
Casablanca is wildly considered one of the most unforgettable and important movies of all time. For some reason, this touching black-and-white picture is quoted en masse nearly everywhere. However, if you ask people if they’ve seen the film, most will answer no. That’s kind of how pop culture works. Just ask anyone in their undergraduate studies if they’ve seen Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
It’s the same idea. Some films transcend their own script. Forty years after Casablanca premiered, someone sent the script of Casablanca to major studios under a different title. Despite not making any other changes, it widely panned as unwatchable and not worth being turned into a full-length film!
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Sexism is alive and well in Hollywood (and in most other industries around the world). It’s something everyone should be fighting against on a regular basis. Even in the gilded world of Hollywood some people still refuse to believe that a female actor can accomplish things a male can. Take It’s A Wonderful Life for example.
There’s a specific scene where Donna Reed has to break a window. The director didn’t think the actor could do it and instead hired a marksman to come to the set and blow out the window. After he was hired, Reed told him to step back. She then broke the window on her first try!
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Method acting is a tricky thing to get right. An actor will assume the identity of their character and then live and breathe as them throughout the run of a picture, both on and off the set. While many can do it well, some people end up suffering as a result. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is a shallow yet deep character with peaks, valleys, and an ocean of depth that few can portray well.
Thankfully, Vivien Leigh knocked the role out of the park. Unfortunately, even after filming, she seemed to be stuck in the mindset of her character. As it turns out, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and later in life began to experience moments where she thought she was Blanche! Things got so bad her own reality began to blur with the character’s!
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
If you’re ever having a rough day, sometimes it helps to go singing in the rain! If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then just put on the classic film and sing along. It’s a lighthearted song-and-dance spectacular with an unforgettable soundtrack. Despite the fun everyone seemed to be having on camera, it was anything but a walk in the park during filming.
Those big dance numbers may look easy, but they were brutal to film and rehearse for. Things got so bad for Debbie Reynolds that she even broke down on set! It took the kind reassurance from the legendary Fred Astaire to calm down Reynolds and get her back on her.
12 Angry Men (1957)
Movie stars aren’t just in it for the money. Yes, being paid a ridiculous amount of money to pretend to be someone you’re not sounds like fun. However, sometimes a passion project is worth the experience, even without the money. At least one person thought so, as 12 Angry Men is an amazing and classic film that made no money.
Despite its doing poorly at the box office in the States, it received critical acclaim and made quite a stack of cash internationally. Despite all of that, Henry Fonda (Juror #8) didn’t get his salary! That didn’t stop him from loving the movie. He frequently said it was one of the top three films he had ever starred in!
Ben-Hur (1959)
Long before CGI existed, if a film was set in a vast and open space, you either needed a huge studio or fly somewhere that could accommodate your vision. Ben-Hur was one such movie. MGM was known for making huge investments in its films. Since they needed a desert, the cast and crew were flown to Libya!
However, once the Libyan government found out the film had Christian tones, they got a bit upset. They got so upset the ordered the shoot to end immediately! Since everyone needed to finish their jobs, the entire project ended up being moved to Spain. As it turns out, Spain has the only desert in all of Europe!
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some movies can be too hot to handle. In fact, once the critics and early reviewers get their eyes on it, a major film release can be deemed too much for certain audiences. That’s what ratings are for. However, it’s a problem when the critics go too far. In the 50s, a saucy and spicy film wouldn’t have just been banned for younger audiences.
Entire states would opt out of a big release! The 1959 release of Some Like It Hot was way too hot for the entire state of Kansas. As it turned out, men in drag were way too progressive for the state. After the film came out, they banned it from being featured in any of its theaters.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
In a perfect world, it doesn’t matter what your hair color is. Everyone would be treated the same. Since that doesn’t exist, we live in a timeline where a hit movie can be called Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Not only did the title upset people, it starred the most famous blonde of all time: Marilyn Monroe. However, the cliches don’t stop there.
Since Hollywood can be a terrible place, the leading actors, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, weren’t paid equally. Russell, a brunette, got $200K for the film. Monroe, who was Hollywood’s darling at the time? She only got $500 a week! Thankfully, she didn’t harbor any resentment toward Russell, who was apparently quite nice and polite to her.
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The film industry has a quirky habit of casting talented actors for roles that don’t quite suit them. Whenever a cultural figure is depicted in film, you’d think an actor of the same background would portray them. That just makes sense. In the case of The Ten Commandments, and most other flicks, you’d be incorrect. Anne Baxter was an incredible actor and did great in this movie.
However, she also had very prominent European features. While that’s not an issue, it doesn’t quite fit a historical Egyptian figure like Queen Nefertiti. Baxter also found the decision strange, but still enjoyed watching herself on television every Easter.
Roman Holiday (1953)
Let’s go on holiday! We don’t really care where, but a Roman Holiday sounds divine, doesn’t it? This famous film is studded with a ridiculous amount of talent. Not only is Gregory Peck a dream in it, but Audrey Hepburn steals the show! She delivered such a great performance everyone knew she would snag an Oscar before the nominations even came in.
The first to realize this was her costar. Once filming wrapped he told the producers that Hepburn’s name needed to appear at the top of the poster. That way, people saw that she was getting top billing and would help her get the award. He was correct, she did, and history was made.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)
Some people are blessed with an ageless face. We’re not talking about timeless, we’re talking about a face that just doesn’t show someone’s true age. Audrey Hepburn was one such person. Her delicate features and youthful radiance never dimmed throughout her career. If you watched Breakfast At Tiffany’s for the first time, would you be able to tell how old Hepburn was during filming?
Her character was a teenager. However, Hepburn was more than a decade older! Despite Holly Golightly being nineteen, Hepburn was thirty-one! You probably wouldn’t have guessed that, would you? Despite being older than her character, she was able to deliver a youthful performance with the control and wisdom of an adult.
Mary Poppins (1964)
When you think of Dame Julie Andrews, what movies come to mind? Yes, she was amazing as Maria in The Sound of Music. She was also one of the coolest nannies ever in Mary Poppins. It’s nearly unfathomable to think of a world where she didn’t play the umbrella-floating magical maven of household etiquette.
But if she had it her way, it wouldn’t have come to pass. Dame Andrews wasn’t thrilled with the part when she initially read for it. In fact, she wanted to play Eliza Doolittle in the other smash hit of 1964, My Fair Lady! She didn’t end up getting the role, but she did end up portraying one of Disney’s most beloved characters.
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the most important books to come out of the sixties. It’s an important story about racism, compassion, and standing up for what is morally right in a world that only sees things in black and white. It became such a hit from the get-go that it was made into a movie just two years after being published. People LOVED it!
Gregory Peck’s performance as Atticus Finch is still talked about today. In fact, he and his costar, Mary Badham, loved their roles so much that they kept the names after filming! Their bond was so strong that for the rest of their lives they called each other by their character names. Peck was always Atticus and Badham was always Scout.
Pollyanna (1960)
Sometimes, the pros have no idea what they’re doing. Pollyanna is a pretty great film, but it almost didn’t get made. Why? Well, after auditioning over three-hundred actors for the titular role, the director couldn’t find the lead that he wanted. Hhe was so lost, he had no direction whatsoever!
If it wasn’t for Lilly Disney (the wife of Walt Disney) and the wife of Bill Anderson (Disney’s studio head) Pollyanna would have never been found. They were out shopping and saw the movie Tiger Bay one day. After seeing Hayley Mills on the big screen they convinced their husbands to audition her. The rest is cinema history!
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Actor, singer, and motorcycle racer Ann-Margret is a Hollywood legend. She’s been in the business since the 60s and is still going strong today. She’s seen and done it all! However, her career trajectory almost took a turn for the worse in 1963. One of her greatest early performances was in the 1963 classic Bye Bye Birdie. Adapted from a stage production of the same name, the film received great reviews.
However, one of its stars, Dick Van Dyke, wasn’t thrilled. He was upset that his role (which was bigger in the play) wasn’t as prominent in the movie. His annoyance worsened when felt Margret was getting preferential treatment on set, despite her part originally not being as important on stage as his own!
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Dick Van Dyke had an incredible career. He’s an unforgettable star of the stage, screen, television, and quite a few people’s dreams. This man danced and laughed his way to the top in a fashion few others could achieve. When you have that much talent you can practically demand any changes to a role!
Dyke flexed his power when he was cast as the lead in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. While nearly everything in the film was to his liking, there was one change he required before taking on the role. In an interview, he said he only took the job on the condition that he would not have to do an English accent! When you’re at the top of Hollywood’s must-have list, that’s a simple request to make.
North By Northwest (1959)
It’s hard to imagine a successful movie star would need a side hustle. However, in the land of the free and home of the dollar, capitalism is the name of the game. If you’re good at something or have something everyone wants, why not charge for it? Cary Grant knew this lesson well and made sure he capitalized on it.
During the filming of North By Northwest, Grant had no problem giving autographs to his legion of fans. However, not everything in life is free. The actor would regularly charge people fifteen cents for his signature! Would you pony up the cash for an autograph from a famous star?
Cleopatra (1963)
Some countries allow religious freedom. Others are more strict with what beliefs they let into their borders. While it’s not a great thing, if you run a nation you get to make the rules. It’s been like this since the dawn of geopolitics. Even back in the 60s, some of Hollywood’s elite couldn’t even visit certain places if they were of a different faith than the country’s majority.
Dame Elizabeth Taylor was actually barred from shooting a film in Egypt because she was Jewish! However, the Egyptian government lifted the ban pretty quickly. Why? Well, they wanted that sweet Hollywood money pumped into their economy.
My Fair Lady (1964)
Some stars give good face. Others can carry a tune like no other. Some are just excellent dancers. Then there are the perfect few who can do it all. Audrey Hepburn came close, but she just didn’t have the pipes to be a triple threat. Despite her being one of the best actors of her generation, Hepburn’s singing wasn’t to everyone’s tastes.
After she accepted the role of Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady, she learned the hard way that some people are easily replaceable. All of her singing in the film ended up being dubbed over! After that debacle, she vowed to never star in another musical again unless her original vocals would be used.
The Big Sleep (1946)
Some of the wildest stories to come out of the gilded age of Hollywood took place outside of the studio. Humphry Bogart, one of the most unforgettable and famous stars, was no stranger to living a salacious and oftentimes destructive lifestyle. Despite being a great actor, the guy had a horrible drinking problem. He also had a penchant for having affairs with his co-stars.
After not-so-secretly courting Lauren Bacall from their feature film The Big Sleep, Bogart let his drinking get the better of him. Despite it affecting his career, and causing him to lose work, Bacall stuck by his side. After they finished filming, he ended up ending his marriage and marrying Bacall!
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940)
Some of the best films and books to come out of the forties are based on the most tragic events in American history. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was a series of dust and sand storms that ravaged America’s plains and prairies. It also caused a massive shift in the economic status of millions. Once successful farmers became destitute and lived in migrant camps in the arid plains of Oklahoma while traveling in hopes of a better life.
John Steinbeck wrote about this extensively in his book The Grapes Of Wrath, which was later turned into a film The imagery in the tale was shocking enough to cause the producer to see if Steinbeck had been exaggerating just to make a sale. As it turned out, he had downplayed just how terrible conditions were for these people!
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
James Dean’s finest performance is a curiously dark movie called Rebel Without A Cause. It’s an emotional and shockingly dramatic film from the 50s that scared the nation! Dean, along with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, is accused of breaking the law and is taken in for questioning. Eventually, we learn that everyone suffers from a terrible home life.
It’s pretty transparent now, but back in 1955 it was almost a horror film for parents about teens. Everyone gives a committed performance, especially Dean. After filming had wrapped, Dean did a press tour about the film. In one interview he said it was so emotionally draining that he could never do it again!
Oklahoma! (1955)
Just because someone is cast in a musical doesn’t mean they can sing. Some of the best and brightest stars on the planet get musical roles without knowing how to carry a tune. You could hand them the exact notes and sounds and it would still be terrible. It’s a blessing that people have learned how to edit sound enough to make even the worst songbird sing and tweet beautifully.
This tech isn’t new either. Back in 1955 the movie adaptation of Oklahoma! was getting ready to premiere. However, people were nervous about Gloria Grahame. She was a great actress, but couldn’t sing to save her life. The filmmakers ended up having to edit her performance note by note after filming to make it sound like she could reach her notes!
The Graduate (1967)
Some stars will do just about anything for a part. When you choose a career that requires you to live from project to project, it becomes second nature to do your best to impress whoever has that next paycheck. After a while, you don’t even think about it. That mentality can stick around even after you have millions in the bank.
While auditioning for a part, Dustin Hoffman’s legacy did not precede him. When he showed up to talk about the movie, he was mistaken for a window washer! Not to lose his chance at the role, Hoffman proceeded to act as a window washer and started to clean.
Noah’s Ark (1928)
Storytelling is a skill and art passed down from generation to generation. Over the centuries people have gotten really good at it. With the invention of motion pictures, humans learned they could retell some of the classics on an epic scale. Cut to 1928. Noah’s Ark is released. For the time it was an immense film with some of the most brilliant special effects the world had seen. One of the largest was definitely the beginning of the flood.
Over 600,000 gallons (2,271,247 liters) of water are thrown onto some unsuspecting film extras. While many were able to get through the scene, a few were swept away or injured. At least three of them died due to being exposed to so much water so quickly.
The Birds (1963)
Before Stanley Kubrick brought misery and stress to people on set in the name of art we had Alfred Hitchcock. As the original master of horror, Hitchcock knew a thing or two about making scary cinema. Even when his work wasn’t supernatural, the stories and cinematography he produced would showcase how scary the world could be. The Birds was one such film.
What would your reaction be if thousand of birds started terrorizing you? What if a bunch had to be tied to your body just to make you more scared? That was Tippi Hedron’s reality! To make things even more traumatizing, the crew physically threw birds at her just to make the chaos more believable!
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
World War 2 wasn’t a fun time for anyone. Even the people who tried to stay out of it didn’t have a great few years in the 40s. However, those terrible stories did inspire a nearly never-ending source of inspiration for artists. Filmmakers and documentarians in particular LOVE to talk about the War. Even as far back (or as early) as the 50s, movies were breaking records when WWII was the subject.
The Bridge on the River Kwai is often considered one of the best WW2 movies of all time. It also almost became one of the director’s last. Sir David Lean fell into the river they were filming at. If it weren’t for an actor on set, Geoffrey Horne, Lean would have been swept right to the depths!
The King and I (1956)
If you haven’t seen The King and I please pause what you’re doing and watch it. Even if musicals aren’t your thing, the sets and costumes alone are enough to fall in love with this incredible film. Not only are the stories and lessons important, but the costume designer put their blood, sweat, and tears into this project. They also probably gained a few pounds of muscle before everything was said and done.
Each of the gowns worn by Deborah Kerr’s character weighed quite a bit. It wasn’t uncommon for each garment to be over thirty or FORTY pounds! Was she trying to join the royal guard as a weightlifter? Those outfits probably doubled as body armor or something.
Frankenstein (1931)
Despite the focus being on a classic movie monster, Frankenstein is considered a science fiction flick! Even back in the 1930s, when the film industry was even shadier than it is today, a few child actors were treated with grace. Marilyn Harris, the adorable tyke that gets chucked into a lake by Frankenstein’s monster, was integral to the plot.
However, people on set were worried she’d be too scared to act with someone as terrifying as Boris Karloff in makeup. Instead, the exact opposite happened! On her first day of shooting with him, Harris skipped up to Karloff and asked him to ride with her to the lake. They bonded the whole way there!
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966)
Life in the wild west was wild and filthy. It may come as a shock to some, but washing machines and dryers didn’t exist back in the days of saloons and old-timey bank robberies. Even when filming Western films, washing machines just didn’t exist for certain actors. One of the most devoted to this historical fact was Clint Eastwood. Throughout the three “Man with No Name” films, Eastwood’s character wore the same poncho.
But he didn’t have multiples of the same one. For three movies, the man wore the exact same poncho without washing it. It smelled like history, filth, and excellence. It probably has enough of his DNA in it to clone a new Eastwood, too.
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Sound of Music is one of the greatest sing-along movies ever. It has a compelling story, catchy songs, and Julie Andrews. What more do you want in a film? If you’re one of its shining stars, Charmian Carr, all you want is Christopher Plummer. We’re right there with you Charmian. Part of the film tackles Leisl’s blossoming love during a turbulent time.
When the cameras weren’t rolling, Carr was dealing with her own feelings. Despite the thirteen-year age gap, she had a strong attraction to the film’s leading man. Plummer later stated in an interview the attraction was mutual! However, being a gentleman, he understood their relationship would never go further than flirting.