The Star Machine

I've loved celebrity gossip for decades. I used to buy The National Enquirer with regularity (this would have been in the late 90s/early 00s). As I got older, my taste broadened from the gossip, generally, to the ideas behind the gossip...the celebrity image-making, the how and the why of it. It feels like such a different time than now for celebrity press, with all of the channels for famous people have to connect more directly with the general public. But as quaint as the 90s feel, that was far from the real heyday of the manufacture of celebrity: the studio era. That all being said, this book was obviously all but tailor made for my interests. It examines how stars were created and maintained under the watchful eyes of the studios, with their iron-clad contracts and systems for shaping public perception of their actors/actresses. It also examines how and why these processes came to fail, in some instances. Rather than go for the low-hanging fruit of screen idols like Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, and Joan Crawford (all of whom are discussed at least briefly), it turns its focus on players whose notoriety has faded somewhat with the passage of time: Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Irene Dunn, and Jean Arthur (among others), conducting detailed analyses of why, despite their prominence in their own time, they did not ascend to the most rarified heights. This is incredibly informative and detailed work, but I found it to be relatively straightforward. Basinger lays out her arguments carefully, not relying on jargon or assuming her audience has existing knowledge (but if you're a regular listener of something like You Must Remember This, you'll definitely be familiar with lots of these ideas). I very much enjoyed it and recommend it for fellow film buffs!

An excellent and enthusiastic overview of the studio system of Hollywood's classic period, described through the careers of particular performers. Basinger shows how studios carefully crafted actors' and actresses' careers–the discovery of a star, the lessons, the publicity, the films as tests, and finally the hitting upon type and the playing against type. I love how Basinger brings some actors back from obscurity–such as Deanna Durbin–to make us appreciate why they were so popular in their day. The only part of the book that misses its mark is when she attempts to critique the current Hollywood system and stars.