1930

Articles from 1930

Gloria Swanson: Hollywood Diva (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

A segment from a slightly longer 1930 profile covering the high-life and Hollywood career of La Belle Swanson. Written by actor and theater producer Harry Lang (1894 – 1953), the article concentrates on her triumphs during her lean years, her assorted marriages and her healthy fashion obsessions.


Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York nightclubs of 1937.

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The Audience Laughed at the First Talkies (Film Spectator, 1930)

Upon viewing one of the earliest sound movies this film reviewer did not find it odd in the least as to why the audiences laughed uproariously while listening to perfectly ordinary dialog during the viewing of one of Hollywood’s newest offering War Nurse (directed by Edgar Selwyn):

It was not so much [that they chortled] at these isolated bits of dialogue that the audience laughed, as it was a resort to laughter caused by the absurdity ceaseless chatter that prevails throughout the entire production.


From Amazon: Shattered Silents: How the Talkies Came to Staystyle=border:none

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Cosmetic Surgery in 1930s Hollywood (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Published in a 1930 fan magazine, this article tells the story of the earliest days of cosmetic surgery in Hollywood:

Telling the actual names of all the stars who have been to the plastic surgeon is an impossible task. They won’t admit it, except in a few isolated instances…It is only lately that a few of them are beginning, not only to to admit that they’ve had their faces bettered, but to even go so far as to publicly announce it.


Click here to read more articles from PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE.


Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York nightclubs of 1937.

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Cosmetic Surgery in 1930s Hollywood (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Published in a 1930 fan magazine, this article tells the story of the earliest days of cosmetic surgery in Hollywood:

Telling the actual names of all the stars who have been to the plastic surgeon is an impossible task. They won’t admit it, except in a few isolated instances…It is only lately that a few of them are beginning, not only to to admit that they’ve had their faces bettered, but to even go so far as to publicly announce it.


Click here to read more articles from PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE.


Click here to read about feminine conversations overheard in the best New York nightclubs of 1937.

Cosmetic Surgery in 1930s Hollywood (Photoplay Magazine, 1930) Read More »

Afternoon at Terry-Toon Studios (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

PHOTOPLAY’s Frances Kish spent some time with the animators at Terry-Toon studios and filed this report detailing all the efforts that go into the production of just one Terry-Toon film:

The major animator begins begins the work. The thin white paper he uses for his drawings has holes punched at the top, like pages for a loose-leaf note book…The figures are about three inches high…

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International Movie Star – Mickey Mouse (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Although Euro Disney would not be opening until 1990, this article by Hollywood costume designer Howard Greer implied that it would have done quite well had they opened eighty-six years earlier:

You know everyone in Hollywood? they asked. I blushed modestly and admitted that I did.

Don’t you want to know about the stars? I went on.Shall I tell you about Garbo?

‘A smile passed across their faces.’
‘Garbo? Yes, we like her. But the star we ‘d love to know everything about is – Mickey Mouse!’

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Cosmetic Surgery in Hollywood (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Published in a 1930 Hollywood fan magazine, this is the story of the earliest plastic surgeons and the rise of cosmetic surgery in Hollywood:

Telling the actual names of all the stars who have been to the plastic surgeons is an impossible task. They won’t admit it, except in a few isolated instances…It is only lately that a few of them are beginning, not only to to admit that they’ve had their faces bettered, but to even go so far as to publicly announce it.

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Lew Ayres at Twenty (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Here is a profile of the actor Lew Ayres (1908 – 1996) that was published, quite coincidentally, shortly before the release of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (Universal):

Naturally a great deal depends on the outcome of this picture. Lew is not the type that will go on for years as a moderate success. He will either be a tremendous hit or or a failure.


Click here to read about Lew Ayres and his status as a conscientious objector during the second World War.

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Rube Goldberg on Hollywood (Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

Hired to write dialogue for the king makers at Twentieth Century Fox, cartoonist Rube Goldberg (1890 – 1970) jotted down his impressions of 1930s Hollywood.

The chief mogul did all the ordering and I must say that he knew food. The lavish way in which he ordered bore out some of the glittering tales I had read about the grandeur of the movies. I think I ate six helpings of caviar and four tenderloin steaks. I wanted to make them believe I was no slouch myself.

If you would like to read a Rube Goldberg interview from 1914, click here.

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