If you have been reading this blog, it is no surprise to you
that I am a fan of films. You also
remember that I am especially fond of the Golden Age of Hollywood, that period
from 1930 to 1959. Among the elements
that make the movies of this era special were the actors and actresses that
played the characters we now consider icons.
Movie making was a much different industry than what we have
become comfortable with in the present era.
We can define today’s practices in one word, independent. Today, movies are controlled by the
production companies, which are in reality capital management firms pursuing money
to finance film projects. You may have
noticed that before the credits introduce the technical and artistic talent,
the viewer is entertained by slick, digitally-animated company logos. You will recognize names like Weinstein, DreamWorks,
Working Title, Lion’s Gate, and Dimension.
There are myriad others and for big projects, they will often team up. They are the money finders. Their positioning in the opening credits
should convince you of their importance.
They own the story and the distribution rights; and the profits. Everything else is rented or contracted from
other entrepreneurial enterprises.
This is a significant departure from the Golden Age, or
Studio Era, when the studio owned and controlled all aspects of movie making;
including the human talent. The studios
would enter into contracts with directors, writers and actors that gave them
total control. The names are familiar;
Warner Bros., Twentieth-Century Fox, Columbia, MGM. The industry was a group of vertical
monopolies, owning even the movie houses in which their movies were screened. These companies still exist (in name) but
have morphed into the aforementioned production/distribution enterprises.
The consequence of the Golden Age system was
consistency. When they found a
successful formula, they would make their best attempt to replicate it. So the movie patron would see Cary Grant play
handsome sophisticate over and over.
Jimmy Stewart was always cast as the stammering do-gooder dealing with
some crises lately shattering his naiveté. Humphrey Bogart toughed his way through,
well, whatever needed to be toughed through.
But the formula worked.
It created stars that were iconic.
The ticket purchasing audience was comfortable with familiarity; John
Wayne was never the bad guy, Clark Gable was never a wimp.
However, this is all prelude to the point of my
missive. Today, I want to present my
nominees for the sexiest women of the monochromatic period. “Was that when the dinosaurs walked the
earth, Dale?” No, Tinker Belle, it was
the days of the black and white movie and represents roughly 1930 to 1945. While the first colored movies were produced
during this period, most were shot in black and white. For the true film aficionado, there is a
certain mystique associated with the art of black and white film making. All mood must be set by light and
shadow. The director can’t cheat by
using a yellow dress to draw attention to the leading lady. She had to draw that attention with her style,
persona. And these women had style. Now you will probably note there are some
remarkably talented actresses not included in this list. That is because I am rating sex appeal and
not acting talent or popularity. I know,
this is as subjective as you can get. If
you don’t like it, set up your own blog site and make your own list.
Katherine Hepburn – There are some women born to the
lens. They make their celebrity purely
on physical attractiveness. Katherine
Hepburn is not one of those women. Her
sex appeal flows from her personality.
She possessed the rare ability to present a character as both strong
willed and confident while being vulnerable to the whimsy of romance Her four Oscar wins make her the most honored
actress in American film. In her
sixty-six year career she appeared in forty-four feature films plus television
and stage roles. I am particularly fond
of her early work (her career extended well into the 1980s. My favorite Hepburn performance is
Bringing Up Baby (1938 – RKO Studios). If you are wondering how Katherine Hepburn
makes a list of sexiest women, watch this movie and pay particular attention to
the scene at the country club restaurant.
Myrna Loy – If you are familiar with Loy’s early films, in
which she was often cast as an oriental, it might be hard to believe she was
the product of a Montana ranching family. Her exotic looks are cause enough for her
appearance on this list. But I find her
penchant for turning the tables on male leads by carving holes in their
incontrovertible logic her sexiest trait.
No matter her co-star, a simple question shaking the foundation of
masculine reasoning would leave the male stammering in retreat. While she played opposite many of the leading
men of the day, her
tour-de-force
performances were with William Powell.
That partnership began with
The
Thin Man (1934 – MGM) and was repeated in fourteen films. In all, she is credited in 138 movies from
1925 to 1982.
Merle Oberon – While Myrna Loy’s early career consisted of
Asian characterizations, Merle Oberon was that person. Born in Bombay, British India (1911) of mixed
race, she lived an impoverished life until she moved to France in 1929. That is where her professional acting career
began. Her real-life story reads
something like a Dickens novel but would take too much space to include
here. Her earliest appearances were
uncredited and began in 1929. She
continued acting until 1973. Her most
famous roll is opposite Lawrence Olivier as Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939 – Samuel Goldwyn Co.). What woman wouldn’t be sexy uttering the
name, “Heathcliffe”?
Irene Dunn – Her early career was dedicated to musical
theater. That is where she was
discovered in 1929 while starring with the road company of Show Boat and signed
with RKO Studios. She was the prototype
female lead in everything from screwball comedies to tear-jerking family
dramas. If you watch her performances,
then watch other female comedic actors of the period, you will see mannerisms
that originate with Dunne; the squinting smile, the playful shoulder shrug, the
feigned wide-eyed innocence. As with
several other women on my list, Dunne was adept at deflating the male ego while
maintaining femininity and grace. Her
career included 50 credits spanning 1930 to 1962. My favorite performances are opposite Cary
Grant (three films), most notably
The
Awful Truth (1937 – Columbia Pictures).
Hedy Lamarr – This is a woman born to the lens; beauty
suffices, no brains needed. Ironically, she
was a genius; more about that later. She
was born in Vienna in 1914. Her early
film career included a starring role in Gustav Machaty’s film
Ecstacy, which included full frontal
nudity and a realistically performed orgasm scene. This was a rare occurrence in 1933. She made the move to Hollywood from Europe
and was starring opposite the era’s biggest male leads including; Clark Gable,
Spencer Tracy and John Garfield. During
WWII, she collaborated with composer George Antheil (California neighbor) on
the invention, frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Now I have no idea what that means, but has
something to do with limiting an enemy’s ability to jam a radio control signal
by unpredictably changing radio frequencies.
While the original application was intended for controlling musical
instruments, it was applied to protecting ship-to-torpedo control signals from
interference. If you are a
histo-techno-geek, you can look it up yourself.
Her typical role was the glamorous seductress, and her exotic looks and
European accent made her a shoe-in for war film parts. One of the best examples is
Comrade X (1940 – MGM) opposite Clark
Gable.
Marlene Dietrich – Her sex appeal stemmed from her rolls as
an aggressive suitor. After a middling
early career in her native Germany, she enjoyed a breakthrough in the German
film
Der blaue Engel (“The Blue
Angel”) cast as… a femme fatale nightclub singer whose attentions create havoc
for an elderly professor. Do you think
the mold was cast? She moved to America
and enjoyed success for some time but then fell out of favor. In 1939, the Nazi’s courted her, offering
state sponsored fame in Germany. She
responded by denouncing the Reich and becoming an American citizen. From that time on, she was as famous for her
entertainment of American servicemen as she was for her movie rolls. She enjoyed a comeback in one of my favorite
films,
Destry Rides Again (1939 –
Universal Pictures) with James Stewart.
As you watch this film, you will realize it is the inspiration for many
of the Western genre clichés, leading to Mel Brooks’
Blazing Saddles (1974 – Warner Bros.).
Ann Sheridan – Hers was the clichéd story of the big
break. Originally from Denton, TX, her
sister sent Ann’s photograph to Paramount Pictures (Ann was attending the
University of North Texas at the time) which led to entry in a beauty contest
which, in turn, led to a bit part in a Paramount film. After two years during which Paramount did
little to promote the starlet, she left them for Warner Bros. in 1936. She was tagged the “Oomph Girl” and became a
popular pin-up. Between 1934 and 1967
she accumulated ninety-six acting credits while playing opposite many of the
golden age’s most famous male leads. She
was equally adept at drama and comedy.
Two of her best films demonstrate this range: Angels With Dirty Faces (1938 – Warner Bros.); and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 –
Warner Bros).
Jean Arthur – Sorry Lucy, this is the queen of the screwball
comedy. Beginning her career as a silent
screen actress in the 1920s, she acted in many low-budget western films. Arthur struggled to make the transition to
talkies, finally breaking through when she discovered her trademark throaty
voice. It was still some time, although
she continued to chalk up acting credits, before critics assessed her talents
in a positive light. She starred in
three Frank Capra films, the best of which is probably
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936 – Columbia Pictures) with Gary
Cooper. Between 1923 and 1953 she
amassed over ninety acting credits. Her
final film, quite opposite to type, was
Shane
(1953 – Paramount Pictures) with Alan Ladd.
Just as the critics had difficulty in accepting her talent, it took me a
while to recognize how many of the films I enjoy featured Arthur in the lead
female role. Unlike many of the women on
my list, Jean Arthur was not glamorous.
Her sex appeal is flows from her image as a real woman.
Jean Harlow – The phrase “blonde bombshell” was coined to
describe Jean Harlow. Her early film
career was underwritten by Howard Hughes.
While popular with audiences, she was panned by the critics. She became romantically involved with MGM
producer/director Paul Bern who urged Louis B. Mayer to buy-out her contract
with Hughes and sign her at MGM. Mayer
declined on the basis that MGM leading ladies were elegant, while Harlow’s
persona was that of a floozy which was abhorrent to Mayer. And that sums up the roles plaid by
Harlow. She was very sexual on
screen. She gave us the dumb blonde
stereotype. The rolls she played
contained no slow-burn, below the surface boiling passion. She was the champagne cork launched across the
room. Unfortunately, she died from renal
failure at the age of twenty-six. Her
last film, Saratoga (1937 – MGM) was opposite Clark Gable, with whom she had
paired for six films in total.
Maureen O’Sullivan – Although she had almost 100 acting
credits over a career of sixty years, she makes the list for one performance;
Jane Parker in
Tarzan the Ape Man
(1932 – MGM) opposite Johnny Weissmuller. If you have seen the unedited, non-television
version of this movie and remember her swimming in the lake with Weissmuller,
you know why she qualifies. Hubba, hubba!
There a more than a few iconic leading ladies that are not
on this list:
Betty Davis: Talented actress, but would you pick her out in
a bar?
Joan Crawford: Important, but scary as hell!
Vivien Leigh: Beautiful… but whine, whine, whine.
Elizabeth Taylor: Way too young for this list, wait for the
post-war period.
In those aforementioned academic brushes with Economics, this
student was exposed to various mathematical tools that when faithfully applied
resulted in the production of very impressive charts and graphs purporting to
divine future events regarding monetary outcomes given specific assumptions
about human behavior. And it should be
obvious to you by now that it is not the fault of the tools, but the humans’
failure to behave as predicted that causes the problem. For this, we must cast some blame at the feet
of the Psychologists. Much of Economic Theory
is predicated on the assumption that people, known rather dispassionately to
the economist as consumers, will always behave in a manner that advances their
own self interests. This consumer is
known as the rational man.
It is hard to build a reliable test for living, breathing human
subjects, as they are often smarter (albeit, less educated) than the
experimenter. So, the economist has no
choice but to create the surrogate rational man and subject him to the
experimental psychologist, who learned very early that the way to avoid chaotic
results was to abandon humans as test subjects in favor of white mice.
Therefore, it is easy to understand why economists are frustrated when their
test population shows a preference for beer over cheese. A mouse will quickly learn the shortest route
to its reward and continue to shave time off of its maze navigation building on
its success. The student volunteer;
being motivated by that cool, frothy elixir will, after repeated successful attempts
begin to demonstrate a rather sharp drop-off of performance, quite often
pausing in mid-test to nap. 
