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Nobody's Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood 1st Edition

by J. E. Smyth (Author)

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Looking back on her career in 1977, Bette Davis remembered with pride, "Women owned Hollywood for twenty years." She had a point. Between 1930 and 1950, over 40% of film industry employees were women, 25% of all screenwriters were female, one woman ran MGM behind the scenes, over a dozen women worked as producers, a woman headed the Screen Writers Guild three times, and press claimed Hollywood was a generation or two ahead of the rest of the country in terms of gender equality and employment.

The first comprehensive history of Hollywood's high-flying career women during the studio era, Nobody's Girl Friday covers the impact of the executives, producers, editors, writers, agents, designers, directors, and actresses who shaped Hollywood film production and style, led their unions, climbed to the top during the war, and fought the blacklist.

Based on a decade of archival research, author J.E. Smyth uncovers a formidable generation working within the American film industry and brings their voices back into the history of Hollywood. Their achievements, struggles, and perspectives fundamentally challenge popular ideas about director-based auteurism, male dominance, and female disempowerment in the years between First and Second Wave Feminism.

Nobody's Girl Friday is a revisionist history, but it's also a deeply personal, collective account of hundreds of working women, the studios they worked for, and the films they helped to make. For many years, historians and critics have insisted that both American feminism and the power of women in Hollywood declined and virtually disappeared from the 1920s through the 1960s. But Smyth vindicates Bette Davis's claim. The story of the women who called the shots in studio-era Hollywood has never fully been told-until now.

ISBN-10

019084082X
ISBN-13

978-0190840822
Edition

1st
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

April 5, 2018
Language

English
Dimensions

9.4 x 1.3 x 6.4 inches
Print length

328 pages
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From the Publisher


Davis with new friend Helen Hayes on the set of The Sisters, 1938 (Davis estate, Boston University).	Davis with Ed Sullivan receiving her 'Queen of Hollywood' crown, 1940 (private collection).	John Huston, stunned to read his orders to report for army duty, with Olivia de Havilland and Davis, 1942 (private collection).


Glamorous executive Anita Colby with David O. Selznick, 1944 (private collection).	Colby on the cover of Time, 1945, flanked by her charges Shirley Temple, Jennifer Jones, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, and Dorothy McGuire (private collection).	RKO Producer Joan Harrison, unimpressed by her Nocturne writer, John Latimer, 1946 (private collection).


Parsons joins Teresa Wright and her mother on the set of The Louella Parsons Story, 1956 (private collection).	McCall with her alter ego, Maisie, 1942 (private collection).	McCall, aka 'Sir,' as Screen Writers Guild president, 1951 (Writers Guild Foundation, Los Angeles).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this invaluable book film scholar J. E. Smyth... shows that women were the prime movers in the motion picture industry from the 1890s forward.... This excellent, detailed account of the women who made Hollywood hum offers an entirely new vision of Hollywood." --CHOICE

"[Smyth's] book is groundbreaking in detailing the achievements of women neglected by Hollywood histories." --Carrie Rickey, Film Quarterly

"An excellent foundation for researchers to build upon . . . a fascinating untold story." --H-Net

"The focus on directors has also led to the erasure of women's roles in Hollywood studio-era filmmaking is one of the most important and illuminating points made by J.E. Smyth in her new book,Nobodys Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood. Smyth does not unearthany forgotten female directors."
"Though this dilligently researched book has obviously been in the works for some time, its release is perfectly timed with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, which have made unignorable the way women have for decades been systematically underpaid, excluded from positions of influence, and subjected to sexual harassment in Hollywood."
"Smyth ends her book with little optimism for improvement in the future, but leaves readers with a good reason to reconsider and appreciate the past."

-- CINEASTE Magazine

"A brilliant book and delicious read that helps women take their rightful place in the history of Hollywood." -- Katie Buckland, Executive Director, Writers Guild Foundation

"Smyth's book is something of a revelation, even for readers who enjoy a steady diet of films on Turner Classic Movies. Scouring studio newsletters and company directories, she surfaces the names of women who held prominent positions in the film industry, including agents, writers and producers."-- The Washington Post

"Nobody's Girl Friday is a meticulously researched history of how women entered, developed, sustained, and grew within the Hollywood dream factory in that mid-century period before World War II and through to the end of the system in the early '60s...[Smyth has] provided a wise counterpoint to the "Great Man" auteur theory on two levels. We have always been aware that films are not immaculately created. They're a collaboration between many essential parties. Now, with Nobody's Girl Friday, we can be assured that the "Great Man" theory is wrong on literal as well as figurative levels." -- Popmatters

"In a fresh, lively examination of women's places in lm history, Smyth has uncovered abundant evidence for their significant roles as producers, writers, agents, editors, designers, union leaders, and, of course, performers...An exuberant celebration of empowered women." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Nobody's Girl Friday is an energetic, surprising and vital book that uncovers and celebrates the accomplishments of women who created film history from the 1920s to the 1960" -- Shelf Awareness

"In the age of #MeToo, as actresses expose Hollywood exploitation and female filmmakers are all too rare, it's astonishing to learn how times have changed - for the worse - in the last 80 years. As historian J.E. Smyth reveals in Nobody's Girl Friday...the American lm industry during its 'Golden Age' in the 1930s and 1940s was a model of workplace equality, with at least 40 percent of jobs filled by women." -- The New York Post

"Aimed at readers with a knowledge of and keen interest in Hollywood of yesteryear, Smyth's enlightening tome reveals the power and influence women wielded in Tinseltown during the Great Depression, WWII, and the postwar era." -- Booklist

"A timely study built on detailed research into Golden Age Hollywood...Smyth's work stands out as especially meaningful in the era of #MeToo and revived resistance of women in Hollywood to gender inequality." -- Publishers Weekly

"Her book is groundbreaking in detailing the achievements of women neglected by Hollywood histories..." --- Film Quarterly

"Smyth's book presents a fascinating untold story, focused not only on Hollywood stars but on the women behind the scenes who have remained unnamed for too long." --- H-Net

Book Description

A look at the career women that made studio-era Hollywood a hit

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (April 5, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 019084082X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0190840822
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.4 x 1.3 x 6.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,665,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #355 in Film & Television
- #510 in Gender Studies (Books)
- #2,500 in Telecommunications & Sensors

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J. E. Smyth is a historian, critic, and Professor of History at the University of Warwick. For more information, visit https://nobodysgirlfriday.com.

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Who knew that women had power in Hollywood in the Thirties?

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019

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Film historians for some time have known that women had power in Hollywood in the Twenties (Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, to name two), but the assumption has been that they lost power in the Thirties as the studios became monoliths. J.E. Smyth ("Reconstructing American Cinema From 'Cimarron' to 'Citizen Kane'"), one of our best film historians has discovered that simply was not true. She looks at various women who held positions of power and how they influenced the films they worked on. One of her chief subjects is Mary McCall, who in addition to writing the Maisie series of films in the Forties, also served several terms as president of the Writers Guild. Another subject is Barbara McLean, one of the greatest American film editors ("All About Eve"), who at the time of her death in 1996 had as many Oscar nominations as any other film editor. She won an Oscar for "Wilson."
Smyth is not only a terrific researcher but a lively and entertaining writer. Anybody who cares about women in Hollywood should read this book.

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Orchid

Spotlighting the Important Role of Women in the Film Business in America across the 1940s

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2018

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Smyth’s book helps fill a gap in motion picture history with her examination of the roles many women played in the film industry, especially in the 1940s. Using trade magazines, archival material, life writing, and some works of fiction on the industry, Smyth offers a solid overview of women working in the film business in taste-making roles upon which the studios relied from talent finding to script reading and film cutting. Smyth puts known figures Edith Head, Bette Davis, and Katherine Hepburn in a fresh context. She does a great service in collecting as much of the lives and career assessments of valued others in the film business who were never seen on screen, but whose work made the magic happen. Film students, in particular, should read this book to get a sense of the presence of women and their influence on American popular film culture in the mid-20th century. One will also find a research model in Smyth’s book, useful in advancing similar discovery work into women’s leadership in the entertainment industry, the role of politics on the entertainment business, and the shaping of taste in popular entertainments in America.

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RJT378

A more honest history of powerful women in Hollywood

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2018

I had grown-up watching black and white movies with my mother but as a kid in the '80s, I never had any real appreciation for that time. It wasn't until I saw the TV show Feud that it rekindled an interest in movies from the golden age of Hollywood. I ended up taking more of an interest in the studio system and the people (specifically, I was shocked that I didn't really know anything about Joan Crawford). Since then I have read more than a dozen books on the subject and found the running narrative that old Hollywood was a sexist place where men dominated, often using sex or "the casting couch" to be highly simplistic and kind of something that just gets repeated until it becomes gospel. For me, this book goes a long way towards creating a more honest view of a time and a system that shaped the world. It reinforces what I personally have read on this general time period in Hollywood, while also telling the stories of powerful and successful women that most people dont know about.

The main time period covered in this book is one where in Hollywood women held 40% of jobs, plenty of which were in very high ranking positions, just behind the men who created the studio system. The highest paid Hollywood executive in the '20s was June Mathis, a woman. She was MGM's go-to person for problem solving. Examples like this were more often the case whereas, most people think of Hollywood as male producers chasing women around their desks all day. Some of that happened. Harry Rapf quite literally chased Joan Crawford around his desk one night until she finally put her foot down and said no.

Some of that was also an invention of Hollywood itself. And still some of that is an invention of posthumous Hollywood star biographies that sensationalize almost as a rule in order to sell books. I've found real honesty in the autobiographies. Particularly those of lesser stars who had less of a reputation or legacy to protect. They are able to be the most honest about what Hollywood was back then.

Still, some of the popular narratives just will not die. It does nobody any good to cover a transformative Hollywood event like "box office poison" and not mention the male stars also called box office poison in that article. The entire industry was reeling from a 30% drop in box office and one of the first times where the obvious answer to what Americans wanted to see was lost on Hollywood. That has continued off-and-on until this very day where now we have entered a time where the highest grossing and most popular movies have not won awards for years, with instead the winners being the most popular movie within far-left Hollywood circles. And they wonder why interest in not just awards ceremonies but movies themselves, continues to decline significantly. It's not just the cost of a movie ticket.

As for the current state of gender in Hollywood; after #metoo started the latest numbers show that women still mostly dominate in the majority of areas overall but these are also areas that women traditionally want to work in. Costumes department, set decoration, casting, etc. Women dominate these areas often over 90%. Men do the set building and heavy lifting. There isnt even that much of a difference in upper management or production. Men still dominate behind the camera, for whatever reason.

The two characters in Feud would view their time in Hollywood differently, at different times. Early on Bette Davis took issue with the "male dominated system studio system." Ultimately she said “Women owned Hollywood for 20 years,” a nostalgic Davis sighed in 1977. “And we must not be bitter.” A simple look at the numbers would suggest that to her it might have been just two decades but it was in fact much longer and is still actually the case, in many ways.

Joan Crawford would mostly defend the system that gave her fame and fortune and be publicly critical of people like Davis. She suggested that personal responsibility was still a thing. She definitely had more male oriented sensibilities about things. Crawford also suggested that the employment breakdown by gender was never an issue. Men did jobs they were more suited for while women did jobs they were more suited for.

And of course, according to Joan, both men and women could be bitches. The fact that men could be bitches was always a great disappointment to Joan.

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