The golden age of Hollywood

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I love reading about the golden age of Hollywood and about MGM specifically. It was a time when celebrities really had it made in a way they don't today. Back then stars were catered to. The downside is that this was also a time when it was a lot easier for people to be taken advantage of and child stars at the time didn't have the rights and regulations that they do today. MGM at one time had the biggest list of celebrities and was known for its good looking actors. They catered to them in a way a lot of other studios didn't. I remember reading about how they actually hired cars to drive their stars where they needed on the lot and had them take classes in everything they thought they'd need to be a convincing actor. They had classes for horseback riding, swimming, etc. They wanted their stars to be convincing and they were. MGM had a budget for movies a lot of other studios didn't. Watching a musical made by Warner Brothers was never as good as an MGM musical. MGM was well known for its musicals. Actors back then had it made in a lot of ways. The studio covered up things about the actors that could damage their reputations and it was much easier to hide things back then than it is now. I often think it had to be easier in some ways to be a celebrity back then. They could actually keep their private life mostly private because there wasn't the internet the way there is now. Celebrities didn't have every stupid thing they did posted online for everyone to see. The downside is that in order to be successful back then they often had to hide who they were. People were not ok with openly homosexual celebrities. The studio had a lot more sway over actors and had more control over their lives. I think about poor Judy Garland a lot and what they did to her. I think about how while Van Johnson didn't actually complain much about MGM and was happy to let them make his image and the way he lived up to it there was a rumor that MGM was behind him marrying Evie Wynn. I don't know how much of that was Van and how much of that was MGM but I know they couldn't have a gay celebrity so they hid it. Doris Day didn't care much about being a celebrity so they didn't have the sway over her the way they did a lot of other actors. When I read about that time period it sounds as amazing as it sounds heartbreaking. Nothing is ever perfect. There's a reason some things don't last. I feel like there's always sacrifice in everything especially in the things that seem "perfect". I think about how much easier it was for agents to take advantage of people back then. I remember reading that Van Johnson said he didn't actually know how much money he had because he had people handle it and that's a pretty scary concept. I feel like celebrities while having people to help them handle things today are more aware of how much money they have. Van used to claim in interviews that he was careful with money and his stepson said that was true in some aspects but not others and that Van spent money for the glamour of it and then statements of not knowing how much he had. I feel like back in the day things like that were just handed over to other people to take care of without really questioning it. It was a lot easier to get away with things like that back then. People still scam people today especially online but if you aren't naive and are smart you know not to trust people whereas back then people just handed over their money without questioning it as much. I think the golden age of Hollywood sounds almost magical but too perfect to have existed forever which is why it didn't. Things happen and things change and we have to move on from them. A lot of actors struggled after the collapse of the golden age when they had to try and find work on their own after their contracts either expired or they ended them. I still feel like MGM didn't use Van Johnson to the full extent of his abilities and just put him in things that would make the Bobbysoxers swoon. He just took whatever was handed to him and didn't question it much. Back then they had to do so many movies per their contract with whatever studio they were signed to and didn't have a lot of say on which movies they were given. I feel like he was shortchanged with all of his talent as were several of the actors under contract. Van could sing and dance fairly well he may not have been Gene Kelly and he didn't have the voice of Frank Sinatra but he could still do both well and despite it all, he only really used either of those talents a few times in movies. For MGM having the pool of talent they had they definitely didn't use it the way they should have. Studios no longer contract actors. They now hire them to play different roles and they contract per movie and not the actor themselves. It got too expensive for studios to contract actors. They now only pay an actor per movie whereas back in the day they had a set amount they paid an actor and the actor had to do so many movies within a year or however long their contract said but it offered a source of security that doesn't exist now but at the same time it made it easier for studios to control their actors which is much more difficult to do today. Actors are granted more freedom over roles and their own lives now but they aren't offered the same financial security they were back when they did contract actors to studios. During the golden age, celebrities were treated like royalty and the movies were better with more original storylines and they had to be creative with situations and couldn't rely on special effects because they didn't exist then. Part of the reason I love old movies so much is because of the care that was put into them and I love that almost every movie during that time was a movie you could watch with your children. Van Johnson and Doris Day both said they didn't want to do movies that weren't family-friendly. Neither liked the way newer movies did sex scenes and spoke with vulgarity. Van Johnson never felt comfortable with swearing on screen or stage and Doris Day just didn't like swearing. It was just a classier time I guess. I like newer movies too. I like a good movie in general but there's something about older movies that just speak to me the way a lot of newer ones don't.