Nothing ever changes

Once upon a time, a group of young film makers moved west. They chafed under the tyranny of The Motion Picture Patents Company, also called the Trust. It was founded by Tomas Edison, and controlled all film making on the East Coast, which was to say pretty much all of the film making.

They moved to Arizona, and finding it not to their liking, moved on until the tracks ran out, and they found themselves in Hollywood. And so the movie capitol of the world was founded, and nothing has really changed since then.

I find it fascinating that the people and studios that founded Hollywood were independent filmmakers, young rebels that raged against the establishment and wanted to make something new. Today they are the establishment, unwilling to take risks and break new ground. Today's Hollywood are yesterday's Trust.

As an aside, we see the same exact pattern in the video game industry. What were once small passionate studios working on shoestring budgets out of garages and dilapidated offices, are today the EA's, Activision's and Ubisoft's of the world. AAA studios crewed by businessmen with no understanding of what makes a good game, only what makes profit at any cost. Gigantic marketing and media empires that care not about art, only about the bottom line. I guess that means that the video game industry has finally grown up.

Oh well, back to the Golden Age of Hollywood.

The film industry grew rapidly and quickly became incredibly lucrative. In 1916, Alma Rubens starred in The Mystery of the Leaping Fish for which she was paid $3000 a week. That is $70,320 in today's money adjusted for inflation. Sounds familiar doesn't it? Then she became hooked on cocaine and died in 1931, her career in ruins. Fame it seems has always been a cruel mistress.

If we think studios are powerful today (and they are), it's nothing compared to how they were back in those days. Contracts had morality clauses that controlled the stars lives to an incredible degree. Get pregnant? Bad for business, get an abortion. Are you gay? Bad for business, marry a woman or get fired.

Not that the studios cared that their talent were gay or slept around. They cared that the public wouldn't find out. Apparently it was common knowledge who was gay in Hollywood, but the public never knew. Mass media was easier to control in those days.

Then we have the fixers and the cleaners. And make no mistake, they still exist. Their job was to keep everything squeaky clean on the surface.

Suppose someone overdoses at your party. What to do? Can't call the cops and admit illegal drug use at your house. Call the cleaners. They'll get rid of the body for you. Got some young thing pregnant and now she wants money? Call the fixers to fix the problem... You get the picture.

Everything we hear about the stars today, already happened a hundred years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That's all folks, until next time, have a calm and stress free week!