To what extent was Paramount typical and representative of the major Hollywood studio corporations in the 1930s and 1940s?

Paramount, one of the big five Hollywood studio corporations, controlled the most amount of theatres in the United States during the 1930s and 40s. This meant they had an advantage when the economy in the US turned around after the great depression. This being said, many more factors come into play when defining to what extent the studio is a typical representation of a major Hollywood studio corporation in the 1930s and 40s. In this essay I will be going in depth into what extent Paramount is a representation of other key studios in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s. I will be discussing how Paramount’s methods as a corporation such as exhibition, distribution, star system and genre to see how it is a typical representative of a Hollywood studio corporation. I will be using material such as Richard B. Jewel’s The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929 – 1945 to go into detail in explaining my points.

Para 1 – Exhibition

Many of the studios in Hollywood owned their own cinemas, in fact the big five, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Warner Bros’ and Twentieth Century Fox owned 80% of all first run cinemas in the US with complete control of them in 78 of the 95 main cities. This meant that the studios had a lot of say in what pictures they wanted to show their audience. Throughout the 1930’s and early 40’s the great depression affected many industries in America including the film industry. Theatre attendance rates plummeted from an average of 90 million prior to the depression to an average of 60 million a week during it. This caused 34% of film theatres to closedown nationwide. The studios introduced strategies to counter the depression such as location planning, building theatres in shopping areas where attendance is guaranteed, and making t...

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...e eventually signed for Twentieth Century Fox where her career started to prosper. With Grable being failed by both RKO and Paramount, it is clear that both studios share similar methods in how to develop an actor/actresses career. All three saw potential in Grable which again show similarities within the studio corporation.

Works Cited

Pasquarello, M. (2007). The Great Depression and Its Effects on the Movie Theatres of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Available: http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his480/reports/dep-movi.htm. Last accessed 11/03/2014.

Jewel, R. B (2007). The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929-1940. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. P86: Figure 2.6

Jewel, R. B (2007). The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929-1940. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. P77

Jewel, R. B (2007). The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929-1940. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p255.