A time of distraction…

A time of distraction….Films of the Great Depression

Hollywood and the Great Depression

• Served as a distraction to the problems of society

• Allowed people to escape their troubles for a couple of hours

• Provided reassurance and hope • Worked to reinforce American

values and strike out against political radicalism

• At the lowest points of the Depression, 60 to 80 million people a week were still going to the movies


• The movie industry was not Depression-proof

• Suffered immense loss of revenue from switch to sound pictures (approximately $410 million)

• Cut production costs and salaries to continue making films

• Gimmicks to increase attendance at films – lower ticket costs, giveaways, double bills, Bank Nights, etc.


• Films in general were “grounded in social realism” (Digital History)

• Films were set against many depression backdrops which provided hope in the reality of the times

• Early depression-based characters featured gangsters and the lower elements of society

• Comedies emerged to take on the traditional institutions and thoughts

• Sexuality emerged in film

Depression Era Comedy

Hal Roach and His Little Rascals

• Series of short films that ran from 1922 to 1944

• The series was originally created and produced by Hal Roach until he sold the franchise to MGM in 1938

• Name changed to Our Gang with switch to MGM

• Originally begun as silent films, the series took off with the conversion to sound


The Little Rascals / Our Gang• Broke ground with integration of

characters giving females and African-Americans lead roles

• Numerous Hollywood luminaries wrote for the series including Leo McCarey (director, An Affair to Remember), Frank Capra (director, It’s A Wonderful Life), and Walter Lantz (creator, Woody Woodpecker)

• Cast came from a number of different places including competitions

• Revived a number of times in modern times including 1994 movie


The Three Stooges• A vaudevillian comedy troupe that

became famous for their short subject films then movies and television

• Some form of the group was in existence from 1925 to 1969

• Originally known as Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen with Moe Howard, his brother Shemp, and Larry Fine as part of the troop led by comedian, Ted Healy

• Name changed to The Three Stooges when Shemp left and was replaced by his brother Curly.


The Three Stooges• The troop went through a number of

changes through its career but Moe and Larry were consistent member

• Split with Healy in 1934 when their contract with MGM expired

• Made over 211 films and television shows over the course of their career

• A slap stick comedy team, they grew to be one of the most popular acts from 1935-1941

• At times attempted to take on social causes in their films


The Marx Brothers• A family act that featured brothers

Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo (these were stage names)

• The group performed from 1905-1949 and appeared in 13 films

• The three older brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho were the primary comedic players

• Gummo does not appear in any of the films and Zeppo only appears in five in non-comedic roles


The Marx Brothers• Originally signed with Paramount but

worked later on with MGM and RKO• The early films engrained the Marx

brothers into American culture• The last two Marx Brothers films, A

Night in Casablanca(1946) and Love Happy (1949) were made to pay off Chico’s gambling debts

• After 1949, the troupe went their separate ways with Chico fronting the Chico Marx Orchestra and Groucho hosted You Bet Your Life on television from 1949-1961


Modern Times• Released in 1936, the film features

Charlie Chaplin performing his most famous character, The Little Tramp

• Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, scored and starred in the film

• The film looks at the problems facing the working man during the Depression

• Film was inspired by a conversation that Chaplin had with Mahatma Gandhi and his complaints about the effects of machinery on society


Modern Times• The film inspired many comic

routines in other films and on television (Donald Duck, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke show open)

• The film was Chaplin’s first political film and attacks the industrial society

• Last film featuring the Little Tramp as Chaplin did not want the Tramp to talk

• Film would result in Chaplin being placed on J. Edgar Hoover’s watch list

The Gangster Film• Emerging out of the decay caused by

the Depression, gangster films personified the fears that traditional values wouldn’t survive the economic crisis

• The first film, Little Caesar, was so successful that 50 gangster films were released the following year

• The most violent movie of 1932 was Scarface which fictionalized the life of Al Capone and depicted 43 murders

• In early films, the gangster is seen as rags to riches success story

• Later films show that the gangster’s fate is death by justice

The Gangster Film

The Public Enemy• Release in 1931, the film stars

James Cagney as Tommy Powers• Powers is seen as an all-American

anti-hero during the Prohibition era

• Powers’ death in the end comes from a fellow mobster which was symbolic of the deterioration of law enforcement and government

• Cagney would later play the character of Brick Davis who was similar to Powers only he was a G-man on the “right side” of the law

The Hollywood Musical• The musical was an offshoot

of the hope generated by the New Deal and President Roosevelt

• Provided another escape from the realities of the Great Depression

• Marked a definite change in Hollywood away from the gangster and mob films

• Embraced the new film technology of soundFootlight Parade (1933)

Image from Wikipedia

The Hollywood Musical

• Made famous by MGM Studios and Busby Berkley

• Staged in the Depression, featured success stories in the time of struggle which gave viewers hope

• Lavish productions that featured some of the biggest names in Hollywood

• Musicals would survive beyond the Depression despite the lack of quality stories later in the 1930s



Busby Berkley• Began his career in the US Army in

the artillery directing parades and camp shows for the soldiers

• Wanted to choreograph the dances along with direct the film

• Uses the camera as part of the dance choreography

• Became synonymous with the Hollywood musical directing and choreographing films such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, and Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Image from filmdirectorssite.com


The Wizard of Oz• Released in 1939, it is based off

the work of L. Frank Baum• Film utilized the 3-strip color

process which was still in its experimental phase during the filming

• The color film process is known as Technicolor

• While not the first color film, its use of color helped changed the film world

• The film won 6 Academy Awards



The Wizard of Oz• The film was MGM’s response to the

popularity of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

• Snow White’s voice appears in the film during the song “If I Only Had a Heart”

• The film’s horses were colored using Jell-O crystals

• Many of the Wicked Witch of the West’s scenes were cut because they were viewed as too frightening

• The song “Over the Rainbow” was almost cut from the movie because it made the Kansas seen too long


BibliographyDigital History (2013). Hollywood and the Great Depression. Retrieved from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_great_depression.cfm

Maltin, Leonard & Richard W. Bann (1992). The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press.

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A time of distraction…