Reading the 20th Century discussion

Every month we discuss a book on a specific era or a theme.


Our January 2019 theme is early Hollywood

The Hollywood Raj: How Brits Reigned in the Golden Age of the Movies is about early Hollywood and came joint second in the vote - it is our moderator's choice for January 2019.

This discussion thread will open in January 2019.

As the son of Robert Morley and grandson of Gladys Cooper, as well as being a well-known critic and director in his own right, the author was clearly able to get many people to talk to him

Here's the blurb....

'God felt sorry for the actors, so he gave them a place in the sun and a swimming-pool; all they had to sacrifice was their talent' - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, 1935.

But who exactly were those British actors, what drew them to California from their London theatrical homes and what happened to them? Though there have been many histories of Hollywood and its professional inhabitants, this is the first specifically to consider the extraordinary feat of colonization achieved there by the British from the coming of sound through fifty years to the final destruction of the old studios by television. It was India all over again, merely a century later: from Ronald Colman and Bob Hope to Greer Garson and Julie Andrews, the British arrived as an invading army of expert settlers (after all, they could speak the English language at a time when many silent film stars were still having trouble mastering American) and they rapidly formed cricket clubs and polo teams before arranging afternoon teas to which they would only occasionally invite the natives - their American employers.

This then is the story of the California British across half a century: the ones who stayed and became stars, the ones who could never go back because they were too old, too rich or sometimes just too afraid - the wartime British press campaign known as 'Gone With The Wind Up' aimed at those actors and directors who had not returned to Britain in 1939 left scars which were apparent a decade later.

Happy new year one and all - here's to another wonderful year of literary discourse here at RTTC

We're opening this discussion on 31 December 2018 before the celebrations tonight.

We hope everyone has a lovely last few hours of 2018, and we look forward to more great books in 2019.

A bit more about The Hollywood Raj: How Brits Reigned in the Golden Age of the Movies.....

First there was Charles Chaplin. Then came Stan Laurel, and subsequently a host of well-loved British actors and characters whose lives, loves, lavish parties and bitter rivalries constitute the sceptred isle's last empire builders. This unique and comprehensive history of the dream factory starts at the very beginning of cinema history with Eadweard Muybridge, the inventor of moving pictures, and the founder of RADA Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who starred in a version of Macbeth filmed in a studio before the area was even called Hollywood. The book looks at the golden age of the 1930s, when expat life under the Californian sun revolved around cricket clubs and food parcels sent by family members left behind, before absorbing the impact of McCarthyism. Morley discusses the paradox of establishing oneself as a Beverly Hills player without losing one's roots, the numerous successes, disasters, murders, suicides, Oscars and scandals that epitomise the British experience in the place where dreams are made.

I’m about a third of the way through this and enjoying the witty, gossipy writing style. The descriptions of Beerbohm Tree making the mini Shakespeare films are hilarious.

I've started. Need to get back to it.

I read this - light hearted, full of gossipy stories. My knowledge of anything film based is minimal, but it was an interested history of the period from a Brit point of view.

On Dorothy Mackaill, one of the actresses who is briefly mentioned, I think she has gained a lot more recognition recently as the star of a riveting early 1930s film, Safe in Hell, directed by William Wellman - a must for anyone who loves films from the pre-Code period.

Any film called Safe In Hell instantly sounds intriguing just from the title alone

Thanks Judy - another top tip

I have now read the first three chapters and I am enjoying it so far. It's humerous and gossipy.

I just came across this review of 'Safe in Hell' on Amazon UK....


From the opening scene of scantily dressed Gilda stretched out making phone call arrangements to meet a “client”, to her hideaway on a Caribbean island in the company of sleazy reprobates, themes of prostitution and murder, and the film’s tabloid-styled title with a screenplay crammed with hidden sexual meaning and innuendos, there’s little doubting that Safe In Hell is a pre-code masterwork. A couple of years later it would never have been made – or censored to the extent that it would have lost its raison d’etre.

British born Dorothy MacKaill plays Gilda, a woman who “made her living the only way she could”, finds brief happiness with an honest sailor (Donald Cook) as she hides away from the law only to find herself in an equally desperate situation, now safe in hell and fighting the advances of the island’s totally corrupt law-maker (Rafe Harolde).

This is an extraordinary film and MacKaill is an extraordinary actress who convincingly changes the gamut of emotions from pitiful to defiant, repentant to sorrowful as her life runs its course trapped in this island hellhole, leading on to an unexpected climax with salvation as she walks into the sunset. Released by Warner Bros. in its made-to-order Archive Collection, Safe In Hell does show its age with slight surface marks and occasional soundtrack noises, but its rediscovery easily overcomes such shortcomings. Demanding director William Wellman draws strong performances from his cast (including black actors Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse, both bereft of familiar Hollywood stereotyping) in a film that continues to be fresh and innovative even after several viewings.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Safe-Hell-Re...

How did you manage to see it Judy? On TV? On DVD?

It sounds like a classic

Hmm, I thought I had it on DVD but just checked and I haven't, so I'm afraid I am not sure now where I saw it, Nigeyb! However, I may be tempted to treat myself to a copy as I'd like to see it again.

Where possible I prefer to get the European releases as long as the subtitles can be removed, as they are proper pressed DVDs rather than the Warner Archive ones which tend to be on-demand ones and very expensive.

I'm about two thirds of the way through now and enjoying this, but finding it very bitty, probably at least partly because I'm having to read on my phone while awaiting a replacement Kindle! I'm also slightly wondering how much this would appeal to anyone who isn't as interested in the era as I am?

I think Sheridan Morley has an enjoyably witty writing style, but at times he is perhaps a bit dismissive. I really liked the bits about Mrs Patrick Campbell, but he gives the impression she was a disaster on film - I watched one or two clips online and she seemed fine, though admittedly I didn't see a whole film with her in.

He is also a bit dismissive of the 1930s Romeo and Juliet and Marie Antoinette starring Norma Shearer, both of which I really enjoyed even though it's definitely true that Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard are much too old for Romeo and Juliet, and John Barrymore even more too old for Mercutio - but he is just so brilliant!

And Sheridan's dad Robert Morley is excellent in Marie Antoinette - I'd mainly seen him in later years on British TV, so interesting to see him in his prime.

Actually he does get more enthusiastic about Marie Antoinette. I didn’t realise that Robert Morley got an Oscar nomination for that.

I found it entertaining, but have little interest in film at all, and haven't seen much of the film discussed. I have read a book about the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the period is an interesting one.

Judy wrote: "I'm having to read on my phone while awaiting a replacement Kindle!"


Ouch. You have my sympathies Judy

Judy wrote: "Robert Morley is excellent in Marie Antoinette - I'd mainly seen him in later years on British TV, so interesting to see him in his prime."

I'm not sure I've ever seen him in his prime. I'll aim to but that right.

I used to have a big interest in film, particulary European and independent cinema but drifted way. I am finding this book a fun read as I do not really know anything about Hollywood in this period. However, for me, this book is more about social history than the history of Hollywood cinema. I am about one third of the way through the book and I did enjoy the chapter dealing with the arrival of the British script writers.

I know even less about 1930s films than I do about early 1970s music. I have read The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses. They are very entertaining and David Niven's film career started in the 1930s, but I gather he never let the facts get in the way of a good story, so I'm not sure they give a true picture of Hollywood at the time.

Glad to hear you have both found the book entertaining, Susan and Andrew. I'm thinking I may read more by Sheridan Morley in future, as Dean Street Press have reprinted some of his other books - biographies of David Niven, Noel Coward, James Mason, his father Robert Morley and his grandmother Gladys Cooper.

Val wrote: "I know even less about 1930s films than I do about early 1970s music. I have read The Moon's a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses. They are very entertaining and Dav..."

I found those very entertaining too but I think he is very economical with the truth - maybe not as outrageously so as his friend Errol Flynn in My Wicked, Wicked Ways!

I agree with Andrew that this is more a social history than a history of film.

In view of modern times, it interests me that the Brits seem to be lauded for going to Hollywood and then living as though they are back at home - tea, polo, English nannies, etc. Yet, now, many ethnic groups who stick together in particular areas are viewed negatively - as ghettoising themselves, or being unwilling to integrate.

I know many of the British actors loved Hollywood, but many did seem to look down on the Americans. I was also fascinated to read of many American actors who decided, 'if you can't beat them, join them,' and became more British than the Brits :)

Class, of course, still comes into it:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...

Susan wrote: "I agree with Andrew that this is more a social history than a history of film ..."

I agree with you both - and it's also largely a collection of funny anecdotes and one-liners.

While I'm finding the book very entertaining (nearly at the end now), I do feel that many of the films mentioned are much more worth seeing than Morley suggests.

For instance, Mrs Miniver - yes, it's a Hollywood view of Britain and focuses on a middle-class family, as he says, but it is a rare war film which puts women at the centre, and as far as I remember I found it very entertaining.

An interesting point about the British enclave, Susan - seems as if they did come in for criticism at times for being too cliquey, but not all that much.

After reading the section about Alexander Korda and his friendship with Churchill, interesting to see this article in the Guardian today:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...

I finished this today and found it an enjoyable read. I found the chapters dealing with the second world war interesting and feel this material deserves a complete book in itself.

I have been reading about the plan to film silent versions of Shakespeare's plays: Shakespeare's plays without Shakespeare's words. How did anyone ever think that was a good idea?

It was Macbeth, wasn't it? Lots of battle scenes, some witches, swirling mist, a castle, and a murder. I am sure it was possible :)

It might be possible, but it's not Shakespeare.

Historically, 'Shakespeare' in the theatre has often not been Shakespeare: from the C17th-20th (amazingly) the accepted version of King Lear had a happy ending where Cordelia married Edgar; and the Victorians knew Shakespeare via burlesques of his plays...

Some of Shakespeare's words would have been included via intertitles in some silent films, especially as they got longer and included more of the play.

The BFI has released a DVD called Silent Shakespeare which features some very early silent films, made in Britain, Italy and the US, including hand-coloured ones - it's a while since I saw this but I remember it as fascinating:

https://www.bfi.org.uk/blu-rays-dvds/...

There are also a lot of silent films, or scenes from them, available to see online - here's a link to a search showing some of those available on the BFI's YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BFIfilms...

Andrew wrote: "I finished this today and found it an enjoyable read. I found the chapters dealing with the second world war interesting and feel this material deserves a complete book in itself."

I agree with you - it would be very interesting to read a good book about Hollywood during the Second World War, or some aspect of this. Has anyone read anything about this that they'd recommend?

Only the book I read about Roald Dahl and his spying, which touched on some actors. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

Judy wrote: "Some of Shakespeare's words would have been included via intertitles in some silent films, especially as they got longer and included more of the play."
That may have been what Sir Henry Tree was expecting. His 'sleepiness' seems diplomatic.

I was amused to read how much influence Elinor Glyn managed to have, despite being lured to Hollywood more as 'window dressing' than for her writing skills.

I've seen 'It', a fun silent film with Clara Bow as the original 'It girl', where Elinor Glyn suddenly pops into the middle of the movie, as herself, to explain all about the idea of someone having 'It'!

I read Addicted to Romance: The Life and Adventures of Elinor Glyn earlier this year and found Elinor Glyn to really be a fascinating woman. I would highly recommend the book.

I am reading the book on my Kindle, and have already finished Laughing Gas, but I thought I'd have a break with Moving Pictures, on audio (a break from Dombey & Son, which is excessively long ...). One of the earlier Pratchetts, but a sideways look at the early days of Hollywood, and the star system.

In the later sections, where Sheridan Morley brings the book up to time of writing, I was surprised to see that Michael Caine appeared to have taken up permanent residence in Beverly Hills - seems he lived there for a few years as a tax exile in the 1980s, but he soon moved back to the UK and has certainly never lost his Cockney accent, as predicted by the author!

In general, though, it was interesting to see him tracing how film-making was becoming more international, with "Hollywood" productions often being made around the world, as still happens with many films today.

I have just finished it, and was rather disappointed. In my opinion it did not meet its own challenge - to show how the British colonised Hollywood. Too much of it was lists of British stars (and although I may have heard of some of them in my childhood, most were just names) and the films, now long forgotten, that they were in. The occasional snippet of anecdote did not succeed in fleshing out most of the characters.

I would have liked more depth in some areas, and about some people.

Because it was published in 1983 (effectively, quite early in Michael Caine's career ...) it didn't cover the more recent careers of British actors as villains - Charles Dance, Alan Rickman, although I suppose that is foreshadowed in the attempt to cast the British as the Japanese High Command!

I tend to agree with Rosina, a lot of the book was lists of actors arriving, making a film or two, then either going home or staying. It was more interesting when other things were going on, such as WWII or the Anti-American Affairs purges, but they were not covered in much depth.
There were some fun snippets, such as quite how many of the Southern beaus and belles in "Gone with the Wind" were played by Brits and some of Sheridan Morley's stories about his grandmother.

I enjoyed it, but also felt that at times it turned into lists or collections of often amusing anecdotes rather than really looking at the British Hollywood community in any depth. As it was written 36 years ago, it's also probably the case that some actors who were still well-known names when the book came out are less so now, I suppose.

Judy wrote: "As it was written 36 years ago, it's also probably the case that some actors who were still well-known names when the book came out are less so now, I suppose"

I was in my mid-thirties then, and obviously had heard of some of them, and seen films with them in. But most of them have slipped from my memory, if they ever existed there, even those who (I think) may have come back to the UK and played character parts on TV. With imdb I could check some of their histories, but in 1983 that would not have been possible. I wonder if there were more appendices and indexing in the paper version.

I agree that the book became more interesting when something else was going on - such as the war, for example.

I found myself thinking of the movie Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. while reading this. I know its just a biopic of him but it did give a good feel of early Hollywood.

Lynaia wrote: "I found myself thinking of the movie Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. while reading this. I know its just a biopic of him but it did give a good feel of early Hollywood."

That's true, Lynaia - I think that film also gives a feel of the distance between Chaplin on and off screen.