Join the Pasadena Senior Center on Tuesday, Feb. 9, as their two-hour Masters Series continues with “History of American Movies,” the Senior Center’s winter term focus, this time discussing the end of Hollywood’s Studio Era and what Hollywood was like in the 1960s.
In this series, Dr. Jonathan Kuntz, film historian, covers the American film industry, from the birth of Hollywood at the turn to the last century through the challenges facing filmmaking and distribution today.
“History of American Movies” is on Zoom from 2 to 4 p.m. every Tuesday, up to Feb. 23.
The Studio Era was an historical period in filmmaking from the 1920s to the ’60s, when the production and distribution of films was dominated by a small number of large movie studios that made films primarily on their own filmmaking lots, with creative personnel under often long-term contracts. These studios also dominated exhibition through what was termed as “vertical integration,” where the ownership or effective control of distributors and exhibitors guaranteed additional sales of films through block booking.
During this period, also referred to as the Golden Age of Hollywood, eight companies – the Big Five and the Little Three – operated the major studios in Hollywood.
Each of The Big Five – Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and RKO Radio Pictures – owned studios, a distribution division, and a chain of theaters. The Little Three – Universal, Columbia Pictures, and United Artists – also had big studios and contracted performers and filmmaking personnel, but owned smaller theater circuits compared to the Big Five.
A Supreme Court ruling in 1948 challenged this studio system and sought to separate film production from their distribution and exhibition. By 1954, with television beginning to compete for audience share, the last of the operational links between big studios and theater chains were broken and the Studio Era had come to an end.
To register for the Master Series, visit www.
