Oral history sheds new light on old Hollywood

Both were given unprecedented access to AFI’s workshops, oral histories, and complete archives—nearly 400 figures and more than 3,000 hours of tape—to make what they call “the only comprehensive first-hand history of Hollywood.” Basinger covers the era of the studio system up to the 1960s, while Wasson focuses on filmmaking thereafter.

In his review, Reviews of Kirkus writes: “For cinephiles… this tome is a goldmine of production details, behind-the-scenes deals and insider gossip.”

The following is part of a conversation with Basinger, who was recently honored with a new Wesleyan building named after her, the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies.

How did it even start?

Sam’s idea was to create a conversation starting from the very beginning of the film to the present day and without interruption. It would just be the story of the movie as one big conversation by people who actually did it on their feet.

Were the subjects more forthcoming knowing that the conversations were unlikely to be overheard by the general public?

They’re talking to students at the AFI Conservatory or an oral history person, or they’re talking to each other in a group panel, so it’s basically oral histories, so what they say isn’t something that’s kept. It is very frank and fresh. Only a very small amount has been used by scholars or biographers.

Of course, everything is from a personal point of view.

Like everyone said 16 people them were the ones who invented the trolley or the boom microphone. But then again, it’s quite startling to suddenly hear someone like cinematographer Hal Mohr say, “You’re talking about transitioning to sound films? Well, I’m the guy who shoots The jazz singer.’

What did you and Sam learn when you both heard from people from different eras?

That the change between old and new Hollywood is even greater than we thought, the two really aren’t the same. What happened in modern Hollywood was without the studio system that created the movies, everyone had to become a producer and financier because every movie had to be created from scratch. [Sam] said that the Hollywood agents somehow became the studios and the studios became the banks.

What is your big takeaway from the era you focused on?

There are three words about the Hollywood system that come to mind—not the words people associate with the studio system: entertainment, flexibility, and family. Everyone was talking about how much fun they had and how much they enjoyed it. Everyone said how flexible everyone was about working together and letting go of their own ideas. And they talked about what a sense of family there was in all of this. This is not the picture we usually get from Hollywood.

Which interviews did you get connected to?

Of course, we immediately pulled out interviews from the likes of Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Frank Capra, Hitchcock, Ruben Mamoulian, and John Huston. But for my part, I wanted to have department heads: songwriters like Harry Warren or costume designers like Gene Lewis or make-up artists like William Tuttle or cinematographers like James Wong Hou. Charlton Heston was one of the best interviews ever – and we didn’t expect this. But some of the most objective and informed interviews have come from people working behind the scenes. And they are funny. Almost all of these people are very funny.

Was there a settling of scores from past rivalries and conflicts?

The fact that you asked this question reflects what most people think about Hollywood. What the interviewees would say is: You know what? We had work to do. We couldn’t go around and work irresponsibly. Nobody wants to work with idiots. You had to learn how to work with people – whether you liked them or not. [Director] George Cukor said, “Look, these fools who write books about Hollywood have never actually been there. We were there and we had to do the work. It’s about how you make movies, how you learn to work together, how you solve problems, how you get the job done.

Is there an audio book or something that will include some of the raw material from the tapes – or maybe a documentary in development?

We have strong interest in a PBS documentary. But I can’t say anything more than that. All AFI materials are now in the long process of being digitized to eventually be available to all.

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A few things from behind-the-scenes interviews that surprised even Hollywood expert Janine Basinger:

The perception of Marilyn Monroe: “There was a real lack of sympathy for her. It’s abundantly clear that nobody likes Marilyn. They don’t have the modern view of her as exploited and vulnerable. Instead, they saw her as tough, demanding and difficult. They’re generally sympathetic to the tragedy, but it was more like, ‘Who wants to work with her?'”

The Real Joan Crawford: “She was never interviewed, but most people talked about her and she was one of the most popular and loved of all actresses. This is because she was hard working, easy to work with and very good with people at the bottom. It’s the opposite of what Mom dearest displayed.”

Efforts to Help Judy Garland: “Definitely everyone thinks the studio did everything they could for her. It has been confirmed to me that Louis B. Meyer asked Katharine Hepburn to help him with Judy when she was really breaking down in the 1940s. Hepburn gives an interview saying she did it and how nice Meyer was to Judy, saying how much money Garland made for the studio. “We have to try to help her and I don’t know what to do,” he told her. Hepburn said it was hard to understand what caused the destruction of a life like Garland’s, but she tried to help.