The Fashion Businessother words my interpretation was entirely one of saying “Come on, we’re
going to take some sexy pictures”.’^20 To achieve this effect, he employed
light, floating materials, posed his subjects lying on their backs or wet, or
bathed them in light and shade. Each of the images was heavily worked over
and blemishes were eliminated through retouching. Although the typical shots
involved women, men were given the same treatment. Lead was put on the
negative, sometimes on both sides, or images were improved through dyes
and brush work. Hurrell claimed that his job was easier if the actor already
had a sensual quality or attitude, but where this was absent sex appeal could
be conferred as a total invention.
As far as luxury was concerned, this became a hallmark of Hollywood
with Cecil B. De Mille, who believed that opulent scenes and fabulous
costumes would make people stop and gasp. Several of the moguls had begun
their working lives in the garment industry and were alert to the importance
of fine clothing in weaving an image that audiences would find seductive.
With the aid of Glyn and a few other style advisors, Hollywood conferred
on itself an upper-class image of wealth and elegance. The widespread use of
eye-catching wardrobes including furs, feathers and jewellery roused some
contemporary critics to anger. It was felt that, by covering ‘fallen women’
with the trappings of luxury in tales of irregular social mobility, a direct
exchange between sex and money was being suggested. The accusation that
Hollywood was condoning prostitution and offending moral standards was
a key factor in the adoption of the Hays Code. However, the emphasis on
luxury in the films of larger studios like MGM and Paramount did not
diminish. Even by today’s standards, the opulence of the upper-class settings
of many movies of that era is breathtaking.
What was the reason for this emphasis? First, it should be remembered
that Hollywood before the Second World War was not respectable. The
moguls who had founded and run the studios were typically Jewish immi-
grants who were social outsiders. For all his power, Louis B. Mayer of MGM
could not join the Los Angeles Country Club because Jews were not allowed.
Given this situation, it is not surprising that Hollywood shared the emphasis
on exterior appearance that marked immigrant behaviour in early twentieth-
century America. Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen have spoken of an impulse to
finery in immigrant communities, in which marginalized individuals struggled
to fit in by emulating their ‘betters’.^21 Even among the poor, self-hood could
- Kobal, John (ed.), George Hurrell: Hollywood Glamour Portraits, London: Schirmer
Art Books, 1993, p. 11. - Ewen, Stuart and Ewen, Elizabeth, Channels of Desire: Mass Images and the Shaping
of American Consciousness, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992, pp. 154–8.