'Drive-in movie theatre screening The Ten Commandments, Oat Hills, Utah, USA, 1958' by J R Eyerman
It is no fluke that the renowned magazine LIFE hired Alfred Eisenstaedt as one of four staff photographers for its launch in 1936.
German-born Eisenstaedt had been a prolific photojournalist in wartime Europe and had fled to America in 1935. His skills were ideal for the weekly publication that would shape the public’s perception of Hollywood during its golden era.
LIFE: Hollywood is a two-volume celebration of the magazine’s golden era, featuring some of the most accomplished names in photography. Here, film historian and contributor Justin Humphreys explains how LIFE helped shape Hollywood during the magazine’s golden era – and vice versa.
‘Marlon Brando as Napoleon Bonaparte in Désirée, Hollywood, 1954’ by Loomis Dean
How did LIFE’s use of photography shape Hollywood and vice versa?
LIFE’s exceptional photography and Hollywood were intertwined and drew on each other in a variety of ways. For instance, LIFE created a sparse, stylised set for their coverage of the 1948 western Yellow Sky, which directly inspired the similar set design of the movie western Red Garters.
Also, director John Huston struck up a friendship with Eliot Elisofon while the latter was documenting the making of The African Queen. Huston subsequently hired Elisofon as a special colour consultant on his biopic of Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge, which began a secondary career for Elisofon consulting on other films such as Bell, Book, and Candle, which he would also cover photographically for LIFE. Gordon Parks worked extensively for LIFE and graduated to become the first Black director of a major studio Hollywood film, The Learning Tree. Parks’s keen photographic eye shows in his films, including Shaft.
Why were renowned photojournalists such as Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt and Gordon Parks contributors?
LIFE’s photographers produced multifarious work and brought their acute visual storytelling sense to whatever subject they were assigned to. They continually showed a knack for finding ‘sweet moments’ – fleeting, note-perfect images that perfectly capture their subject.
Whether they were covering Hollywood or not, they tended to avoid obvious, direct images and take more revealing photos in roundabout ways that mediocre photographers wouldn’t seek out. Case in point – while J R Eyerman was photographing the production of Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus he captured a hilarious and revealing tableau. On-location, dozens of bit players dressed as dead slaves lay on a hillside, each one holding a numbered card. Off-camera, Kubrick was meticulously moving them around one by one, and the annoyance and frustration really registers on their long-suffering faces. They look like they wish they really were dead. It’s an unforgettable image.
How did Hollywood use photography to mould public perceptions?
The film industry has traditionally used photography to present movie stars and the industry itself in a mythic, larger-than-life way to the ticket-buying public. During the golden age of the Hollywood Studio System that we cover in LIFE: Hollywood, movie stars were like Olympian gods and goddesses with faces and physiques worth millions.
When LIFE magazine debuted in 1938, photographs of stars and the act of film-making tended toward the glamorous, posed and stylised – all the better to glorify them. Over subsequent decades Hollywood’s still photography became increasingly naturalistic and more candid, just as Hollywood’s movies became generally more visually literate.
Who were the leading LIFE photographers in Hollywood?
One of LIFE’s foremost photographers covering the film industry was the great Alfred Eisenstaedt, who excelled at portraits and candids, which he was skilled at taking inconspicuously. Eisenstaedt was well liked by many, including Sophia Loren, who adored him.
Gjon Mili specialized in kinetic subjects – he took many fascinating stroboscopic images using multiple exposures which were ideally suited for capturing a series of shots of a dancer in motion. Mili became LIFE’s specialist in covering musicals, including Guys and Dolls and Porgy and Bess. Eliot Elisofon had gone on photographic safaris in Africa, so LIFE naturally had him cover the filming of The African Queen in the Congo. These are only a few key figures. Their other outstanding Hollywood photographers include J R Eyerman, Gordon Parks, Martha Holmes and Peter Stackpole.
FIVE TOP HOLLYWOOD IMAGES
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1. ‘Sidney Poitier and Juanita Hardy Parks, Mount Vernon, New York, 1959' by Gordon Parks Sidney Poitier and Juanita Hardy, his first wife, relax at their home in Mount Vernon, New York. Throughout much of his career, Poitier brought a quiet, thoughtful presence to his performances, including Detective Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night. "Poitier has many acting gifts," Life observed, "but perhaps his finest is an appearance, an aura, of unspoiled natural virtue." |
2. ‘Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Beverly Hills, 1959’ by Allan Grant
Tony Curtis had a contract with Universal Studios when he announced his engagement to Janet Leigh. Universal was furious, feeling marriage would spoil his bachelor image and alienate his devoted fans. “But,” LIFE explained, “despite bitter recriminations, threats of banishment back to the Bronx and warnings that his movie career would be kaput, Tony and Janet eloped.” Their stardom remained undimmed, and they subsequently had two daughters, Kelly (left) and Jamie Lee (right), who both became actors.
3. ‘Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti, near Rome, 1964’ by Alfred Eisenstaedt
Life detailed actress Sophia Loren and producer Carlo Ponti's winding road to matrimony in a previous article, 'Bigamy Italian Style'. Ponti attempted to divorce his first wife and marry Loren by proxy in Mexico, but Italy didn't recognise divorce. Italian courts accused Ponti of bigamy, and Loren and Ponti had their marriage annulled. In 1966, they attained citizenship in France and were finally married there.
4. ‘Alfred Hitchcock, Universal Studios, 1963’ by Philippe Halsman
Alfred Hitchcock posing with his avian stars from his classic horror movie The Birds. Over 25,000 live birds were used during filming, and it was rumoured that they were given wheat mixed with whisky to make them more docile.
5. ‘Marlene Dietrich, Germany, 1945’ by George Silk
In a delicious bit of irony, Marlene Dietrich, a German émigré, was one of the most beloved entertainers of American soldiers during World War II. Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva, explained in her later book on her mother “the reason for her great following” among servicemen: “They knew that she was not phoney, that she was really there for them, and that she was ready to be with them in the mud.”
LIFE: Hollywood is published in two volumes by Taschen at £200.
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Picture credits: All images TI Gotham, Inc/LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Operations Corporation except ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ by Philippe Halsman/Magnum Photos/Agentur Focus