Episode #81 - Emily Carman (The Misfits)

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"It's important to be reflexive about the archives and materials you have to work with when writing film history."

If you know a bit about Classical Hollywood, you probably know that as much as the stars of the 1930s showed glitz and glamour on screen, they were often slaves to the whims of the studios that owned them. Or did they? Emily Carman of Chapman University joins Peter to discuss her book, Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System, which explores the legal contracts behind stars like Carole Lombard and Irene Dunne, who were able to find control over the films and public image they made in an unprecedented matter decades before the independent takeover. Emily also discusses the importance of thinking about archives in film research, the tactile nature of film studies, and rethinking how to approach a feminist film history. Finally, Emily brings her knowledge of the city of Reno to a discussion of John Huston's The Misfits, a film with stars morbidly moving through a dying space that Peter declares it "the death of classical cinema."

0:00-3:53 Opening
4:42-10:54 Establishing Shots — Tsai Ming-Liang's Goodbye Dragon Inn

11:40-1:14:57 Deep Focus — Emily Carman

1:15:46-1:20:30 Sponsorship Section

1:21:45-1:43:15 Double Exposure — The Misfits (John Huston)

1:43:20-1:45:15 Close // Outtake

Notes and Links from the Conversation
—Learn more about Emily Carman and her book, Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System
—More on Goodbye, Dragon Inn from Andrew Tracy and J. Hoberman
—Watch MGM: When The Lion Roars on Vudu
—UCLA's Moving Image Archive Program
—Emily's article "That's Not All, Folks!: Excavating the Warner Bros. Archive"
—Learn more about the Warner Bros. Archive
—Classical Film History books: The Genius of the System by Tom Schatz, The Hollywood Studio System: A History by Douglas Gomrey, The American Film Industry by Tino Bailo
—More about male stars and freelance contracts in Emily's article for Celebrity Studies
—Learn more about Vivian Sobchack
—Long Live the King: A Biography of Clark Gable
—More about the supposed legendary deal between Lew Wasserman, James Stewart, and Universal for Winchester '73.
—The Margaret Herrick Library and the Gladys Hall Papers
—Creative Industries by Richard Caves
—More on Eric Hoyt
—Hidden Talent by Tom Kemper, which covers the histories of Myron Selznick and Charles Feldman
—More about Carole Lombard's scar
—More about Anna May Wong in Daughter of Shanghai
—To learn more about Hollywood stars in television, check out Christine Becker's It's The Pictures That Got Small: Hollywood Film Stars in 1950s Television
—More about Carole Lombard's death in this episode of You Must Remember This
—Universal Women by Mark Cooper
—Marlene Dietrich in a gorilla suit on Von Sternberg's Blonde Venus
—Hollywood and the Law
—Emily made a small mistake! It's Code 2855
—Students from Chapman University talk about their Il Cinema Ritrovato experience
—Emily's collaboration with the Mary Pickford Foundation
—A video of Serge Bromberg burning nitrate film
—Kim Shivley's misfits // landscape
—A website dedicated to Reno's divorce culture
—More about Montgomery Clift's accident in this episode of You Must Remember This

Theme Music: “Forward” by Northbound

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