When I began researching Marilyn Monroe’s time at Columbia Pictures in 1948, I couldn’t help but wonder about what her typical work day on the lot was like. Singing lessons, acting lessons, hair and makeup lessons, wardrobe—and that’s before stepping in front of the camera. “Was this typical for a contract player?” I thought.
I turned to the one man who knows more than anyone else when it comes to old Hollywood—historian Philip Mershon, who operates the superb Felix in Hollywood Tour Company (FelixinHollywoodTours.com). Philip was able to paint a vivid picture of exactly what Columbia was like in 1948 and, in fact, his answers are almost a mini lesson in what the film industry was like in the 1940s. I could talk to him all day! The old Columbia lot is on Philip’s tour, so if you’d like to see where Marilyn filmed Ladies of the Chorus and where Columbia Queen Rita Hayworth became Gilda, do yourself a favor and book yourself a spot on his next tour.
Columbia started out as a B movie studio, then grew to a major motion picture company. How would you describe Columbia’s place in the movie industry in the late 1940s?
Boy oh boy, never better! I should probably back up a bit though to give a little historical perspective. The 1920s was the organization’s first decade, beginning as CBC Film Sales in ’20, and then re-branded as Columbia Pictures in ’24. The founding partners were Harry Cohn, Joe Brandt (a master PR man) and Harry’s brother Jack Cohn (Harry’s nemesis and vice-versa). Throughout this first decade they were nothing more than a scrappy, struggling Poverty Row outfit. Then in 1932 Harry staged something of a palace coup by buying out Brandt’s interest and naming himself President. Thus, the 30s saw their complete transformation, in large part due to Frank Capra’s string of commercial and critical hits, as well as bringing many star names into their pictures on loan-out from other studios. They were now part of the 8 Major Studios. (This list included the Big Five: MGM, Paramount, Fox, RKO, and Warner Bros., and the “Minor Majors,” Columbia, Universal and United Artists.) So the ’40s were pretty rosy days on the lot. They had their own big stars, they made more A-pictures than ever before, and out of all the Majors, no one did more, or better looking, B-pictures and serials. Additionally, the 1948 court decision requiring motion picture production companies to divest themselves of their theater chains sent many of the companies fiscally reeling as so much of their revenue came from exhibition. This was backhanded boost for Columbia—they had never owned a theater chain!
What was going on at Columbia in the mid- to late 1940s? Who were the stars? What were the hit movies?
Well, the obvious: Whenever one thinks of Columbia Pictures and the ’40s it was “The Decade Of Rita.” Rita Hayworth was the undisputed queen of the lot during this period. We include Columbia on my walking tour and I still get almost woozy walking by and thinking to myself, “This is where Gilda was born!” Hayworth, and her films (You’ll Never Get Rich, You Were Never Lovelier, Cover Girl, Gilda, etc.) were fan favorites and remain, to this day, classics. But she was by no means the only star on the lot. A partial list includes William Holden, Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Jean Arthur (who, when her contract was finally up, was reported to have run through the lot, up to Sunset Blvd. and down the city sidewalk screaming, “I’m free! I’m free!”), Glen Ford, Ann Miller, Humphrey Bogart, Evelyn Keyes, Cornel Wilde, and Larry Parks.
In addition to anything with Hayworth, some of Columbia’s output from 45-49 include: A Night To Remember, A Thousand And One Nights, My Name Is Julia Ross, The Thrill Of Brazil, Dead Reckoning, Johnny O’Clock, The Guilt Of Janet Ames, The Corpse Came C.O.D., It Had To Be You, I Love Trouble, The Man From Colorado, The Return Of October, The Dark Past, Shockproof, Slightly French, Knock On Any Door, We Were Strangers, Miss Grant Takes Richmond, Tokyo Joe, All The Kings Men, and perhaps Columbia’s first blockbuster, The Jolson Story.
One other thing happened in this era, which I think is really noteworthy, Harry named Virginia Van Upp, as Executive Producer of Columbia Pictures. That was the same title that Jack Warner held at Warner Bros.! She was the only female executive in town.
Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia, was one of the most hated and feared men in Hollywood. Can you give us a sense of who he was?
Actually, I think I’ll let the people who knew him answer that, then you can be as confused as I am!
“He was the kind of man whose nod and handshake was worth more than a contract drawn up by a score of Philadelphia lawyers.” – John Ford
“He was the meanest man I ever knew—an unreconstructed dinosaur.'' – Writer, Budd Schulberg
“He was a man of innate taste, quite remarkable taste. I found him quite endearing.” – Rosalind Russell
“A robber baron, predatory and cunning.” – Director, Fred Zinnemann
“Harry Cohn is the one I have to thank for everything I have. Columbia’s not been the same since he died.” – Glenn Ford
“He was a louse.” – Comedian, Lou Holtz.
“Oh, I thought he was terrific. When I was on loan there to do Gunman’s Walk we had a long talk one day in his office. Really wonderful man.” – Tab Hunter
“You had to stand in line to hate him.” – Hedda Hopper
Columbia signed Marilyn to a short contract in 1948 and immediately enrolled her in acting and voice lessons. Was this typical for young contract players at Columbia?
Absolutely. Columbia was no different from any other big studio in that respect.
What was life like for a contract player on the lot? What was a typical day?
Well just as you said above, there was the overall grooming tasks that in addition to acting and diction lessons could also have included singing and dancing lessons, fencing and exercise lessons, visits to hair and make-up for testing different looks, and endless assignments from the publicity office and studio photographers building the material that would get planted in gossip columns and movie magazines in order to hype the public awareness of the player.
I’d like to ask about the different levels of actors at a studio, in this case Columbia. There were stars, of course, and there were lower level actors who probably struggled for money and basically worked in bit parts. Was it possible to stay at a studio long-term and earn a decent—or at least middleclass—living?
Sure, just ask The Three Stooges!
Were there a lot of contract players at studios? Was it competitive among all the actors?
By the time that we’re discussing, the late ’40s, there were fewer contract players than in the past. Between the court decision regarding theater divestment and the looming of television on the rise, the rumblings of what would eventually be the death of the “studio system” had begun. Also Lew Wasserman’s super-agency, MCA, was gaining domination. It had become easier, and less of an investment on the studios’ part, to have agents negotiate one-off deals for actors.
As far a competition, we’ve talked about Rita Hayworth; now wouldn’t it be great if we could travel back in time and ask Evelyn Keyes, Adele Jergens and Jinx Faulkenberg about that!
Marilyn made Ladies of the Chorus but her contract wasn’t renewed when it expired. Any thoughts as to why Harry Cohn may have released her? There is speculation—not proven—that she turned his advances down. Could there be other reasons?
Harry was known for his employment of the casting couch, and I do want to note here that he certainly was not the only one! It seems to be one of man’s favorite abuses of power, whether we’re talking entertainment, government or any other industry. I suppose I can appreciate Harry to some degree in that he was not particularly covert about this and with his uncouth demeanor. It was almost expected. I’m a great deal more disgusted by the practitioners of the ‘you be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you’ code that hid behind the God, America, family and mom sanctimony like Louis Mayer and Cecil DeMille.
It has been said that she did succumb to an initial episode in his office to get the contract but then refused an addition invitation to a weekend on his yacht. And while it’s nice to think that these brilliant moguls who gave us hours and years of entertainment and memories would be above it, a big ego and inability to handle rejection seem to go hand in hand and, so, I suppose that her refusal was the chief reason.
I do know that once she became stratospheric at Fox, he kicked himself for letting her go and that’s why he foisted poor, wooden Kim Novak on us.
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