The Glamour Factory: Inside Hollywood's Big Studio System

In its heyday Hollywood’s big studio system mirrored the corporate ideology that catapulted the United States into economic prominence. By the mid-1920s power was consolidated into four major studios: Metro-Goldyn-Mayer, Paramount, Fox, and Warner Bros., all appropriating the assembly line approach of the Detroit automobile manufacturers. The Glamour Factory is the story of the motion picture business, told with the help of hundreds of insiders—from stars, directors, and producers to stuntmen, hairstylists, makeup artists, and publicists—who watched and contributed to the industry while magic was being made. Much of this story is drawn from the Southern Methodist University Oral History Collection on the Performing Arts, which the author founded.