‘Women rule Hollywood’: ageing and freelance stardom in the studio system

Abstract

This essay considers how ageism impacted the careers of freelance A-list Hollywood female stars working in the studio system during the 1930s–1940s, when the number of women working as free agents substantially outnumbered their male counterparts. Using studio contracts and internal studio correspondences as well as industry trades and press releases, I examine the economic and industrial ramifications for these key freelance female stars as they aged. Ruth Chatterton, Irene Dunne, Miriam Hopkins and Barbara Stanwyck all took a proactive role in shaping their careers through freelance labour practice when the studios manipulated stardom for their economic gain. The creative and economic independence of these women challenges the familiar patriarchal, ageist pattern of female celebrity thought to typify Hollywood, in which female stars can expect to find less work and receive less compensation as they age. Instead, as free agents, these women worked more independently and prolonged their careers beyond what is generally imagined of female actors, thereby dynamically participating in studio system production practices. This comparative contractual analysis also considers the experience of male freelance stars so as to highlight the different historical experiences of ageing stardom in the studio system.