One method the classical Hollywood studios used to stay successful was to have actors and actresses on contract with one studio; that is, an actor contracted to a certain studio could only make movies for that studio. According to Colin Tait’s guest lecture on Classical Hollywood, studios saw stars as tangible products of immaterial production. Audiences would recognize an actor that they liked and would go to see his movies. The popularity of an actor helped studios make money; a movie always excited an audience more if it featured an actor or actress they liked. Popular actors were so beneficial that the studios would train them and even pay them to sell the studios’ products.
A big reason why people wanted to go see a certain actor in a movie was because they expected certain things to be the same in each movie he was in. Stars were associated with specific genres, so this caused studios to have actors be in the same kinds of movies over and over again; for example, Humphrey Bogart was always in crime/detective movies. People expected this, so studios responded by making a lot of the same kinds of films with the same actors.
One well-known actor in this situation was Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly was associated with musical films such as An American in Paris, Les Girls, Brigadoon, and Singin’ in the Rain. In virtually all of his movies, Kelly would sing and go though intricate dance numbers. MGM, the studio Kelly was contracted with, knew people expected this from Kelly, so the studio made sure to put Kelly in musical films. The few movies Kelly was in that weren’t musicals did not do nearly as well as the ones he sang and danced in. When people saw a trailer for a movie with Gene Kelly in it, they expected to see a musical; this expectation kept people coming back to see more of Kelly’s movies, which brought MGM more and more revenue.
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