19 Totally Interesting Facts About Old Hollywood That I Guarantee You Never Knew Before

Old Hollywood was a fascinating place, but down the glitz and glamour, it was besides afloat of secrets. Thus, successful r/movies, idiosyncratic asked, "What is the astir interesting fact astir Old Hollywood that you know?" People wrote in, and boy, is it a chaotic ride. Here's what radical said:

1. "The studios 'owned' their actors and could reshape (sometimes literally), mold and marketplace them accordingly. Actors couldn't simply up and spell to different studios if they didn't similar the treatment. You besides couldn't garbage parts, nary substance however basal oregon silly you recovered the publication oregon role. You got blacklisted oregon penalized financially. Warner Bros. suspended Bette Davis for turning down roles."

3. "Marilyn had a half-sister named Berniece from her mother's side; the 2 girls discovered each different successful their teens and were adjacent friends until Marilyn's death. Berniece's memoir My Sister Marilyn remains the only officially sanctioned biography of the Marilyn estate."

6. "Not Hollywood exactly, but interesting. A circuit usher successful London told america that the Ritz Hotel held a Charlie Chaplin lookalike competition, and that Charlie Chaplin entered. He came successful third."

8. "Hattie McDaniel, the archetypal Black Oscar victor for Gone With the Wind, was astir forced to determination retired of her location successful Hollywood by her achromatic neighbors. She sued successfully and stayed. She already had her Oscar erstwhile they tried to expel her."

9. "Sessue Hayakawa successful the 1920s. A erstwhile Japanese aristocrat-turned-actor. He was an implicit sex awesome menace."

10. "Hedy Lamarr was an inventor of the ground for WiFi technology. Her tech was adjacent utilized by the US Navy. Howard Hughes gave her entree to his laboratory and subject researchers, and she reshaped the wings of his planes to marque them faster."

11. "The Hays Code, portion being atrocious and halting movie advancement substantially, besides banned the harm of animals connected film. So for each of the atrocious crap it’s known for, determination was astatine slightest a decent thought successful it."

13. "Marlon Brando had cue cards each implicit the acceptable due to the fact that helium could ne'er retrieve his lines."

15. "From Spencer Tracy's biography: 'Tracy’s binges usually lasted astir 2 weeks. As helium did not similar to fly, helium would instrumentality the Santa Fe Chief and the Twentieth Century Limited trains to New York (about 4 days) and cheque into the St. George, carrying a suitcase filled with whiskey bottles. According to a St. George bellhop I interviewed successful 1960, Tracy would fastener himself successful the room, portion bare and get into the bath tub. He would stay successful the bath tub for a week, drinking up each the whiskey, and not having to get retired of the tub, adjacent to execute bodily functions. At the extremity of the week, his binge having tally astir of its course, helium cleaned himself up, dressed, took the suitcase, present containing bare bottles, and checked out...'"

16. "Natalie Wood was dating both Dennis Hopper and Nicholas Ray during the accumulation of Rebel Without a Cause. It caused a batch of struggle connected the set."

17. "The legendary feud betwixt Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. If you're interested, it's covered successful a book, Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine. Definitely worthy a read."

18. "William Randolph Hearst apt shot Thomas Ince, laminitis of Culver Studios, successful a drunken stupor connected Hearst’s vessel during an offshore enactment (in planetary waters to debar prohibition laws). When the vessel returned to shore, they didn’t telephone the constabulary and alternatively took Ince to a hospital, and Hearst had a newsman connected his payroll constitute that Ince had had a bosom attack. Ince died respective days later, and Hearst was ne'er prosecuted. Now Ince’s shade allegedly haunts the Culver Studios mansion, successful an upstairs country designed to look similar the hull of a boat."

19. And lastly, "The Hollywood motion utilized to accidental 'Hollywoodland' until the '40s. The motion was fundamentally a wreck with fractional the letters missing. A radical of section investors, led by Playboy laminitis Hugh Hefner, raised wealth to reconstruct what's near of the motion successful the '70s."

What bash you deliberation of these Old Hollywood facts? Do you person immoderate to share? Let america cognize successful the comments! Or, if you similar to enactment anonymous, you tin capable retired the signifier below.

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