All language subtitles for america in color s2e6 en

color for the first time

Hollywood legendary capital of the movies

with a screen's magic

gives rise to America's most glamorous industry

stars like Charlie Chaplin

Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe

captivate millions around the world

happy birthday

Mr President

studio bosses control the business

many question its morality

the vulgar the chief and the toffee is out

and it's often a cultural battleground

the question is

have you ever been a member of the Communist Party

but through war and peace

Hollywood adapts and evolves and may I say thank you

to triumph as America's dream factory

this is the story of Hollywood

as you've never seen it before

I want us to recapture

America's movie industry

is born in West Orange New Jersey

the headquarters of inventor Thomas Edison

in 1893 he sets up America's first movie studio

called Black Mariah

the name given to black police wagons of the time

inside he makes short films

but not for the screen

the viewer pops a coin into Edison's peephole cabinet

the kineoscope

some survive

like 1890 Four's five seconds long the sneeze

soon Edison's technology advances

and his movies are projected to larger audiences

storefronts convert to small theaters

with tickets costing 5 cents

they become known as nickelodeons

soon films like The Great Train Robbery

run as long as 12 minutes and tell stories

by 19:07 an estimated 2 million Americans a week

head to the movies

to exploit the surging demand

rival film studios spring up along the East Coast

in response

Edison and eight other producers

create the Motion Picture Patent Company

it monopolises the technology

for shooting and exhibiting films

and uses enforcers to run upstart competitors

out of business

in 1910 director David Wark Griffith heads west

to film on location in California

he stumbles upon a little village of 5,000 people

surrounded by Rolling Hills and citrus Groves

the main street connects it to downtown Los Angeles

10 miles away

known as Prospect Avenue

it will soon take the name of this obscure little town

and become Hollywood Boulevard

Griffiths film in Old California

is the first to be shot in Hollywood

soon more filmmakers

hear about California's varied landscape

and year round sunshine

and it's 3,000 miles from Edison's patent enforcers

lured by opportunity independent producers head west

in 1912 East Coast theatre owner and producer

Carl Lemley

forms what will become one of Hollywood's giants

universal he builds this studio on a 230 acre farm

creating the world's largest facility

for making motion pictures

universal employs an army of people

and Lemley's rapid success

entices others to join him in Hollywood

when producers Adolf Zucker

Jesse Lasky

Cecil B Demille

and Samuel Goldwyn move west

they merge their companies to form Paramount

another pioneer theater owner

William Fox

convinces the Supreme Court to put an end to

Edison's monopoly

the decision frees up the industry

by now it's in California to stay

Hollywood's

new studios create a powerful business model

in which a single company not only controls production

but also owns chains of movie theatres

ensuring a guaranteed audience

by 1915 at least 26 million people

are going to the movies each week

to boost their share of the

$1.3 million in weekly revenues

the studio seek every advantage

they sign actors to exclusive contracts

and promote them with a novel technique

screen credits

the most popular attract loyal audiences of their own

in a 1914 film Kid Auto Races at Venice

Charlie Chaplin introduces an iconic character the trap

and the star is born

the English actor even directs his own films by 1916

the Mutual Film Corporation pays him $700,000 a year

that's nearly 10 times more than the president

movies are still silent

and comedies are among the most popular films

they don't need dialogue to work

one of the era's biggest film stars is Mary Pickford

a quick tea party with her niece

is all her busy schedule allows

in 1916 she signs the first million dollar contract

with Adolf Zucker and Paramount

one of Pickford's frequent directors

is David Warck Griffith

in 1915 he pioneers new cinematic techniques

set during the Civil War

Birth of a nation is America's first epic

it's three hours long

employs 18,000 people and costs $100,000

the movie grosses an estimated $10 million

that's a quarter of a billion today

the film has been controversial since

the day it came out

it's sympathetic to the KU Klux Klan

and hostile to African Americans

riots break out and there are calls to ban the movie

Griffith is unapologetic

and defends the film when it's rereleased in 1930

the plans that time as needed

you say I have to practice

despite the uproar over the 1915 release

it's creative brilliance establishes Griffith

as Hollywood's first great director

he's given unprecedented access

to the trenches in France in World War 1

to make government propaganda films

but it's Hollywood's on screen stars

that are most visible in the war effort

at a parade in Washington

Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin

are joined by fellow actor Douglas Fairbanks

to raise war bonds

they tour the country

and Americans gladly fork over money

when asked by Hollywood royalty

by war's end

Americans have bought $17 billion in Liberty Bonds

the stars have become the nation's sweethearts

but it's the studios that hold most of the power

Universal Paramount and Fox

have now been joined by Warner Brothers and Columbia

they maintain tight control on actors salaries

and artistic decisions

but seeking freedom some rebel

Pickford chaplain

and Fairbanks joined forces with DW Griffith

and in 1919

they set up their own company

United Artists

it's a landmark moment for movies as art

and not just business

but even their combined star power

is no match for the big studios

they struggle to raise money

production is slow

and United Artists

distributes an average of just five films a year

in its first five years

for Fairbanks and Pickford

the partnership turns personal

they fall in love

Pickford is still married to actor Owen Moore

she fears a divorce will ruin her career

but she's wrong

Americans accept her new marriage as the ultimate

happy ending

Fairbanks in Pickford

become king and queen of Hollywood

its first celebrity couple seen here

returning from their honeymoon

they invite cameras into their lavish new home

built on a 15 acre estate on Summit Drive

in the already exclusive enclave of Beverly Hills

their neighbour is none other than Charlie Chaplin

dubbed Pick Fair by the press

their home is the scene of legendary parties

or Hollywood's glitterati

the magnetism of Hollywood is now firmly on the rise

but it's new found power will soon be tested

by 1920 Hollywood is

producing most of the world's movies

it's the fourth largest industry in America

employing more than 42,000 people

everyone wants to be in the pictures

and in hopes of doing just that

people flock to Hollywood

LA's population already on the rise

doubles in the 1920s

making it America's fifth largest city

new houses bring up everywhere

1923 a team of men haul giant poles up a Hillside

these will support 50 foot letters

for a sign advertising a new housing development

it costs $21,000

300,000 in today's money

the sign is rigged with 4,000 light bulbs that flash

in order to reveal Hollywood land

intended as a temporary promotion

it becomes an enduring symbol in 1949

when the last four letters are removed

LA's urban skyline is changing too

with movie set inspired hotels and apartments

along the big boulevards

swanky new restaurants and nightclubs open up

no place embraces the loose living

carefree attitude of the early 1920s like Hollywood

which cultivates a risking image on and off the screen

Labor Day 1921

comedian and a list star

Fatty Arbuckle is arrested in San Francisco

he is charged with the rape and murder

of actress Virginia Rapp

after a party in one of San Francisco's elite hotels

the Saint Francis

it's Hollywood's first sex scandal

and it won't be its last

tabloid papers stoke public outrage

and there are calls for the death penalty

though our buckle is eventually acquitted

Hollywood wants to spruce up its image

so studio bosses bring in a Republican politician

Will Hayes to clean up the industry

he becomes the first chairman of the Motion Picture

Producers and distributors of America

one of his first acts is to blacklist Arbuckle

his days as a star are over

in his new role

Hayes establishes moral guidelines for movies

known as the Production Code

but it's more of a PR exercise

he has little power to enforce it

so in Hollywood

the party continues

and films keep pushing the bounds of

old fashioned morality

bringing love scenes to life becomes an essential skill

for directors

and one star

sex appeal is making audiences swoon

Rudolph Valentino

dubbed the Latin Lover

and one of America's first heartthrobs

newsreel crews film women and record their heart rates

during these steamy scenes from his son of the shake

fans are heartbroken when in August 1926

Valentino dies following surgery for a perforated ulcer

he's only 31

in New York

the beloved actor lies in state for three days

as thousands of moviegoers turn out to mourn their hero

among the pallbearers are Paramount studio boss

Adolph Zuker and actor Douglas Fairbanks

Valentino is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery

his funeral is the biggest the movie capital has known

but even the death of a legend

can't dent Hollywood's growth

by 1927 57 million Americans

are going to the movies every week

that's almost half the population

to serve the surging demand

new movie theatres pop up everywhere

in LA at 69 25 Hollywood Boulevard

showman Sid Grauman spends $2 million

to build his iconic Chinese Theatre

in 1927 it opens by hosting the premiere of Cecil B

Demille's religious epic The King of Kings

the opening marks the birth of a Hollywood tradition

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford

become the first stars

to imprint their hands in cement outside the theatre

that same year

they are both founding members

of another enduring Hollywood institution

the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

in 1929 the Academy stages its first award ceremony

it quickly becomes

the world's most glamorous movie event

known worldwide by the nickname

for its famous gold statues the Oscars

as a new decade looms

movies have never been more powerful

but the industry is about to change forever

Times Square New York 1927

crowds gather outside the Warner Theatre

for a watershed moment in movie history

the first talking picture

at the premiere of The Jazz Singer

audiences are hysterical

when Al Jolson utters the first words heard in a film

wait a minute wait a minute you ain't heard nothing yet

wait a minute I get it you ain't heard nothing

sound changes the way that Hollywood makes movies

productions move indoors onto specially built stages

where every sound can be controlled quiet

is that all I'm good

now obsolete

giant outdoor sets like this one at United Pictures

built for Mary Pickford 10 years earlier

are ripped down

the surprise star of the talkies is MGM's trademark

Leo the Lion who's been with them since the silent era

Leo is played by many lions over the years

but one of the most famous is Jackie

in September 1927

Jackie goes on a publicity tour for MGM

in his own personalized plane

five hours after takeoff from San Diego to New York

the plane crashes in the Arizona desert

while the pilot goes for help

Jackie survives

living for four days on the pilot's sandwiches

the first question MGM execs ask is how's the lion

the studio doesn't mind all the publicity

one little bit

the mascot is renamed Leo the lucky

and pampered like a baby

in 1928 Jackie becomes the first lion to roar

an emblem of the triumph of sound

another star taking on the transition

to talking pictures is former Broadway chorus girl

Lucille Fei Lasour

she works hard to lose her Texas accent

but the studio wants more

MGM doesn't like the sound of her name

so they launch a 1,000 dollar magazine contest

to rebrand her

the winning name is Joan Crawford

the studio conceals her modest upbringing

and creates a new persona

in 1929 she marries Douglas Fairbanks son

Douglas junior

and enters Hollywood's royalty

MGM boss Louis B

Mayer understands that stars like Crawford

are boxed off as gold

so he controls them obsessively

during the 1930s he signs up over 60 big names

including Judy Garland

helping MGM become Hollywood's powerhouse

to ensure a constant supply of actors

MGM like other studios

runs a training school for wannabe stars

and is smart enough to publicize it

in this promotional film

aspiring actors and actresses

are put through their paces

hands on the hips

at your position

one two three wave high

that's again

lift to knees

that's right

that's right again

actresses are expected to live up to Hollywood's image

of a perfect lady

they are even trained how to walk

now would you notice

if Virginia's walking on the balls of her feet

that her body's perfectly relaxed and easy

and as she comes down the stairs

she isn't watching them

and how to kiss you forgive me

won't you no

I'll never forgive you

I'll hate you as long as I live

oh wait a minute

both of you

now you know the kiss in the first place

the kiss is awful

it's another side of the studio machine

that molds and controls Hollywood stars

alright let's go right from the kiss

for those willing to dance to the studio's tune

a life of money

glamour and poolside parties awaits

for Hollywood there is no depression

the stars live it up

they are the public face of Hollywood

and the studios make sure that news reels capture them

in the right places

Joan Crawford

studies the racing guide at Hollywood Park

while father in law Douglas Fairbanks

takes a closer look at his favourite horse

studio head

Jack Warner is joined by his wife and Dolores Del Rio

while newcomer Mickey Rooney places a bet

in 1937 the average Americans annual salary

is around $1,800

a figure far out stripped by stars like Clark Gable

who earns just over 280,000

but it's the boss Louis B

Mayer seen here attending the premiere of cavalcade

who takes home the largest paycheck in America

$1.1 million

the money and glamour keep on attracting stars

and controversy

May West has come to town

May West premieres her film

I'm No Angel at Groundman's Theatre in 1933

hello folks

I was brought here at the Mr

Brahmans Field of Theatre to see the grand

only the premium final picture

I'm no angel

also I didn't call that I'm no angel for nothing

she's notorious

her play sex was a hit on Broadway

but she was prosecuted for obscenity

and jailed for 10 days

stars are arriving so rapidly

we can scarcely keep track of them

May West knows how to please a crowd

conservative religious groups decry

her portrayal of sex on screen

they want to stop what they see as a trend

towards glorifying sex and violence in films

Hollywood tries to head off the threat

the production code

Will Hayes introduced after the Arbuckle scandal

has so far had little bite

but now he brings in Joseph Greene

a prominent Catholic journalist and publicist

to enforce the moral guidelines

the vulgar the chief and the torvey is out

the first film Breen applies the code to

is Tarzan and his mate in 1934

this scene between Johnny Weismiller

and the Moreno Sullivan body double

is cut because of its nudity

darling you're buried

it's the beginning of an era of censorship

that will span three decades

the industry responds

by presenting a different kind of box office star

who's a little more innocent

in 1934 at the tender age of 5

Shirley Temple sings and dances her way into

Americans hearts in stand up and cheer

she's rewarded with her own special car

which she drives around the Fox studio lot

President Franklin D

Roosevelt recognizes her ability to lift spirits

dampen by the depression

he reportedly says

as long as our country has Shirley Temple

we will be alright

she becomes the first movie star

to serenade a president on his special day

happy birthday

dear president

with her curly locks and infectious smile

she offers hope by way of Hollywood

in 1939 365 films are released

and each week 80 million tickets are sold

much of that stems from

one of the most successful Hollywood films of all time

gone with the wind

Producer David Selznick

spends two years searching for the right stars

oh I never faded my life

Paulette Godard was one of 32 actresses

who auditioned for the part of Scarlett O'hara

oh Ashley it seems such a long time

since we've had a good talk together

I was wondering where you had keeping yourself

but it's a Brit

Vivian Lee who lands the part of the southern Belle

Clark Gable is cast as her leading man Red Butler

with Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes

this rare long lost footage was shot in colour

on a home movie camera by steel industry magnate

Howard Hall

his business connections earn him a visit to the set

while it's leading man Clark Gable relaxes

his co star

Vivian Lee is adorned with a little more makeup

Galla Days in Dixie

greenlined wings of the wind bring Hollywood to Atlanta

for a history making world premiere

of the motion picture epic gone with the wind

crowds go wild for the film's leading ladies

Vivian Lee and Olivia Dehaviland

accompanied by producer David Selznick

but the biggest cheers are for the king of Hollywood

yes it's the clock Gables

just in from the post charming Carol Lombard and friend

husband get a mighty welcome

George's governor declares a state holiday

and over a million people pour in

to join in the three days of celebrations

300,000 line the streets

to watch the parade of the stars

Confederate veterans are guests of honor

at the premiere

at Lowe's Grand Theatre on Peachtree Street

ladies and gentlemen

tonight I am here just as a spectator

I wanna see gone with the wind the same as you do

like its predecessor birth of a nation

the film arouses racial controversy

at the premiere the black cast

including Hattie Mcdaniel who plays the slave Mammy

are conspicuous by their absence

the theatre is restricted whites only

racial segregation prevails all across America

at the Oscars

Selznick has to beg for nominee Hattie Mcdaniel

to be let inside

but she can't be seen anywhere

off camera she's sitting at a small table

far away from her fellow nominees

and now let's get right to it the awards of 1939

gone with the wind

picks up an unprecedented eight Oscars

Mcdaniel wins best supporting actress

the first African American to do so

this is one of the happiest moments of my life

my heart is too full to tell you just how I feel

and may I say thank you and God bless you

but racism continues to haunt Hollywood

for decades to come

as do lingering suspicions

about just how American it really is

1942 America is at war

Hollywood stars like Jimmy Stewart

are urging fellow Americans to join up

uh hello

see looks like I'm back in the movies again don't I

he was one of the first stars to enlist

initially turned down by the army for being too skinny

Stewart fattened up on spaghetti

steak and milkshakes

in March 1941

still a few ounces light

he persuades the army doctor

to let him become a bomber pilot for the Army Air Force

and he calls others to join him

this is where you'll serve America best

young man of America

your future's in the sky

your wings are waiting

although too old to be drafted

Clark Gable joins as a private

following the death of his wife

Carol Lombard in a plane crash

the war effort also draws in top director John Ford

seen here in his rare home movies on his yacht

the a runner

having always dreamed of being a Navy man

in April 1941

Ford gathers a group of experienced filmmakers

and sets up his own Naval Reserve unit

they wear rented uniforms

and become affectionately known as John Ford's Navy

at first the brass doesn't take him seriously

but as the war heats up he and his men are put to work

they make documentaries

and training films for the government

following Allied forces across Europe and the Pacific

in 1942 the Navy sends forward to film

the US base on the tiny island of midway

when the Japanese attack forward

gets injured by shrapnel

but continues to film

as a group of Marines defiantly hoist the American flag

he wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film

back home Hollywood civilians are also pitching in

Mary Pickford opens up her iconic home pit fair

to service men and women

across town another legendary place is born

the Hollywood Canteen

set up by Betty Davis and John Garfield in 1942

it's open to all service men and women from

allied countries

their uniform is their admission ticket

everything inside is free

famous faces

like Linda Darnell are among 3,000 volunteers

who serve food and entertain the guests

you can even dance with the stars

Molina Dietrich

is the first German actress to flourish in Hollywood

in 1939 she chooses to become an American citizen

rejecting calls by the Nazis to return to Germany

by the time the canteen closes its doors in 1945

it has entertained 3 million service men and women

serve 9 million cups of coffee

and doled out 3 million packs of cigarettes

but Hollywood's patriotism is about to be questioned

The Cold War creates a climate of fear in the country

The Communist Party of the United States

is a fifth column if there ever was one

in 1947 HUAC

the house on American Activities Committee

begins investigations

into communist influence in America

the spotlight is turned on Hollywood

seen as a hot bed of red subversion

in Washington

UAC holds nine days of hearings

with testimony from more than 40

people connected to Hollywood

the head of the Screen Actors Guild

Ronald Reagan

assures the committee that Hollywood is clean

we have done a pretty good job in our business

of keeping those people's activities curtailed still

the committee tries to force witnesses to name names

one group of writers and directors refuses to cooperate

in defense they say

of their constitutional rights

on October 29th, 1947

rider John Howard Lawson appears

question is

have you ever been a member of the Communist Party

I'm framing my answer in the only way

in which any American citizens can frame his

then you deny question

then you invade his absolutely invasive

then you deny do you

you refuse to answer that question

is that correct

I told you that I will alright

for my beliefs

my affiliations

and everybody else

with the American public

and they will know where I stand

as they do from what I have witnessed

stand away from the stand for americanism

for many years

and I stand away from the stand for the Bill of rights

with our land

the defiant witnesses become known as the Hollywood 10

and pay a heavy price

blacklisted by producers and even jailed for a year

but some movie stars speak up

among them Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall

who go to Washington

to protest the treatment of the Hollywood 10

another casualty is one of Hollywood's greats

Charlie Chaplin

born in Britain

he never became a US citizen

a member of Huak calls for him to be deported

Chaplin sends them a telegram stating

I am not a communist

I am a peacemonger

hewac backs off

but the FBI continues to investigate him

in 1952 at the age of 63

Chaplin goes to England for the first time in 21 years

for the premiere of limelight

while the land of his birth welcomes him

his adoptive country

looks for ways to block his reentry

insulted by the move

it will be another 20 years before the man

who created one of the movies most iconic characters

will return to America

it's the end of an era

and back in Hollywood

the studio's control of the entertainment business

will soon face a new and even more daunting threat

1953 one of Hollywood's founding fathers

Paramount studio boss Adolf Zuker

celebrates his 80th birthday

and adds his handprint

outside Groundman's Chinese Theatre

Zukar has reigned for 50 years

at the top of the Hollywood studio system

but the absolute power that made it so lucrative

has just been taken away

in 1948 the Supreme Court rules

that the companies that make movies

can no longer own the theaters too

Paramount and the others

have to sell their theater chains

with their monopoly broken

they lose the guaranteed audience they've relied on

for the first time in decades

the studios have competition

this is NBC

the National Broadcasting Company television

the new kid on the block sees a golden opportunity

as baby boom families move to the suburbs

travelling to the movie theatre becomes harder

and more expensive

by the mid 50s half of Americans have TV sets

and movie audiences have shrunk in half since the war

so the Hollywood studios figure

if you can't beat them join them

as television moves from news to entertainment

Hollywood becomes its biggest producer

there you are

actors like Lucille Ball dip a toe in the small screen

I Love Lucy

becomes the most popular television show in history

with 40 million viewers a week

you are and I'm glad

we've been at it since early this morning

Hollywood now looks for new audiences for its movies

to appeal to a growing population of teenagers

with spending money

it launches a new generation of actors

like Marlon Brando and James Dean

seen here on set filming Rebel Without a cause in 1955

Dean is the ultimate rebel both on and off screen

always eager to maintain a squeaky clean image

Warner Brothers

enlists Dean to do a public service announcement

oh wait a minute Jimmy um

one more question

do you have any special advice

for the young people who drive

take it easy

driving life

you might say

might be mine

weeks later he dies in a car crash at the age of 24

Hollywood also markets its glamour beyond

American shores

pin up star and sex symbol

Marilyn Monroe becomes its most famous export

on a trip to London in 1956

the new Queen of Hollywood

meets the new Queen of England

at the premiere of The Battle of the River Plate

happy birthday to

she has a very different greeting for America's royalty

at this 1962 fund raising gala for John F

Kennedy happy birthday

Mister President

Hollywood is still creating

the most luminous stars in the world

but the competition for audiences never lets up

so studios offer new unique experiences

September 1952 Premiere night for this is Cinerama

stars like Joan Crawford

Rock Hudson and John Wayne show up to see the film

which debuts a new widescreen technology

a curved screen and three synchronized projectors

puts audiences at the center of the action

like in this roller coaster scene

in 1953 Marilyn Monroe appears in

how to marry a millionaire

the first film shot in Cinemascope

and shown on even wider panoramic screens

capitalizing on the success of this technology

Hollywood studios

reach for production values that TV cannot match

building on previous landmark epics

like birth of a nation and gone with the wind

the studio's blockbusters are bigger

and more expensive than ever before

Cecil B Demille's biblical epic

The Ten Commandments is shot on location in Egypt

1,600 craftsmen build the set

and demil uses 12,000 extras

it costs an unheard of $13 million

but it's worth the investment

it nets almost 10 times its production costs

just over $122 million

making it Paramount's highest grossing movie

ever released

it's New York premiere is a star studded affair

the kind of glamorous spectacle

that's the signature of Hollywood

the Dream Factory's ability to constantly