Moxie: The Daring Women of Classic Hollywood - Hardcover

Resnick, Ira M.; Bretaņa, Raissa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789214938 ISBN 13: 9780789214935

Publisher: Abbeville Press, 2024

Synopsis

A celebration of the fearless, fabulous actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age―illustrated with stunning photographs from a world-class collection

Lauren Bacall, Louise Brooks, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Lillian Gish, Gloria Grahame, Katharine Hepburn, Veronica Lake, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Anna May Wong―and more!

To make it in Hollywood, it takes more than beauty, brains, and talent―it takes moxie. This was especially true for women in the heyday of the studio system, a period from the 1920s to the 1950s when a small number of companies dominated the production and distribution of films in America. It was an industry controlled by male studio executives, in which directors and producers called the shots and contract players had little say in which roles they would play. Still, a trailblazing group of actresses forged successful careers out of sheer conviction, perseverance, and professional know-how. These spirited women captivated audiences, shaped the film industry, and remain enduring icons of classic cinema.

This gorgeous volume profiles some fifteen leading ladies who had moxie to spare. It is illustrated with more than two hundred film stills, publicity photos, and lobby cards from the collection of Ira M. Resnick―many published here for the first time. Together these captivating images reveal how the stars of the Golden Age used pose and performance, fashion and glamour to shape their images both onscreen and off. Moxie will dazzle and seduce all devotees of classic Hollywood.

About this title

About the Authors

Ira M. Resnick is the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted to the art of the movies. He is a trustee of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood and The Seventies: A Photographic Journey.

Raissa Bretaņa, a New York–based fashion historian, teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has appeared on the Turner Classic Movies series Follow the Thread, about film and fashion, and hosts the video series Would They Wear That? for Glamour.

Jane Fonda is a two-time Oscar winner and an Emmy award–winning American actress and a political activist. She sits on the boards of V-Day: Until the Violence Stops, the Women’s Media Center (which she cofounded in 2004), the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential, and Homeboy Industries. She lives in Los Angeles.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abbeville Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0789214938
• ISBN 13: 9780789214935
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240