Being a classic film fanatic is kind of a bummer.

I don't watch a lot of new movies.  Im also not particularly thrilled with how society conducts itself these days. In my head, I would like to think that growing up in the eras of not having to lock your doors, carry mace, or be bombarded with CGI infested advertisement 24/7 made life better and more fufilling.  Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but these days everything from our entertainment to our government just seem empty and lifeless.

I watch old movies not just because the stories and acting are far superior to 90% of the crap the machine spits out today, but because it's a window into the fashions, mannerisms, and humanity of a bygone era.  Knowing its a bygone era, makes it all the more depressing.  You're not going to have a congressman filibustering congress for 2 days straight to save a boys camp and the accountability of our government today.  You aren't going to see tyrants giving whole-hearted speeches about how we all need to be there for one another and not let the government make us slaves via wars they concoct from greed, and you certainly won't see wealthy crime bosses falling in love with an orphanage and risking their freedom to save it from tyranny. (points if you know what movies I'm talking about).  Yeah, they are just movies. But where are those glimmers of hope for humanity in today's blockbusters?  Not in Bridesmaids, or Twilight, or any of the watered down remakes they are putting out. Shouldnt one of the duties of the entertainment industry be enlightenment over brain dead scripts and computer trickery?

To top off the cultural differences of then and now, all our favorite stars have either passed on or are at deaths door.  Andy Griffith died today, there's rumors around Hollywood that Joan Fontaine is not far off, and it just exacerbates that disconnected feeling when you look around and realize you are way more affected by what happens to Mickey Rooney than Seth Rogen.

I know I should be grateful that we had that wonderful era of political conscience and humanity in movies to look back upon (Greed, Metropolis, Grapes of Wrath, etc etc) but it kind of makes the present feel like it's missing something.  Something big.

 A lot of folks say its a lack of religion, but seriously, that is more in your face than ever. It seems it was more okay to be an atheist in the 20s than it now. Others say its maniacal greed and empowerment of corporations, and while yes it's intensified, its always been there. Someone wrote me a while ago and said what caused the problem was when men stopped wearing top hats and women stopped wearing gloves, it took away our politeness and class and respect.  Maybe so. Or finally, maybe it's because when we were tending crops, building our own homes, and working, really working hard for ourselves and not faceless CEOs, we had something better to do aside from sit around, pick each other apart, and wish we'd been born 50 years ago.

I can't put my finger on it. I just know it bums me out that in such a short time we've changed so much, and not necessarily for the better. I feel like the man on the train in that Twilight Zone episode about that town called Willoughby, where time goes slower, people smile and say good morning . . .  Would I prefer now to then if I'd actually lived it? Who knows.

Does Hollywood mirror society?

For all intensive purposes in this blog I look at cinema and pop culture as a window into what was going on around the country in the years between WW1 and the Vietnam War.   While I understand the movies were dramatized, actors' images were completely fabricated and then protected by the studios, and that especially after censorship things were released to the public a little differently, I wonder if it's any kind of mirror at all.  I look at today's media and see it as all out of touch and virtually uninterested in anything happening around the US, or the world. But reading the history of the a-listers from that era, I really can't find a modern day version for most of them.  Who is the Charlie Chaplin of today?  The Cecil B Demille?  Not to say there aren't any creative forces, serious philanthropists, or risk takers,  but who is going to be this generation's legacy 50 or 100 years from now? What masterpieces will they be showing from my generation?

The difference that strikes me most is the way they spoke.  Scripts from then were eloquently worded, historically aware, and to me the subtlety of innuendo and low brow humor was more effective than coming right out with sex, drugs, and cheap shots like we do now.  I wonder if it's because we're too stupid to get the joke now?  Are we better off now that we can show nudity, cuss, and show couples sleeping in the same bed, or has it stifled us to the point where that's all we know how to do anymore to get an audience reaction?

Another difference is the things they pulled off with what they had. Are we also better off that the whole process in film making is so much easier on the creators?  Like special effects, they couldnt just click a button or search youtube for a sound effect in the 40's. They had to be creative.  They couldnt go in and CGI the background later if something wasnt lit properly or looked out of focus or needed an impressive background.  Are the people making movies today equal in talent and creativity?  Or have they lost a little of the wonder by having so many things done for them by computers?

While I believe the studio/mogul system was as dirty as any major corporation today, I can't decide which system was better.  We've had some independent  masterpieces that wouldn't have ever been made in the old system, but the lengths the studios went to preserve the reputations and quality of their stars seemed to make them more worthy of being role models than the stars today.  When society isn't being constantly fed filth, it seems we are less filthy..  I realize it was all built up, hey, thats Hollywood. But would any major star from today have had a snowball's chance in hell to make it big then?

The thing that got me pissed enough to start a blog

http://www.mcknights.com/hollywood-nursing-home-for-stars-to-close-amidst-financial-turmoil/article/126010/

Above is a link from 2009 about the Hollywood Home facing financial ruin. The Motion Picture and Television Fund was started by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and many others in Hollywood to help anyone who'd been in the business more than 20 years with retirement care.  Anyone from makeup artists to actors and their families could come here, it was by the acting community, for the acting community, and was started with silent stars and directors own donations.  Everyone pitched in to ensure a safety net for themselves and their colleagues, and now it's fallen to ruin from greed.

The original board of trustees were people in the industry, Cecil B. Demille and Hal Roach to name a few. Originally gaining funding from collection boxes set up in the studios, later it was funded by Mary Pickford's Payroll Pledge Program, taking .5% from payrolls of industry workers making over $200 a week.

Today bean counters run it an have squandered the funds and, amazingly, current Hollywood "royalty" (which is a dead title now if you ask me) have hardly lifted a finger to save it. David Tillman is the current CEO and is listed as the highest paid CEO of a health care center, making $750,000 annually.

While not all of Hollywood has turned a blind eye,  (Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty, Kevin Spacey, Samuel Goldwyn Jr, are or had once been on the board) it seems with the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the movie industry in Los Angeles there would be no way this place could fail.  Seems the goodwill has long faded and no one has any concern aside from themselves.

http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/ind-column/motion-picture-home-auction-raises-money-and-emotions-13716

In 2010 there was a benefit held for the home.  "It wasn't the moguls or reigning superstars that turned out", it begins.

“Spielberg and them raised $100 million for Israel like it was nothing,” Taylor addressed the bidders before the auction began. “I think we should just raise $100 million to keep the [home] open.”

WHAT'S HAPPENED?  Today's stars have more money than ever yet between mismanagement by the home's corporate heads and complete lack of appreciation from today's top billers these elderly folks who have donated their lives to paving the way to make today possible are being put to the curb?  What is wrong with people?  I've always attributed the major differences to classic stars being from the stage, but this is beyond that.  Greed and apathy, yet again, taking down something started by one of the greatest philanthropists of all time.  being filthy stinking rich comes with social responsibility.  You are lucky to have your fortunes, especially today when you don't even need much talent or work very hard to be a household name. Chaplin knew this (Chaplin wasn't even a citizen, and never was, thanks to McCarthy).  Paul Newman knew this. Now everyone wants to give the illusion of being good by helping Africa or setting out on factless campaigns (Like Kutcher and Demi Moore recently on sex trafficking) but what about right here at home, for your own people and the people who paved the way for you to begin with? 

Chaplin would kick you in your teeth, Hollywood.

Think I'll Start With Charles.

The tramp. The eternal symbol of the underdog. He may have been a silent comedian, but you won't find fart jokes and ignorant humor here.  All of his films very politically charged and smart, even without words.  But when he finally did speak....

1940. No political party battle, no ignorance or fear of the unknown - he denounces dictatorship, greed, hate, and intolerance, in favour of liberty and human brotherhood. A bipartisan statement of what everyone in this country should feel regardless of race, religion, tax bracket, political party, nationality, and all the  other things that divide us now. Could you imagine any politician or actor coming out like this today? And watching this clip, it doesn't feel like an act, a play, it looks like a man that desperately wants this world for everyone.  Where are these people now, when we really need them?  No one would dare have the balls to be this blunt now for fear of losing a donor, a senate seat, a contract, or whatever else.  It's a window for someone born over 50 years after to look and see there was a time when someone, somewhere, had a head on their shoulders and wasn't only in it for personal gain. Chaplin was blacklisted from the country in the McCarthy era for his views.  I see a film like this and just think,  "Where did we go wrong?"