Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History

12. Vitagraph Stardom: Constructing Personalities for “New” Middle-Class Consumption

264 Vitagraph Stardom Constructing Personalities for “New” Middle-Class Consumption 264 Motion picture players must be actors with . . . personality. —J. Stuart Blackton The situation of the new middle class . . . may be seen as symptom and symbol of modern society as a whole. —C. Wright Mills Answering a query from a curious fan identified as J. M. in New York in 1911, the editors of Motion Picture Story Magazine state, “Maurice Costello does not ‘hire out’ for Vitagraph nights. He is very courteous in complying with requests for public appearances, but he receives no fee for his work.” Apparently, J. M., most likely female, wished to see her idol in person. She was not alone. Several personal appearances by Florence Turner, the Vitagraph Girl, had earlier resulted in mob scenes at local theaters in the Northeast. Although her spectacular but brief ascent as a star began to stall in 1912, she remained an attraction. When she appeared that spring at the People’s Theatre in Portland, Oregon, “the house was crowded to the doors and hundreds were turned away.”1 Caught unawares by the rise of stars equivalent to luminaries on the theatrical and operatic stage, early film producers began to understand the phenomenon of stardom. An example is The Picture Idol (1912), a Vitagraph one-reeler starring Maurice Costello, that is a self-reflexive text about the construction of both stars and fans. As such, it is informative not only about product differentiation and audience reception but also the larger sociohistoric context. 04 Chapters_12_16.indd 264 1/13/10 12:00 PM 265 Constructing Personalities for “New” Middle-Class Consumption During the early twentieth century, the American middle class was undergoing a historic transformation in composition and ethos that was signified by the emergence of stars. Decidedly not bourgeoisie, who were the respectable middle class? Why were their cultural values being eclipsed? What was the relationship between the rise of celebrity and a changing social structure rooted in urban demographics? Contrary to a Marxist definition of workers in terms of mode of production, American social historians stress social and cultural experience basic to the middle class: family life, education, associations, residence, nonmanual labor, and consumption.2 Class differences were not only marked but entrenched. Yet the expanding white-collar labor force that worked in corporate America was becoming less homogeneous and more stratified. Consumption, as signified by stars, became the most visible mark of success for the striving “new” middle class and involved not only acquiring goods but transforming selves. Changing demographics that resulted in a salaried “new” middle class, in contrast to an independent, propertied “old” middle class, required a corresponding shift in modes of self-presentation. Put another way, the accelerating movement from a producer to a consumer economy transformed self-making, as Warren Susman argues, in the first decade of the twentieth century. Signifying the respectable middle class was a model, namely the nineteenth-century concept of character based on self-discipline that was essential to preserving social order and personal morality. Such a prudent and upright individual, however, was not in sync with an evolving consumer economy. Changes in self-making related to consumption as an index of class, therefore, was an undeniable sign of the times. Contrary to the emphasis on character as rooted in ethics, self-restraint, and civic duty, the modern personality was vibrant and attractive.3 A performer like stage and screen stars, such a personality embraced consumption and risked selfcommodification to define the self in a fluid and mobile society. As prototypes , then, stars illustrated the social dynamic and moral issues underlying a consumer culture focused on celebrity. A transformation in self-making was opportune for middle-class women at a time when Victorian female culture, a homosocial world in which “men made but a shadowy appearance,” gave way to mixed-sex leisure and companionate marriage. Contrary to stereotypes, the social construction of gender in the nineteenth century may have produced more, not less, freedom for women. Strong kinship and friendship ties that diminished emotional commitment to marriage or led to Boston marriages among women were common. Self-making in a consumer society, on the other 04 Chapters_12_16.indd 265 1/13/10 12:00 PM 266 S u M i k O H i G A S H i hand, resulted in greater objectification of females in heterosexual relations .4 Yet women were now poised to become personalities...