Memoirs of the Movies

The close relationship between the Motion Picture Industry and Old Time Radio has been discussed many times. In Memoirs of the Movies, Group W Syndication (Westinghouse Radio Productions) celebrates Hollywood with an oral history taken from interviews with several of Hollywood's biggest names.

The 18-episode series was produced with the assistance of Columbia University's Oral History Research Office. The content was provided by persons from in front and behind the camera and presents views from the silent era through the late Fifties. Heard in the series are the memories and opinions of Myna Loy, Cecil B. DeMille, King Vidor, Paul Newman, Ralph Bellamy, Roddy McDowall, Otto Preminger, Gene Kelly, Francis X. Bushman, Jeanette MacDonald, Basil Rathbone, Henry Fonda, Ben Hecht, Joseph Mankiewicz, and many others.

Writers, directors, cameramen, producers, and musicians all tell of their secrets to bring films to audiences, while actors share what it was like to work in the sometimes glamorous but often drudge-filled world of Hollywood. The themes of each episode present a clear picture of the art and industry of the studio system which brought delight to so many but was ultimately an industry designed to make money for its investors.

Unsurprisingly, the show seems to favor the supposedly more innocent and creative times of the silent era. While discussing Morality in the Movies, the point is made that love scenes in the bawdy Pre-Code silent era could be every bit as naughty as modern fare, but back then it was done with 'a lot more class'. A good deal of emphasis is placed on the difficulties actors faced with the necessity to film scenes out of order and not realizing what the whole story was until the film was released.

An interesting aspect of Memoirs of the Movies is its timing. Most of those interviewed for the program had worked in the Studio System, which by 1959 was starting to feel its impending downfall. Naturally, some people thrived under the conditions of the Studio System while others chafed against its restrictions and the Studio Boss's mania to make every film profitable.

The biggest gift of Memoirs is that it serves to remind movie fans that despite the glamor and fantasy of Hollywood, making movies was and is a very human endeavor.