25. The Star System Was One Giant System of Exploitation and Abuse
Great Hollywood icons brought up through the star system include Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Rock Hudson. Gable, for example, was given supporting roles, before he was signed up by MGM in 1931 to a two-year contract at $350 a week. That year, he was put to work on another eight movies for MGM, and two more on loan to Warner Brothers. As he progressed through the system, Gable was paired with others from MGM’s stable, such as Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Gable was instructed to display a savage and sadistic attitude towards women on screen. That established a brand that helped make him a star, but also limited his repertoire. He had little choice, and as he put it: “I have never been consulted as to what part I would like to play. I am not paid to think“.
Gable eventually objected to how he was typecast. As punishment, MGM loaned him to Columbia Pictures to work on 1934’s It Happened One Night. Fortunately for Gable, he hit it out of the park, and earned a Best Actor Oscar. So MGM signed him to a seven year deal in 1935 with better terms. However, “better” was still relative. The studio owned exclusive rights to his name, image, and voice. If he was hurt or disfigured, he could be suspended without compensation. He had to work forty weeks annually, and perform in up to three movies per year. He was still a salaried employee, and did not get a percentage share in his movies’ grosses until 1946. And Gable was an actor so successful he became known as “The King of Hollywood” – an inaccurate term, insofar as he did not even control his own career. Others had it worse.
