Jane Hall on the cover of Cosmopolitan, October 1939. Image: terapeak.com
We can tell you’re dying to know about our recent classic Hollywood discovery.
You’re going to be excited!
We’ve gone all fangirl for Jane Hall, a young woman who thumbed her nose at tradition and became a scriptwriter at MGM Studios in the late 1930s. Not only did she write screenplays, she also wrote witty behind-the-scenes-in-Hollywood articles for Good Housekeeping.
Just look at these highlights from her resume, all of which were accomplished before she turned 30.
Impressive, no?
As a child, Hall lived in Arizona, then California. However, when she and her brother were orphaned as teenagers, they were sent to New York to live with well-heeled relatives. Here she enjoyed a privileged life as a debutante.
Yet, she was a hard worker and a keen observer. Take a peek at some of her impressions of Hollywood:
Hollywood has no cocktail hour… Lights burn late on the Lots out here, and executives Die Young. And that is why – in Hollywood – it’s Noon that counts. Noon is when you find yourself Married or Fired or rewriting Shakespeare. Noon is when the legal office Exercises – and all the up-and-coming Agents stalk all the Other Agents’ clients – and producer’s wives preview each other’s $40 hats. (Such Mad Fun, p. 182)
Hall is best known for writing the screenplay for These Glamour Girls (1939), based on her Cosmopolitan short story. It’s an amusing, stylish film starring Lana Turner in one of her first Big Roles.
A writing credit in the film AND the trailer!
Jane Hall’s writing career is detailed in a forthcoming book entitled Such Mad Fun: Ambition and Glamour in Hollywood’s Golden Age by historian Robin R. Cutler. (The book will be released September 8th.)
Cutler gives us a well-researched and insightful view of 1930s Hollywood and the business of writing movies. As history, you can’t help but notice how objective the author is: Jane Hall was Robin Cutler’s mother.
“In the 1950s, my mother was often a mystery to me,” writes Cutler. “[I]f her bedroom was off limits, I would head straight for her mirrored dressing table just to look at, not to touch, the artist’s tools that she needed to transform herself into a glamour girl before she could be seen in public.”
Cutler presents Hall as a witty, independent woman who is a fascinating study. Much of the research for this book comes from Hall’s own diary and personal papers.
The book also examines the world of Well-To-Do Urbanites during the Depression, something we found surprisingly helpful.
The Irving Thalberg Building, MGM Studios, where Hall worked. Image: thestudiotour.com
Shortly after we finished reading this book, we watched a 1930s screwball comedy. “This is Jane Hall’s world,” we thought. With Hall’s adventures in mind, we found ourselves experiencing the film in a different way.
In fact, it was almost as if we were watching a screwball comedy for the first time.
We realized Such Mad Fun filled a gaping hole in our knowledge of 1930s America. You see, we (as in, yours truly) have read very little about rich New Yorkers during the Depression. Cutler explains the culture of the rich and, in doing so, gives us a greater understanding of them as portrayed in the films of the 1930s.
We’re not joking when we say we regard this book as an anthropological guide.
We highly recommend Such Mad Fun for its engrossing look at an extraordinary woman of the 1930s, one who is still considered remarkable nearly 100 years later.
We encourage you to grab a copy when it’s released on September 8th.
Notes:
- You can order a copy of Such Mad Fun: Ambition and Glamour in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robin R. Cutler (in any format) HERE.
- Check out author Robin R. Cutler’s website HERE.
- We were sent an advance reading copy to review.
Silver Screenings 
What a fascinating slice of cinema history — many thanks! I must put the book on my wishlist. I do so enjoy learning about the strong-willed women who bucked the sexist Hollywood system (cue 99 paras of me raving about Ida Lupino . . .).
LikeLiked by 1 person
A fascinating slice of cinema history is right! I could hardly put this book down. Jane Hall sounds like a truly remarkable woman.
As for the fab Ida Lupino, 99 paras should just about do it. 😉
LikeLike
A whole new world – thanks heaps!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am so glad I read this book. Absolutely loved it. Also, I feel like a real smarty pants now. 😉
LikeLike
I’ve become addicted to the classic screwball comedies over the last few months. Such Mad Fun could be required reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it could be required reading. I really learned a lot from it – and it’s a terrific book, besides. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really need to start looking at the women of old Hollywood who weren’t actresses. It really isn’t fair of me to keep ignoring them, and I think this book might be a step in the right direction. Thanks for the recommendation!
I also wanted to invite you to my very first blogathon! I’d love to have you join, Ruth!
http://loveletterstooldhollywood.blogspot.com/2016/09/announcing-vincente-minnelli-blogathon.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
This book is an excellent place to start, because it’s well researched and well written. It also provides an interesting look at New York and Hollywood in the 1930s.
LikeLike
Ooh! The book is out tomorrow. I’m totally fangirling now, too, after reading this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was thrilled to have the chance to review it. Could hardly put it down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It sounds like a really interesting book, Ruth! I never would have thought about reading a book like this in the past, but you have convinced me. What intrigued me was learning about the rich during the depression. I’ve never thought about it from that perspective before. Also interesting in your post was how early Jane Hall started writing and getting her pieces published. She sounds like a fascinating person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jane Hall struck me as a young woman everyone would like. I can imagine her being very popular in New York and at MGM.
I hope you get the chance to read this book. It’s packed with great research and observations. It’s one of those books that helps you see history a little more fully.
LikeLike
Wow!! Interesting Book review.
Thanks for enlightening me on Jane Hall, somebody I wasn’t aware of. What a cool n’ classy lady she seems to have been. I like your quote on the son’s examination of “artist’s tools that she needed to transform herself into a glamour girl”
Great insight into 30’s America. It definitely sounds worth reading, especially ’cause it’s written by the son!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jane Hall sounds fascinating, doesn’t she? This biography was a fascinating read, and I really learned a lot about 1930s America. I could hardly put it down!
LikeLiked by 1 person