In August, “Summer Under the Stars” returns to TCM. This is one of my favorite months of TCM programming, because each day is like taking a crash course on a different star’s career. Even if you watch only part of the actor’s films for that day, you will learn a great deal about him or her. This year, I will look at the programming in a different light because I have been reading The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger (current chair of film studies at Wesleyan University). The book is a fascinating in-depth look at the star system during the Golden Age. I recommend it as companion reading for “Summer Under the Stars.”

Movie stars are a primary reason many people watch movies, yet the phenomenon of stardom is rarely discussed in an interesting way. Scholars and academics tend to dissect the idea of stardom as coldly as a biologist dissects a fish, downplaying the magical effects stars have on fans and viewers. Or, they describe stardom in a way that is entirely negatively, making those of us who love our movie stars feel like dupes. On the other side of the fence are writers and biographers who praise movie stars in that effusive style reserved for film buffs. The effect is akin to eating cotton candy; it looks enticing but when you bite into it, there’s nothing there. Finally, there are professional biographers who write excellent accounts of a specific star’s life and career but offer little interpretation of the process behind their stardom or what meaning the star holds for fans and audiences.

Basinger’s book is a rarity in that it intelligently examines the phenomenon but still appreciates the movie stars and their fans who make the phenomenon possible. The Star Machine begins with a fascinating look at the old Hollywood studio system of the Golden Age and the star-making process. She breaks down the process in a detailed manner, using specific examples from various stars’ careers.

According to Basinger, the process began with a screen test and an assessment of the potential star’s physical look. Eleanor Powell is analyzed according to her physical attributes, which fans of Powell will find both interesting and heart-breaking. The studio hated her hair, for example, and gave her a special shampoo to use, changed her part, gave her a permanent, and forced her to grow it out, among other things. The next step was for the studio’s director of publicity to construct a star bio (note that I did not say “write”), which often included a name change. When Cyd Charisse died, I was shocked that her real name had been Tula Finklea. You couldn’t invent a name like that; no wonder it was changed. But, wannabe stars took on new names for other reasons as well. Gig Young had been billed as Byron Barr in The Gay Sisters, and then afterward decided to take the name of his character, “Gig Young,” as his movie star moniker. Likewise Anne Shirley had been dubbed Dawn O’Day before she appeared in Anne of Green Gables playing “Anne Shirley.” As Basinger notes, these two stars had been given their working names, which were false, and then they changed those names to others that they liked better. Yet their new names were those of fictional characters – another level or layer of falsehood if you think about it.

Studio biographies are a stitch to read now, because nothing in them was true. Lucille Ball’s early bios claimed she once borrowed an open cockpit plane and flew out in freezing weather to rescue a lost schoolboy!!! Of course, Ball never even knew how to fly a plane. No wonder many of the classic era movie stars had identity crises.

The next step was to plant items in magazines and newspapers about the up-and-coming stars, while the wannabes themselves posed for endless publicity stills. Basinger uses Betty Grable as an example here, and Grable’s ascendance up the ladder of studio promotion is amusing. The final steps before appearing in actual films was for the wannabe star to take lessons supplied by the studio on how to be a star, including the technical issues of acting before a camera. I knew much of this before, but the way Basinger details the process reveals how well organized, systematic, and deliberate it all was. I marvel at the studios’ ingenuity, even while I am appalled at their lack of respect for a potential star’s individualism.

Each studio made roughly 50 films per year during the Golden Age, and that doesn’t count shorts, series, and serials. The star-making machine was necessary to manufacture dozens of stars to fill out the casts of so many films. We still adore the Cary Grants, Katharine Hepburns, and Gary Coopers – even the Ann Sheridans, Gig Youngs, and Betty Grables – because their talents surpassed the machinations of the star system. Yet, Hollywood cranked out many stars who were very popular at the time but whose careers were short-lived. Basinger uses Dennis Morgan and Priscilla Lane as examples of these “little-name stars,” who are seldom remembered by today’s average movie-goer.

I like what Basinger says about Norma Shearer, though I am not sure how I feel about Shearer personally. The author maintains that some actresses are underappreciated now because many modern viewers don’t know how to watch her performances. As the “grand lady of acting,” Shearer was famous for her prestige pictures, such as Marie Antoinette. Golden-Age costume dramas don’t always stand the test of time (neither do modern ones), and the requisite acting style for historical dramas can seem unnatural to today’s audiences, but Shearer’s acting was in keeping with her image, according to Basinger. I think that is true of other actors and genres from the Golden Age. Younger viewers seldom watch Golden Age melodrama and don’t understand why Davis, Crawford, and Stanwyck are so famous because they are not accustomed to watching broader styles of performance.

Of course, like any “machine,” the star system could malfunction, and Basinger mentions several actors – many very talented – who failed to become big stars for their studios, including Anna Sten, Karen Morley, Vera Zorina, Ginny Simms, Joan McCracken, and more. I confess I had never heard of Zorina or Simms, but I will remember them now if I see their names in the opening credits of old movies.

The middle section of the book is devoted to lengthy analyses of several major stars and their careers, including Tyrone Power, who was disappointed by the limiting effects of his stardom, and Lana Turner and Errol Flynn, who disobeyed their studios and paid a price. Character actors and oddball stars are discussed at the end of the book, which gives Basinger a reason to talk about actors like Marie Dressler, Mickey Rooney, and Edward Arnold.

I don’t always agree with all of Jeanine Basinger’s interpretations of the stars’ images and careers. I don’t think Robert Montgomery’s career was a star-system malfunction, for example, and I disagreed with her critical take on Tyrone Power’s Nightmare Alley. Also, she sometimes gives way too much detail when talking about a star. Offering a lot of biographical data when essentially interpreting a star’s image tends to get in the way of the main points. But, if you are fascinated by the phenomenon of stardom as well as enamored of the stars themselves, The Star Machine is a worthy addition to your library.