Searching for Stars: Stardom and Screen Acting in British Cinema [Paperback]

Explores the reasons behind British cinema's failure to create its own stars. The text looks at the way theatre and music hall spawned their stars, and asks why so many of them found the transition to film so awkward. It compares the British star system with that of Hollywood.

What sort of contracts were British stars offered? How much were they paid? Who dealt with their publicity? How did Britsh fans regard them? There are essays on key figures (Novello, Fields, Formby, Dors, Bogarde, Mason, Matthews), and assessment of how British stars fared in Hollywood, an analysis of the effects of class and regional prejudice on attempts at British star-making, and a survey of the British comedy tradition, and some of the questions about how genre affected the star system.

Preface vi
1. Of Knights and Clowns 1
2. The Not-So-Roaring 20's: Ivor Novello and Betty Balfour 34
3. The King, The Queen and the Dancing Divinity 59
4. Carnival and Consensus 83
5. Stock Types 104
6. Exotic Outsiders 143
7. Lockwood, Calvert and Some Other Contract Artists 154
8. Starmakers 172
9. The End of the Studio System 201
Bibliography 208
Index 211