Vicarious passions: the private life of Hollywood stars in 1950s Portuguese magazines

ABSTRACT

Life in Hollywood in the 1950s seemed completely at odds with the moral foundations of authoritarian Portugal. By looking at the coverage of the lives of Hollywood stars in Portuguese magazines, however, it is possible to imagine how a conservative society could be exposed to changing values. Readers became acquainted with the period’s most famous cases of divorce. Divorce was at first seen as unacceptable, but the continuous news on the lives of famous people produced a strange impact on the Portuguese public sphere: the end of marriage became familiar and even acceptable in some circumstances. The article disentangles this paradox, by treating magazines as a mediated social actor. The foreign origin of the news may have led readers to assume that divorce was a distant phenomenon. Simultaneously, the social circulation of magazines permeated the everyday with subversive ideas. Magazines thus constitute a decisive source for exploring how North American cultural forms work through the fabric of foreign societies. Imagining the impact of Hollywood in Portugal through the mediation of magazines allows us to identify forms of social change evolving in an apparently uneventful decade, and to grasp the contribution of feelings and attitudes in historical transformation.

KEYWORDS:

• Hollywood
• Salazarism
• cultural Americanization
• divorce
• post-war Portugal
• social mediations

Notes

1. The vast bibliography of cultural Americanization in European cultural history can be divided into two main trends, whether the focus is on the impact of North American cultural forms or on the European resistance to it. Victoria de Grazia’s Irresistible Empire and Vanessa R. Schwartz’s It’s so French! are relevant examples of both trends, respectively.

2. Denning, Culture in the Age of Three Worlds.

3. Portugal lived under dictatorship between 1926 and 1974. The regime is commonly known either as Estado Novo (New State, the constitutional form established in 1933) or as Salazarism, from the name of its long-lasting leader, António de Oliveira Salazar.

4. The process of social change described by Borja de Riquer I Pemanyer for Spain (for a period only slightly later than our own) points in the same direction: “In little more than fifteen years, Spain went from being a backward agrarian country on the periphery of international capitalism […] to one […] fully integrated into the global economic growth.” Riquer I Permanyer, “Adapting to Social Change,” 259. In these circumstances, the impact of foreign forms of audiovisual culture, also visible in the Portuguese case, was particularly dramatic: “Spain passed rapidly from high levels of functional illiteracy to TV saturation without passing through intermediate stages of cultural development.” Idem., 265.

5. When, already in 1966, Século Ilustrado doubled its price, from 2.50 to 5.00 escudos (on the grounds of technical improvement, in particular the introduction of colour pictures), what was surprising was less the amount of the increase than the fact that the magazine had managed to keep such a low price – one could say “popular” – until then. Cf. “Aos nossos leitores,” Século Ilustrado, 24 December 1966, 2–3.

6. I am here drawing on Raymond Williams’ essay “Dominant, Residual and Emergent”: Williams, Marxism and Literature.

7. Hewitt, “The Birth of the Glossy Magazines: the Case of Paris-Match,” 126.

8. This resistance to nationalism, or perhaps more rigorously, this effort to insert a national community in an international historical context, can also be seen as what distinguishes the case of Século Ilustrado from the description given by Kristin Ross on the social impact of magazines in post-war France (while simultaneously nuancing the link between nationalism and imagined community, as defined by Benedict Anderson), a description that otherwise resonates that same impact in contemporary Portugal: “Anderson is discussing the relation between founding novelistic texts written in the vernacular and the early stages of creoule-nation formation – not our own period, which transpires, roughly speaking, in a dozen years after electricity and before electronics, after the arrival of television but before many French possessed one […]. But something like Anderson’s ‘deep horizontal comradeship’ – a deeper one, in fact, or at least broader given increased literacy and greater access to the magazine-commodity – is at work in the recurrent image of magazine readers […], engrossed or distracted, but performing nevertheless the weekly ceremony replicated simultaneously by thousands (or millions) of the new, enlarged middle class. Through this ceremony, presided over by ‘the ideal couple’, both a national and a class identification is forged around the project of constructing the new France.” Ross, Fast Cars, Clean Bodies, 144–5.

9. Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, 22. Hans Robert Jauss’ aesthetic of reception, despite its focus on literature, remains a very powerful tool to interpret the reception of different forms of cultural objects, including journalistic discourses: “The analysis of the literary experience of the reader avoids the threatening pitfalls of psychology if it describes the reception and the influence of a work within the objectifiable system of expectations that arises for each work in the historical moment of its appearance … ”.

10. “Is American Cinema in Decadence?,” Flama, 29 September 1950, 7.

11. “Hollywood invades Broadway,” Século Ilustrado, 1 December 1950, 2–3.

12. The Portuguese translation, Crepúsculo dos Deuses (the same as in Spain), literally means Twilight of the Gods. All feature films mentioned in this article were screened in Portugal shortly after their releases. We can thus assume that many readers had seen the films when they read about them in magazines. However, the journalistic coverage of Hollywood production and of the lives of film stars did not depend on a previous knowledge of the films themselves, as the outreach of a magazine like Século Ilustrado went beyond that of movie theatres (geographically, for example).

13. Século Ilustrado, 9 June 1951, 10.

14. Ibid.

15. In between the 1940s, marked by several popular comedies, and the 1960s of Portuguese new cinema, the 1950s witnessed a deep crisis in film production. The year 1955 would be considered the “year zero” of Portuguese film history, with no feature films released. Cunha, Uma nova história do Novo Cinema Português, 85.

16. On the forms of the public impact of Hollywood films in different European countries, see Stokes and Maltby, Hollywood Abroad.

17. In this sense, beyond the “dialogue” between magazine and readers, one also has to consider the processes of identification readers themselves establish with Hollywood stars, which, according to Jackie Stacey, can go from “passive reproduction” to “an active engagement and production of changing identities.” Stacey, “Feminine Fascinations: Forms of Identification in Star-Audience Relations,” in Gledhill (ed.), Stardom, 160.

18. “Roberto Rossellini against American Censorship,” Século Ilustrado, 28 July 1956, 10; and “Torquemada before the Senate,” Século Ilustrado, 1 May 1954, 16. On the relationship between Senator McCarthy and Hollywood, see Freedland, Hollywood on Trial.

19. Cf. Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo, Secretariado Nacional de Informação, PT/TT/SNI-DSC/9/37.

20. “Magic Carpet,” Século Ilustrado, 3 March 1956, 22.

21. The 1950s witnessed the development of several new neighborhoods for the emerging middle classes. These were, however, still restricted to a narrow elite, which would reinforce the contrast with the large majority of the population living in very poor conditions in both urban and rural areas, including the many shantytowns around cities. Cf. Sandra Marques Pereira, “Cenários do quotidiano doméstico: modos de habitar.”

22. “Jayne’s Forbidden Stories,” Século Ilustrado, 7 July 1962, 2.

23. On L’Europeo, see Gelsomini, L’Italia allo specchio.

24. The case of Italy becomes even more interesting if one thinks of how Portuguese audiences too were invited to see an alternative to Hollywood’s model of femininity in actresses like Anna Magnani and Sophia Loren. David Forgacs and Stephen Gundle show how Italian society was traversed by this alternative between local and Hollywood stars in a way that would be impossible to imagine in Portugal, given the country’s low figures for film production and discreet star system. In this sense, it could be said that Portuguese fans experienced different levels of influence, from Hollywood to several other European national cinemas, such as the Italian. On the impact and limits of Americanization in Italy, see Forgacs and Gundle, Mass Culture and Italian Society, 90.

25. Fallaci’s journalism on cinema’s star system in the 1950s and 1960s were assembled in L’Italia Della Dolce Vita.

26. “The World of Cinema is not Just Confidential,” Século Ilustrado, 7 September 1957, 21.

27. “Terror Process Paralyzes Hollywood,” Século Ilustrado, 14 September 1957, 24.

28. The tension between the external glamour and the private lives in the media coverage of stars is well defined by Richard Dyer: “ … it is one of the ironies of the whole star phenomenon that all these assertions of the reality of the inner self or of public life take place in one of the aspects of modern life that is most associated with the invasion and destruction of the inner self and corruptibility of public life, namely mass media.” Dyer, Heavenly Bodies, 15.

29. “Film Artists are Victims of their Own Characters,” Século Ilustrado, 24 September 1959, 14.

30. “The Modest Existence of Dianna Durbin,” Século Ilustrado, 27 April 1957.

31. “Martine Carol: The Spectacular French Vedette is, in her Intimacy, Plain, Modest and Even Shy,” Século Ilustrado, 23 November 1957, 11.

32. Inês Brasão gives a thorough description of what was expected from women in Salazarist society in Dons e Disciplinas do Corpo Feminino.

33. Bernstein, Controlling Hollywood.

34. “He makes Hollywood Tremble – the ‘Gangster’ of the Printing Press,” Século Ilustrado, 6 July 1957.

35. Thomas Harris showed how internal to the film industry the press was, by creating a grey area between fictional characters and the real life of actors and actresses: “When the actor or actress is actually cast in a film, the studio assigns a ‘unit man’ to ‘plant’ items about the personality in these places as well as national magazines and Sunday newspaper supplements.” Harris, “The Building of Popular Images: Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe,” in Gledhill (ed.), Stardom, 41.

36. “The Ruthless Hunt for Happy Couples,” Século Ilustrado, 20 May 1961, 9.

37. Pancrácio Calcinhas, “Letter to Betsy Drake,” Plateia, 1 July 1951, 2.

38. Plateia, 15 November 1951, no page [collectible supplement].

39. “Contest of World Popularity,” Flama, 16 March 1951, 7.

40. On the role of marriage in Portuguese society during Salazarism, see Sofia Aboim, “Vida Conjugais: do institucionalismo ao elogio da relação.”

41. “Why do Marriages Fail in Hollywood?,” Século Ilustrado, 9 August 1958, 18.

42. Augusto Fraga, “Divorce – Hollywood’s Shame that becomes a National Scandal in the United States,” Século Ilustrado, 3 June 1950, 19.

43. Idem. Fraga’s suggestion that film fiction spreads into social life resembles Henri Lefebvre’s point of departure in Critique of Everyday Life, when the French philosopher identified expressions of advertising in everyday language.

44. “The Children of Divorce,” Século Ilustrado, 12 April 1958, 4.

45. Plateia, 15 April 1951, 5.

46. Século Ilustrado, 26 December 1953, 3.

47. “In the Intimacy of the Granger,” Século Ilustrado, 23 January 1960, 39.

48. The process of divorce liberalization in the United States and Western Europe is described in Arthur Marwick’s The Sixties, especially in the section “Divorce and Equal Rights.”

49. Gino Gullace, “In America … 250 Causes for Divorce,” Século Ilutsrado, 19 May 1962, 48.

50. “The Women in the News,” Século Ilustrado, 12 July 1958, 5.

51. Measured judgement is a concept used by Arthur Marwick in The Sixties, to describe how certain key historical transformations in the long 1960s were the consequence of a social negotiation between emerging subjects and those in power, rather than of moments of rebellion as such.

52. “Joanne Woodward – a Woman with many Faces,” Século Ilustrado, 14 February 1959, 10.

53. Século Ilustrado, 7 February 1953, 19.

54. Santos Neves, “We hear of Marilyn Monroe – the Scandal Bride – Again,” Plateia, 1 April 1954, 4.

55. “Before the Divorce – the Truth about Marilyn,” Século Ilustrado, 16 October 1954, 16.

56. Plateia, 15 May 1956, 7.

57. “The New Marilyn Monroe,” Plateia, 1 July 1956, 5.

58. “Romance ‘Made in USA’,” Século Ilustrado, 23 June 1956.

59. “The New Life of Marilyn,” Século Ilustrado, 12 October 1957, 37.

60. “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World has No Luck in Love,” Século Ilustrado, 10 December 1960, 5; “Marilyn Sick of Love”, Século Ilustrado, 25 March 1961, 41.

61. “The Unhappy ‘Goddess’,” Século Ilustrado, 11 August 1962, 27. The more conservative Flama reacted in a similar way: “Hollywood created a jungle of myths. Many suffocated by its ties […]. With the death of Marilyn, the destruction of a poor human being, victim or herself and of the moral climate, reaches the extreme limits of sadness,” one could read on the gloomy cover of the magazine’s edition on 17 August 1962.

62. Interestingly, this seems to nuance, in the context of the Portuguese society of the 1950s, Richard Dyer’s stimulating interpretation of Monroe’s charisma as a consequence of her being “the vehicle for securing a male sexuality free of guilt”: “She looks like she’s no trouble, she is vulnerable, and she appears to offer herself to the viewer, to be available. She embodies what […] ‘Every husband needs’ in a wife, namely, good sex uncomplicated by worry about satisfying her.” Dyer, Heavenly Bodies, 41 and 45. In Portuguese magazines, as we have just seen, this embodiment of sexual desire was mediated, or mitigated, by the right to love and happiness.

63. “As the circumstances of her birth, her youthful trials and her early marriage were revealed, Marilyn Monroe became all the more provocative as a sexual symbol. It was as if the absence of family had rendered attainable, while the Kellys of Philadelphia were inculcating their Grace with the tenets of propriety and respectability.” Harris, “The Building of Popular Images: Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe,” 43.

64. Louis Serrano, “One of 1953’s Revelations – Grace Kelly,” Plateia, 15 March 1954, 12.

65. “‘Classy’ Girl in Hollywood,” Século Ilustrado, 23 October 1954, 31.

66. “Grace Kelly Prefers the Theatre to Hollywood’s Schemes,” Século Ilustrado, 5 March 1955, 7.

67. “The Marriage of the Year,” Flama, 20 April 1956, 13.

68. “The Sensational Love Affair of Grace Kelly,” Século Ilustrado, 14 January 1956, 20.

69. “Your Highness Grace Kelly,” Século Ilustrado, 4 February 1956, 37.

70. “The Prince and the Movie Actress,” Século Ilustrado, 28 April 1956, 3.

71. “Grace and the Nostalgia of Cinema,” Século Ilustrado, 3 February 1962, 4.

72. “Fear and Nostalgia take Grace to Hollywood,” Século Ilustrado, 7 February 1962, 25. To make things worse, according to Flama, Hitchcock’s invitation came in a moment of diplomatic tension between France and the Principality of Monaco. See “Grace Kelly: between Athens and Hollywood,” 11 May 1962, 22.

73. Emma Corti, “The Truth is: They Never Loved Each Other,” Século Ilustrado, 5 May 1962, 16.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luís Trindade

Luís Trindade teaches Portuguese and European Culture and History at Birkbeck, University of London. His most recent book, Narratives in Motion: Journalism and Modernist Events in 1920s Portugal, was published by Berghahn Books in 2016. He has also edited The Making of Modern Portugal (2013) and has published on the histories of Portuguese nationalism and Marxism, Portuguese cinema, the Carnation Revolution, and the history of mass culture in twentieth-century Portugal. He is currently based in Lisbon doing research on the history of audiovisual culture in Portugal from the 1950s to the 1980s.