The 'golden age' studio system often controlled actors' personal lives

Hollywood's 'golden age' was controlled by vertically integrated studios

Hollywood in the early to mid-20th century was largely controlled by the "Big Five" studios: Paramount, Warner Bros., Fox, MGM, and RKO. The studios were vertically integrated, overseeing every aspect of film production, distribution, and exhibition. During this era, actors like Cary Grant and Judy Garland were under contract with specific studios—typically for seven years. Garland signed with MGM at age 13, which counted on them to draw audiences.

Minnelli dealt with high scrutiny and gossip from the press beginning at a young age

After reaching superstar status by the 1970s, Minnelli was often mired in gossip, with reporters asking questions about nonexistent pregnancies or commenting on her appearance. Thanks to her upbringing in the industry, she often took these interactions in stride.

Soap operas were especially popular in the '70s and '80s

Shows like "As the World Turns" and "Love of Life" attracted tens of millions of viewers and had many high-profile fans, including Andy Warhol, Sammy Davis Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. This Time cover story from 1976 explores the pop culture phenomenon.

Hollywood’s best scandals

With all the money, power, and beautiful people in Hollywood, it’s no wonder there’s no shortage of scandals. This list highlights 10 of the most salacious ones, from Marilyn Monroe’s affair with then-president John F. Kennedy, to the mysterious death of starlet Natalie Wood in 1981.

Six body doubles explain the hidden labor behind Hollywood's seamless performances

When actors faces are out of view in a film, it's likely you're seeing a body double. Six such actors describe their experiences: as a curvier set of legs in "Pretty Woman," Michael B. Jordan's double in "Sinners," Hermione when her face is out of view (to abide by child labor laws), pianist hands, and more. A rich behind-the-scenes look.

DJ Alan Freed was eventually charged in a 'payola' scandal

After popularizing rock 'n' roll, both as a genre and as a culture, Freed became an industry power player, producing movies, hosting concerts, and minting superstars. By the end of the 50's, Freed was charged with 26 counts of commercial bribery, for a scheme they called "payola," and investigated by the House subcommittee on Legislative Oversight.

Two individuals are credited with making the Oscars red carpet a destination for fashion

Much like the Met Gala, fashion is now an inextricable part of the Academy Awards. But it wasn't always that way. In the 1950s and '60s, costume designer Edith Head was responsible for making sure the stars looked their best on television. In the 1990s, Fred Hayman brought luxury back to the stage after the excess of the 1970s and 1980s. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The consequences of dating as a K-pop idol

Seunghan, a star from the boy band RIIZE, experienced intense backlash for leaked photos of him kissing a woman when he was a trainee. Many fans were outraged by the images and found his behavior to be against their expectations of a wholesome K-pop idol. This article provides details about this case and gives other examples of idols who experienced a fallout with fans for having personal relationships.

Hitchcock struggled to make movies at his peak in the 1960s

Despite being at his peak, iconic director Alfred Hitchcock had many unrealized movie projects in the 1960s. The reasons are manifold, including difficulties with casting, budget limits, and controversies around project themes. This podcast breaks down the mysterious hurdles the director faced.

The studio behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled promotion before its national release

Before its national release in 1975, the studio behind "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" decided the musical movie was too strange, campy, and unwieldy for most audiences and cut its promotional efforts, hoping to minimize its losses. That decision led to the film flopping commercially. It wasn't until a theater began screening the film at midnight that it caught on, attracting a devoted fanbase who attended weekly screenings and dressed as their favorite characters—a tradition that continues to this day.

Lucasfilm discouraged fan fiction that sexualized its characters

The self-published fan fiction zines of the '60s, '70s, and '80s were obscure enough that they rarely attracted the attention of the copyright holders of their source material. But Lucasfilm, the production company behind the "Star Wars" films, threatened legal action against fans who published X-rated stories and "homosexual expressions of love" featuring its characters.

Gorgeous George was American pro wrestling's first superstar

George owed his popularity to the in-ring persona he created: a haughty, pretentious Anglophile who couldn't believe he had to stoop to fight his opponents. This 1950s film, taken from the "Wrestling From Hollywood" show that popularized professional wrestling in the US, perfectly illustrates what made this "heel" so compelling.

David Bowie tried to hire Norman Rockwell for the cover of 'Young Americans'

The Thin White Duke thought the iconic artist, known for his classic Americana, would be the perfect artist for his campy 1975 album, “Young Americans.” Bowie called the Rockwell residence and made the request, but was told that Rockwell would need around six months to complete the painting, which Bowie felt was too long.

Learn how Hollywood tries to get mental health portrayals right

"Entertainment is always the first priority," the director of medical research for "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" explained in this Newsweek article. But, medical consultants and dedicated groups like the University of Southern California's Hollywood, Health, and Society program, can help inform shows' characters, actions, and sensitivities on subjects like mental illness.

'Success has brought me world idolization and millions of pounds. But it's prevented me from having the one thing we all need: A loving, ongoing relationship.'

- Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (1946-1991)

Country musicians grappled with the outlaw archetype on screen

As country grew more popular, some of its biggest stars leapt to the silver screen, with Johnny Cash in "Five Minutes to Live," Kris Kristofferson in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," and Dolly Parton in "9 to 5." Kristin Hunt notes that all of these films featured country stars toying with the outlaw archetype, a prevalent theme throughout the history of country music.

Rob Reiner fell in love while working on the romantic comedy 'When Harry Met Sally'

The director was divorced when he began shooting the movie, which was loosely based on his own experiences dating. He was introduced to his eventual wife, Michele Singer, by a cameraman on the production, who told Reiner that he and Singer would wind up married.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

Beard sometimes downplayed his sexual orientation

Beard was a gay man living at a time when many gay people hid their orientation, fearing prejudice and violence. Considering that, Beard sometimes downplayed his identity in public, though he officially came out in 1981 in his memoir.

What happens when you can't trust your therapist?

When Marty Markowitz first stepped into his new psychiatrist's office, he triggered a three-decade spiral of abuse that robbed him of his autonomy, relationships, and wealth. Markowitz isn't the only client to lay allegations of abuse at the feet of Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf, an accomplished New York practitioner with a rolodex of celebrity clients who has since lost his license to practice.

The Rockefellers' family office expanded to become a multifamily office

The Rockefellers created the first known single-family office in the late 1800s but the firm has evolved since to serve many wealthy American families.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Sartre wrote an 8-hour screenplay for a Freud biopic

Sartre was hired to write the screenplay for what would eventually become John Huston's 1962 film "Freud: The Secret Passion," about the life of the psychoanalyst. Sartre, however, had trouble sticking to the parameters of Hollywood. An early draft was estimated to be five hours long. Rather than shortening it, as Huston suggested, Sartre extended it to eight hours and was eventually removed from the production.

'Twenty-One' producers presented fabricated narratives as reality

Producers of “Twenty-One,” which featured two contestants competing from separate isolation booths, knew the quiz show format could use storytelling in the same way that any fictional program could. They found a perfect narrative in the matchup between Charles Van Doren, an all-American Columbia University instructor, and Herb Stempel, an arrogant Queens native. Stempel intentionally lost the game, pretending not to know the answer to a question about his favorite movie, “Marty.”

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

The matchmakers serving the elite of Silicon Valley

If members of the wealthy elite want to find romance, they often choose expensive match-making services rather than dating apps. These services can cost $150,000 for each match, and providers are experts in dealing with the unique social dynamics caused by being wealthy and the unusual egos such wealth can bring. This article explores this hidden cultural phenomenon.

João Gilberto was bossa nova's first major star

Antônio Carlos Jobim wrote songs and worked with the singer, whose quiet, melancholy crooning made him a star. The records he recorded between 1959 and 1961, combined with the success of Marcel Camus' film "Black Orpheus," helped bossa nova move from a Brazilian sound to an international fascination.

The exile and return of Charlie Chaplin

In 1952, amid accusations of communist ties and a threatened reentry ban during the Red Scare, Charlie Chaplin left the US and chose exile in Switzerland. Two decades later, he returned to accept an honorary Oscar, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation—the longest in history.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years