How Has Hollywood Changed During The 1950's

The Hollywood studio system changed dramatically during the 1950’s. Hollywood saw the emergence of a new platform of entertainment, which negatively affected sales, film production and society as a whole. Film studios no longer controlled which movies were seen or where people saw them due to the Superior Court ruling U.S. vs. Paramount Picture Inc. The invention of the television brought much change to the America and the American film experience. By 1950 television had taken hold of the United States. People no longer needed to respond to their local cinema to seek entertainment. Hollywood ticket sales plummeted and the film industry needed change or they would parish. How would the film industry combat television and get the public back in the theater?

The 1950’s brought much change to society. The United States was expanding with many returning WWII veterans starting businesses and families in the suburbs. Hollywood saw a major threat in the form of the television as overall movie ticket sales dropped. In an attempt to combat their plummeting ticket sales, the film industry needed to employ new tactics to attract viewers back into the theater. Facing a financial crisis, the big studios began implementing “three-dimensional (3D) images, wide screens, stereophonic

Hollywood needed to offer the American public more than its television competition. Foreign films also challenged the American film industry. Post WWII European countries began taxing and censoring American films. These countries were focusing more on rebuilding and political stability versus public entertainment. In 1952, the United States Supreme Court case Joseph Burstyn Inc. vs. Wilson overruled Mutual Film Corp. vs. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1952) stating pictures were protected under the First Amendment. This occurred after the New York State Board of Regents attempted to ban the film, “The Miracle” (Jowett, G,