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Rogelio Gaeta

Prof. Glenn

HUM 314

05/10/2017

Tale of Two Hollywoods

How one looks at Hollywood depends on who you ask. One person can say Hollywood

and its film industry is one of Los Angeles proud achievements to the world. Another can

criticize Hollywood for its fakeness and vapid celebrity life. Whatever the case, Hollywoods

impact on the economy and popular culture cannot be understated. This was not the case during

the early 20th century. Hollywood and the film industry was just starting to blossom. This was

due to Los Angeles/Hollywood being in a region with fantastic weather year-round and a diverse

ecosystem. It was because of this that poet Vachel Lindsay wrote glowingly about Hollywood

and its growing film industry in his book he released in 1915. However, Lindsays glowing

depiction of Hollywood runs in conflict with Truman Capotes experienced during his visit to

Hollywood many years later. This is what Hollywood is, a complicated city in a diverse region

with an even more diverse set of people residing in it.

In his writing, Vachel Lindsay made a bold claim, Edison is the new Gutenburg. He has

invented the new printing. The state that realizes this may lead the soul of America, day after

tomorrow [sic] (50). From 1915 onward, the film industry has begun to sprout out of

Hollywood. Taking advantage of the new technology like the nickelodeon and film cameras and

Californias diverse environment, Hollywood was now able to tell a whole trove of new stories

that could have never been able to do so in the east coast. Now, actors are no longer bound to the

theater and can bring their talents to the silver screen.

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Vachel makes a comparison between The moving picture captains of industry to the

gold miners of 1849 (47). The motion picture industry was in its infancy back in 1915, but

already people were already making a fortune making and producing movies. Just like the miners

who were mining gold during the 1849 California Gold Rush. So much so that new colonies

and movie studios are being built at a rapid pace. This phase also lead to movie producers to be

more daring with its film sets and with Californias diverse environment, anything was possible.

For example, film director Cecil B. Demille came to the California Central Coast to create his

vision of The Ten Commandments (Anton). The film required a over 1,600 craftsmen to build

a life-like replica of an Egyptian Temple with four 40-tion statues with sphinxes lining the path

(Anton). They even had to spring up a tent city for the 2,500 actors and 3,000 animals that would

be used to film the movie (Anton). The massive scale of movies like The Ten Commandments

were created because of people like Cecil B. Demille and the movie studios that sprang out

during the Golden Age of Silent Movies. These people were the pioneers that Vachel Lindsay

gushed over while he was writing about Hollywood and its ability to produce stories like The

Ten Commandments. However, Hollywood isnt always about the movie studios, the directors,

the movie stars, etc. Most often than not, the people who live and work in Hollywood can also be

an attraction.

A couple decades later around 1950, Truman Capote arrived in Hollywood and he saw a

different side of the city. Vachel wrote glowingly in his book about Hollywood, people making a

fortune in filmmaking, and Californias famed weather and diverse environment. However,

Capote saw a different California, a cold and cloudy California. Even with that, this will not

deter people like Thelma, a woman Capote met during his visit to Hollywood. According to

Thelma, she moved to Hollywood in order to work as a private secretary to a movie actress
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(Capote, 351). People like Thelma move to Los Angeles/Hollywood for a myriad of reasons like

to be a model or a movie star; hers seemed to be the most realistic. Even if it was realistic, it still

wasnt a guarantee as Capote learned from speaking with her. It seemed to him that Thelma may

not have a slight clue as to how shell get the job as she told the taxi driver to drop her off at

Hollywood (Capote, 352). Even though the weather turned for the worst, she remained

optimistic and told Capote, And listen, honey, lotsa luck! (Capote, 352).

A few day later, Capote met up with a friend who invited him for lunch with a celebrity

named Miss C (352). At Miss Cs residence, he meets with a little girl who showed him and

his friend of all the lavish furniture they owned and how much they spend for each (Capote,

353). Capotes depiction of a wealthy, but materialistic household can be that of both wonders

and jealousy. Charles Champlin, Editor for the LA Times, wrote about our love-hate affair

with modern Hollywood. He wrote in his article, The trappings of movie wealth excite both awe

and a combustible envy (Champlin). Lindsay wrote of the fortune made in Hollywood and now

Capote is witnessing this first hand.

What would be amusing to the average reader is how human these celebrities are in

Truman Capotes account of Hollywood life. They may seem perfect in the eyes of tabloids, TV,

and the movie screen, they are still human. This what Truman Capote saw when he finally meets

up with Miss C, Miss C, skipped like a schoolgirl across the room: her famous face was

without make-up; hairpins dangled looselywearing a very ordinary flannel housecoat (353).

Couple weeks later, Capote would meet up with the antithesis against Vachel Lindsay argument

of making it big in Hollywood. He ran into a woman named P who according to Capote,

she has managed thirty years of Hollywood with humor and dignity. Naturally, she is not

very rich (355). By Hollywood standards, shell be seen as a failure by the locals (355). P
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could be one of those like Thelma who came to Hollywood looking for a better. However,

Hollywood is a force to be reckoned with and to be able to survive there, one must have the drive

to keep pushing forward.

In conclusion, both Vachel Lindsay and Truman Capote offered readers two sides of

Hollywood from two different eras. Vachel wrote of a Hollywood where fortune can be made

and State filled with natural beauty. Capote wrote about Hollywood with a more personal feeling

than Vachel. Capote meet with many interesting individuals like Thelma from Chicago, the

actress known as Miss C, and a woman known as P who may have failed from reaching the local

standard for success, but is still making it work one way or another. This is something that

Vachel was missing from his glowing report of Hollywood and its blossoming film industry.

People would also like to know about the people who inhabit Los Angeles/Hollywood and offer

their take of what to come. That is what is Hollywood is about: creating movies, making money,

and creating an unfamiliar environment not seen before. Then again, it is not the movies that

people should be interested in. The people living in Hollywood can offer readers a view that is

impossible to capture on film.

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Work Cited

Lindsay, Vachel. California and America Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, ed.

David Ulin, The Library of America, 2002, pp. 47-50

Capote, Truman. Hollywood Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, ed. David Ulin, The

Library of America, 2002, pp. 273-283

Anton, Mike. "Digging up a Piece of Hollywood History." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles

Times, 18 Mar. 2010. Web. 12 May 2017.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/18/local/la-me-lostcity19-2010mar19

Champlin, Charles. "Our Love-hate Affair With Hollywood." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles

Times, 04 June 1987. Web. 12 May 2017.

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-04/entertainment/ca-4620_1_love-hate-relationship