Everything Old is New Again

One of the newsy bits (and I use the term "newsy" loosely) on the Today Show this morning was a commentary piece about how the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes affair could have helped the opening of Batman Begins. They then went back to last weekend and threw Brad and Angelina and their film into the pattern.

They do know this isn't new right? They do know this kind of hoopla, real or imagined, is old school publicity, right?

Um ... does anyone remember the studio system? Long before actors were working for themselves and 10% for their agents, they worked for the movie studio. And the studio made you work for it.

It was not uncommon for the studio to set its stars up on dates to go out and "be seen" to promote an upcoming film. You belonged to the studio. You did the movies they told you too and you were constantly made to be seen out and about in an attempt to bolster ticket sales.

This control was infamous. Studios would trade and lend actors like professional sports players. One famous power play was MGM's "Wizard of Oz". MGM wanted Shirley Temple, who, at the time was most appropriate in age for the character of Dorothy. 20th Centruy Fox wouldn't give her up. So MGM went with one of their stars even though she was too old for the character. In the end, MGM won out with Garland, but she was the understudy who wins hearts on opening night thanks to the studio system.

What you believe or don't believe about Tom and Katie isn't important. Are they really in love? Is he really gay and it's all fake? Don't matter. The use of this kind of relationship, real or manufactured, is nothing new. Its just now you have actors who are independant players. They don't have the studio bankrolling their movie star assent. They have to make themselves and maintain themselves as stars. It seems this May/September romance (he is not quite December yet Ms. Today show reporter) certainly keeps them in the news.