“You wouldn’t have these problems if you were a fallen woman!”: Female (Curtiz, 1933)

Our friends over at the Melodrama Research Group are continuing to explore pre-Code Hollywood cinema this term, starting with a screening of Female this coming Tuesday. Because of this, we had a look at what the fan magazines had to say about this film and about its central star, Ruth Chatterton. Three reviews, from Photoplay, Picture Play and Motion Picture, took quite different stances…

Women’s War Work is Never Done!

Women’s War Work Is Never Done: Representation of women in The War Illustrated Are you interested in history, the Great War, magazines, the representation of women, or in being part of a research project organised and run locally? If so, NoRMMA needs you! NoRMMA (Network of Researchers: Movies, Magazines, Audiences https://normmanetwork.com/) is an international research group founded at the University…

Reviewing Reviewing the Fan Mags…

Exciting news! Recently, founding NoRMMA member Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald published the article “Reviewing Reviewing the Fan Mags” in Film History – it can be found in Vol. 28, no. 4 of the journal, or using the following link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/647242 Congratulations, Tamar! The abstract reads as follows: On June 2, 1933, trade daily the Hollywood Reporter announced it was inaugurating a…

Publication announcement: “Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure”.

Just a brief post today, dear NoRMMAs, to flag up the recent publication of Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure, edited by Lucy Bolton and Julie Lobalzo Wright, for Palgrave Macmillan. More information can be found here: http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137407320 The book promises to examine “the issue of stardom and longevity and investigates the many reasons for the persistence…

Exciting NoRMMA news + Photoplay covers, 1912-1980

Things have been a little quiet on the NoRMMA blog of late, partially due to the PhD thesis of the NoRMMA blogkeeper reaching its final stages – but we return with a bit of exciting news. We’re very happy to announce that, following the “Turning The Page”-conference in November, we recently signed a contract with the University of Iowa Press to work on an…

The Romanian magazine “Cinema”, 1924-48.

Today, our blog features a guest post by Oana-Maria Mazilu (University of Kent), one of our conference presenters who is currently working on her PhD on Romanian movie magazine culture. Hello NoRMMAs, Following my presentation on Nicolae Ceausescu’s image in the Romanian film magazine Cinema for our Ghent conference, I thought I would take this opportunity to show and discuss…