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50-486: The official estimate of attendance on the canteen's opening night was 1,250, with 200 "actresses of varying importance" as hostesses and 75 "'name' actors" as busboys. The canteen's popularity led to the establishment of other canteens including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Hollywood , San Francisco, and elsewhere throughout the United States as well as London and Paris. In addition to shows,

100-599: A "Hall of Honor" at its first anniversary gala (held in November 1943). The plaques commemorated those film industry representatives who were serving in the war. An array of stars appeared in cameo roles , many of them musical, in the Warner Bros. film, Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Each star had been paid $ 50,000 by the studio, which was subsequently donated to the Hollywood Canteen. By 1944,

150-419: A building operated by CNN are located on the site, which is just south of Sunset Boulevard . Noted celebrities who donated their services at the Hollywood Canteen are listed. Several references to the Hollywood Canteen often erroneously list the address of The Hollywood Guild and Canteen , a similarly titled but distinct establishment, which was located at 1284 North Crescent Heights Boulevard in

200-417: A club offering food, dancing, and entertainment for enlisted men and women , who were usually on their way overseas during World War II . Even though the majority of visitors were US servicemen , the canteen was open to allied countries as well as women in all branches of service. Their tickets for admission were just their uniforms , and everything at the canteen was free of charge. The canteen

250-496: A decade for films to adapt to sound and return to the level of artistic quality of the silents, which they did in the late 1930s when the Greatest Generation came of age. Many great works of cinema that emerged from this period were of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason this was possible is that, as so many films were made, not every one had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with

300-453: A foundation, donating nearly $ 1 million to veterans hospitals and other philanthropic causes. Jules Stein succeeded Davis as president in May 1966. The structure where the canteen was once located no longer exists. In December 1966, by which time it had been converted into the "Off-Hollywood Boulevard" theater, a bulldozer leveled it into a parking lot . Currently, a parking garage and

350-401: A good script and relatively unknown actors. This was the case with Citizen Kane (1941), directed by Orson Welles and regarded as one of the greatest films of all time . Other strong-willed directors, like Howard Hawks , Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra , battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions. The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw

400-488: A home once owned by the estate of silent film actor Dustin Farnum . It was here that Anne "Mom" Lehr, wife of retired film executive Abraham Lehr, provided free meals and bunk beds for servicemen beyond the end of the second World War . Lehr also had her own rotation of volunteers, and was able to elicit contributions throughout the war from generous celebrities and benefactors as well, such as Tom Breneman (who paid for

450-467: A means of storytelling – a masterpiece of literary narrative with numerous innovative visual techniques. The film initiated so many advances in American cinema that it was rendered obsolete within a few years. Though 1913 was a global landmark for filmmaking, 1917 was primarily an American one; the era of "classical Hollywood cinema" is distinguished by a narrative and visual style which began to dominate

500-555: A narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the silent film era . It then became characteristic of American cinema during the Golden Age of Hollywood from about 1927, the advent of sound film , until the 1960s (perhaps till 1972, when Dolby Stereo was introduced). It eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of filmmaking worldwide. Similar or associated terms include classical Hollywood narrative ,

550-438: A photographed play in that the events seem to exist objectively and that cameras only give us the best view of the whole play. This treatment of space consists of four main aspects: centering, balancing, frontality, and depth. Persons or objects of significance are mostly in the center part of the picture frame and never out of focus. Balancing refers to the visual composition, i. e., characters are evenly distributed throughout

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600-400: A swimming pool); Greer Garson (who donated a bamboo bar); and Lew Ayres (who wrote a check for $ 750, when the guild's bank account was overdrawn). When the home was razed in 1948, several news articles failed to distinguish between the two "Hollywood Canteens", which led to a persistent confusion between the two organizations. Anne Lehr died in 1951. In 1946, Davis received an award from

650-534: A wallet, a sewing kit, and articles of clothing. By the end of 1942, vice-president John Garfield noted that the canteen was serving approximately 5,000 guys each night on weekends; and 20,000 throughout the rest of each week. In September 1943, Sgt. Carl Bell, a Purple Heart recipient from Rising Star, Texas , was the 1,000,000th serviceman to visit the Hollywood Canteen. He received kisses from many female stars, including Dietrich, Grable, Lana Turner , and Deanna Durbin . Jean Gabin , Dietrich's boyfriend at

700-472: Is a chain of cause and effect with causal agents – in classical style, events do not occur randomly. Time in classical Hollywood is continuous, linear, and uniform, since non-linearity calls attention to the illusory workings of the medium. The only permissible manipulation of time in this format is the flashback . It is mostly used to introduce a memory sequence of a character, e.g. , Casablanca . The greatest rule of classical continuity regarding space

750-482: Is object permanence: the viewer must believe that the scene exists outside the shot of the cinematic frame to maintain the picture's realism. The treatment of space in classical Hollywood strives to overcome or conceal the two-dimensionality of film ("invisible style") and is strongly centered upon the human body. The majority of shots in a classical film focus on gestures or facial expressions (medium-long and medium shots ). André Bazin once compared classical film to

800-459: The Golden Age of Hollywood , Old Hollywood , and classical continuity . The period is also referred to as the studio era , which may also include films of the late silent era. For millennia, the only visual standard of narrative storytelling art was the theatre . Since the first narrative films in the mid-late 1890s, filmmakers have sought to capture the power of live theatre on the cinema screen. Most of these filmmakers started as directors on

850-573: The Hollywood Victory Committee , which was associated with the Screen Actors Guild and chaired by James Cagney , in which entertainers were often sent out to military camps and on war bond drives. She requested and received consent to contact members directly regarding their participation in the Hollywood Canteen. The first fundraiser for the new canteen came the month prior to its opening, courtesy of

900-637: The War Department for Meritorious Service on behalf of her work for the Hollywood Canteen. In 1983, the United States Department of Defense presented Davis with the Distinguished Civilian Service Award for her "dedicated, continuing support of the American armed forces". Classical Hollywood cinema Classical Hollywood cinema is a term used in film criticism to describe both

950-420: The cross cut , which establishes the concurrence of action in different locations. Jump cuts are allowed in the form of the axial cut , which does not change the angle of shooting at all, but has the clear purpose of showing a perspective closer or farther from the subject, and therefore does not interfere with temporal continuity. Classical narration progresses always through psychological motivation, i.e., by

1000-411: The "photographed play" style by creating an imaginary 180-degree axis between the viewer and the shot, allowing viewers to clearly orient themselves within the position and direction of action in a scene. According to the 30-degree rule , cuts in the angle that the scene is viewed from must be significant enough for the viewer to understand the purpose of a change in perspective. Cuts that do not adhere to

1050-480: The 30-degree rule, known as jump cuts , are disruptive to the illusion of temporal continuity between shots. The 180-degree and 30-degree rules are elementary guidelines in filmmaking that preceded the official start of the classical era by over a decade, as seen in the pioneering 1902 French film A Trip to the Moon . Cutting techniques in classical continuity editing serve to help establish or maintain continuity, as in

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1100-408: The Hollywood Canteen and its thousands of volunteers had entertained more than 3,000,000 in uniform. Once the canteen was officially closed, they had a remainder of funds totaling more than $ 500,000, including profits from the titular film. The committee and directors aimed to establish a fund that would continue to aid veterans . After closing, for the next two decades, the canteen continued as

1150-424: The canteen had become so popular that Warner Bros. produced a movie titled Hollywood Canteen , just as its predecessor had done the previous year. Starring Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton as fictional characters, the film also featured a plethora of stars—many of whom had volunteered at the real canteen—playing themselves. It was written and directed by Delmer Daves . Warner Bros. donated 40% of proceeds from

1200-417: The canteen offered off-duty military personnel opportunities to unwind in various ways, including dancing with hostesses and female entertainers, eating, and writing letters home. Food was provided free. Between 5 p.m. and midnight daily, the canteen served 200 gallons of coffee, and 5,000 cigarettes were smoked. The original Stage Door Canteen inspired a CBS Radio series (1942–45) and a 1943 film . The film

1250-477: The canteen, inspired by Garfield's visit to Manhattan 's Stage Door Canteen (operated by the American Theatre Wing ). Davis and Garfield began enlisting an executive board of directors (later including Bob Hope ), who in turn elected a slate of officers which included Davis as president and Garfield as one of its vice-presidents. They would both maintain their elected positions throughout

1300-657: The completion of filming Watch on the Rhine (1943). However, she was present for opening night. Irene Dunne presided over a Hollywood Canteen committee luncheon at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, in which local merchants and vendors gathered to discuss various supplies to donate for the following week's opening. On Saturday, October 3, 1942, the Hollywood Canteen opened its doors. Thousands of soldiers, sailors, and other servicemen arrived to partake in

1350-519: The end of the night. Enlisted men needed only their uniforms to enter the facility. The food, refreshments (no alcohol), cigarettes, dances, autographs, and entertainment were all free. Stars were required to pay $ 50 to sit in the bleachers; otherwise, be willing to work the floor. There were two small corner tables for individuals who were neither servicemen nor celebrities. These were known as "The Angel's Tables", and cost $ 100 each. The stars were seen multitasking in various roles from one night to

1400-410: The endeavor and amended their by-laws, which then enabled those individuals to volunteer their time and labor free of compensation. Numerous carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other trades within the industry worked alongside the stars with donated materials to refurbish the building. Actor Richard Whorf painted murals along the walls, maintaining the western theme . Davis also contacted

1450-799: The entirety of the war and thus, the Hollywood Canteen's duration. Other officers included Jean Lewin as secretary, Al Ybarra as treasurer, and musicians' union leader J.K. Wallace as another vice-president. Davis also requested the assistance of Jules Stein , head of the Music Corporation of America , to help as a financial advisor . Garfield, Davis, and the rest of the elected officers then sought an establishment for their West Coast canteen. They found an abandoned nightclub, formerly known as "The Red Barn" or "Rio Grande Hall". They also enlisted support from 42 different guilds and unions within Hollywood's creative community , who sponsored

1500-701: The era began in 1929, when the silent age had definitively ended. Most Hollywood pictures from the late 1920s to 1960s adhered closely to a genre — Western, slapstick comedy, musical, animated cartoon, and biopic (biographical picture) — and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For instance, Cedric Gibbons and Herbert Stothart always worked on MGM films ; Alfred Newman worked at 20th Century Fox for twenty years; Cecil B. DeMille 's films were almost all made at Paramount Pictures ; and director Henry King 's films were mostly made for 20th Century Fox. Similarly, actors were mostly contract players. Film historians note that it took about

1550-660: The festivities. Eddie Cantor was the master of ceremonies on opening night, while president Bette Davis gave a speech thanking everyone from all the unions and guilds for their hard work and contributions. The venue opened Monday–Saturday evenings from 7pm to midnight. On Sundays, it was open from 2 to 8pm. There's a new entertainment show every hour and a half, at which point the next wave of waiting servicemen shuffle inside. More than 3,000 celebrities and industry personnel volunteered to be anything, from hostesses, waiting staff, busboys, cooks, and dishwashers to cigarette vendors , soda jerks , dancing partners, and mopping at

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1600-484: The film medium in America by 1917. The narrative and visual style of classical Hollywood style developed further after the transition to sound-film production. The primary changes in American filmmaking came from the film industry itself, with the height of the studio system . This mode of production, with its reigning star system promoted by several key studios, had preceded sound by several years. By mid-1920, most of

1650-481: The film premiere of The Talk of the Town (1942), starring Cary Grant , Jean Arthur , and Ronald Colman . At the behest of publicist Bob Taplinger, each ticket was coupled with an invite to the afterparty at Ciro's nightclub. Proceeds went directly to the Hollywood Canteen, and were estimated to be over $ 5,000. Davis was remanded on medical bedrest for exhaustion a week prior to the grand opening , following

1700-549: The film to both the Hollywood Canteen and the Stage Door Canteen in New York. The canteen opened its doors for the final time on the afternoon of Thursday, November 22, 1945, which was Thanksgiving Day . More than 5,000 G.I.s flowed in and out, enjoying turkey dinners and entertainment. Kay Kyser and Bette Davis led a chorus of " Auld Lang Syne " in commemoration of the past three years of service, in which

1750-472: The frame. The action is subtly addressed towards the spectator (frontality) and set , lighting (mostly three-point lighting , especially high-key lighting ), and costumes are designed to separate foreground from the background (depth). The New Hollywood of the mid-1960s to early 1980s was influenced by the romanticism of the classical era, as was the French New Wave . These were recognized on

1800-492: The late 19th-century stage, and likewise, most film actors had roots in vaudeville (e.g. The Marx Brothers ) or theatrical melodramas. Visually, early narrative films had adapted little from the stage, and their narratives had adapted very little from vaudeville and melodrama. Before the visual style which would become known as "classical continuity", scenes were filmed in full shot and used carefully choreographed staging to portray plot and character relationships. Editing technique

1850-583: The men felt when they had to leave the canteen, never to see these beautiful women again." The most popular recorded version of the song was made by Sammy Kaye and his orchestra, with Don Cornell singing. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Hollywood Canteen The Hollywood Canteen operated at 1451 North Cahuenga Boulevard in the Los Angeles , California , neighborhood of Hollywood between October 3, 1942 and November 22, 1945, as

1900-471: The next. Davis was seen handing out cigarettes to the soldiers. Laird Cregar was said to have gotten "dishwasher hands" from being at the sink too long. Betty Grable did the Jitterbug with dozens of cadets . Abbott and Costello brought laughter to the troops, and live music was ubiquitous. Maria Riva , Marlene Dietrich 's daughter, recalled an anecdote where her mother decided to wash dishes and

1950-516: The prominent American directors and actors, who had worked independently since the early 1910s, had to become a part of the new studio system to continue to work. The beginning of the sound era itself is ambiguously defined. To some, it began with The Jazz Singer , which was released in 1927, when the Interbellum Generation came of age and increased box-office profits for films as sound was introduced to feature films. To others,

2000-590: The release of such classics as The Wizard of Oz ; Gone with the Wind ; The Hunchback of Notre Dame ; Stagecoach ; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ; Destry Rides Again ; Young Mr. Lincoln ; Wuthering Heights ; Only Angels Have Wings ; Ninotchka ; Beau Geste ; Babes in Arms ; Gunga Din ; The Women ; Goodbye, Mr. Chips ; and The Roaring Twenties . The visual-narrative style of classical Hollywood cinema, as elaborated by David Bordwell ,

2050-547: The time, would often dodge the spotlight and remain in the kitchen. One night, while Dietrich was sweeping up near closing time, a soldier approached, commandeered the broom to assume sweeping duties, and stated, "Look, honey, you have to do this enough at home." Although segregation still occurred elsewhere in the 1940s, including USO policies , both the Stage Door and Hollywood Canteens permitted integrated socialization and mixed dancing . The canteen also unveiled

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2100-681: The will of a human character and its struggle with obstacles towards a defined goal. This narrative element is commonly composed of a primary narrative (e.g. a romance) intertwined with a secondary narrative or narratives. This narrative is structured with an unmistakable beginning, middle and end, and generally there is a distinct resolution. Utilizing actors, events, causal effects, main points, and secondary points are basic characteristics of this type of narrative. The characters in classical Hollywood cinema have clearly definable traits, are active, and very goal oriented. They are causal agents motivated by psychological rather than social concerns. The narrative

2150-425: The world generally and America specifically, the influence of Griffith on filmmaking was unmatched. Equally influential were his actors in adapting their performances to the new medium. Lillian Gish , the star of film short The Mothering Heart , is particularly noted for her influence on on-screen performance techniques. Griffith's 1915 epic The Birth of a Nation , also starring Gish, was ground-breaking for film as

2200-454: Was a particularly fruitful year for the medium, as pioneering directors from several countries produced films such as The Mothering Heart (D. W. Griffith), Ingeborg Holm ( Victor Sjöström ), and L'enfant de Paris ( Léonce Perret ) that set new standards for the film as a form of storytelling. It was also the year when Yevgeni Bauer (the first true film artist, according to Georges Sadoul ) started his short, but prolific, career. In

2250-514: Was beginning to fulfill its artistic potential. In Sweden and Denmark, this period would later be known as the "Golden Age" of the film; in America, this artistic change is attributed to filmmakers like D. W. Griffith finally breaking the grip of the Edison Trust to make films independent of the manufacturing monopoly. Films worldwide began to noticeably adopt visual and narrative elements which would be found in classical Hollywood cinema. 1913

2300-478: Was co-founded by the actors Bette Davis and John Garfield . The East Coast counterpart was the New York City –based Stage Door Canteen , which featured Broadway stars and was also celebrated in a film, Stage Door Canteen (1943). In 1942, Hollywood's entertainment industry members joined forces to form the Hollywood Canteen. Actors Bette Davis and John Garfield are credited with organizing

2350-468: Was extremely limited, and mostly consisted of close-ups of writing on objects for their legibility. Though lacking the reality inherent to the stage, film (unlike the stage) offers the freedom to manipulate apparent time and space, and thus create the illusion of realism – that is temporal linearity and spatial continuity. By the early 1910s, when the Lost Generation was coming of age, filmmaking

2400-483: Was heavily influenced by the ideas of the Renaissance and its resurgence of mankind as the focal point. It is distinguished at three general levels: devices, systems, and the relations of systems. The devices most inherent to classical Hollywood cinema are those of continuity editing . This includes the 180-degree rule , one of the major visual-spatial elements of continuity editing. The 180-degree rule keeps with

2450-399: Was joined by Hedy Lamarr . According to Riva, Davis quipped, "Get those two krauts out of the kitchen!" Press agent Mack Millar consistently helped generate further publicity . Cantor donned a Santa Claus suit at the first Christmas gathering, and handed out a variety pack of gifts to each enlisted serviceman, which included cigarettes, candy, chewing gum, a diary, razor blades,

2500-638: Was made by RKO Pathe Studios, using a replica of the New York venue on the studio's Culver City, California, site. The film This Is the Army (1943) and the Broadway play from which it was adapted include a scene set at the Stage Door Canteen. During that scene, Earl Oxford sang the song "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" in both versions. The song "speaks of the fleeting love that many of

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