OFF-WHITE HOLLYWOOD ‘An undoubtedly important book. With its analysis of the historicaltransformation in the cultural understanding of gender and ethnicity in film, Off-WhiteHollywood fills a gap in both whiteness studies and cinema studies. Negra is to becongratulated!’ Jon Stratton, Curtin University of Technology ‘Diane Negra’s smart, savvy, imaginative exploration brings to the surfacecultural changes – from the turn of the twentieth century to the present – in the invis- ible racial and ethnic assumptions that underlie the allure of filmic glamour and sex appeal. Perhaps Negra’s most startling effect is to break the silence withwhich the culture industry typically embalms stars who once seemed to rule Holly- wood but were ultimately casually discarded by a system that regards women as commodities, ethnicity as artificial flavoring, and whiteness as a norm.’ Martha P. Nochimson, Mercy College Off-White Hollywood investigates how the ‘ethnicity’ of white European- American actresses has played a key role in the mythology of American identity and nation-building. Embodying national fantasies and ‘assimilation myths’, ethnic female film stars symbolised the promise of American multiculturalism and proved the desirability and reliability of the American Dream. Through case studies of stars spanning cinema’s history, Diane Negraexamines Hollywood films and promotional material as a vehicle through which American culture expresses and negotiates gender and ethnic identities. Negra focuses on key stars of the silent (Colleen Moore and Pola Negri), classical (Sonja Henie and Hedy Lamarr) and post-classical eras (Marisa Tomei and Cher) to demon- strate how each star illuminates aspects of ethnicity, gender, consumerism and class at work in American culture. Tracing processes of transformation, contain- ment and resistance, from the assimilation imperatives of the early twentieth century to the current ethnic revival, Off-White Hollywood shows how star per- sonae have reflected the changing meaning of whiteness in US culture. Diane Negra is Assistant Professor in the Department of Radio, TV and Film at the University of North Texas. She is the co-editor of A Feminist Reader in Early Cinema (2002). GHH OFF-WHITE HOLLY WOOD American culture and ethnic female stardom Diane Negra London and New York First published 2001 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2001 Diane Negra All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Negra, Diane, 1966– Off-white Hollywood : American culture and ethnic female stardom/ Diane Negra. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Minorities in motion pictures. 2. Women in motion pictures. 3. European Americans—Ethnic identity. 4. Actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title. PN1995.9.M56 N44 2001 791.43′652042—dc21 2001019928 ISBN 0-203-99658-5 Master e-book ISBN iv ISBN 0-415-21677-X (hbk) ISBN 0-415-21678-8 (pbk) CONTENTS Illustrations vii Acknowledgements ix 1 Hollywood film and the narrativization of ethnic femininity 1 2 The wearing of the green: Irishness as a promotional discourse in the career of Colleen Moore 25 3 Immigrant stardom in imperial America: Pola Negri and the problem of typology 55 4 Sonja Henie in Hollywood: Whiteness, athleticism and Americanization 84 5 Ethnicity and the interventionist imagination: Domesticity, exoticism and scandal in the persona of Hedy Lamarr 103 6 Marisa Tomei and the fantasy of ethnicity 136 7 Stardom, corporeality and ethnic indeterminacy: Cher’s disrupted/disruptive body 164 Notes 182 Bibliography 200 Index 215 v HH vi ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Colleen Moore cover from Motion Picture 27 2 Colleen Moore stationery 30–1 3 Come On Over promotional card 40 4 Frames from Ella Cinders (1927) 48 5a & 5b Pola Negri publicity photos 69–70 6 Sonja Henie on skates in Scandinavian costume 85 7 Sonja Henie on tennis court 91 8 Rialto lobby display photos 127 9 Marisa Tomei on Seinfeld 138 10 Picture gallery from the Cher homepage 165 11 Promotional image for Faithful 174 vii HH viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Off-White Hollywood was conceptualized and written as I lived and worked in a number of different locations during the last five years including Texas, New York, Ireland and Poland. It has struck me from time to time that my own geographical and cultural mobility has facilitated my interest in and understand- ing of the lives of the women I discuss in this project, many of whom negoti- ated significant national, cultural and linguistic borders in their lifetimes. I hope that my discussion of their work proves the more illuminating for the travels I have been fortunate to undertake. There are a number of people whose exemplary behavior as teachers and scholars has influenced and inspired me and in this capacity I want to thank Robert Allen, Sabrina Barton, Jennifer Bean, Mia Carter, Natasha Casey, Mary Desjardins, Luke Gibbons, Susan McLeland, Mary McGlynn, Walter Metz, Anne Morey, Marcy Paul, Tom Schatz and Justin Wyatt. I wish particularly to thank the participants in my Ethnicity and American Film seminars at the University of North Texas and the University of Gdansk for their intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm and energy. I am also indebted to the members of the Women’s Writing Group formed at the University of North Texas in 1998. Diana York Blaine, Francesca Morgan, and Claire Sahlin pro- vided evenings of rich conversation that helped to further this project. Other UNT colleagues past and present especially Harry Benshoff, Olaf Hoerschelmann, and Shanti Kumar have provided timely advice, support, and humor. Elizabeth Butler-Cullingford, Steven Cohan, John Hartigan and Sean Griffin offered perceptive readings of chapters in progress. In 1998, Jeff Chown and Bob Self kindly invited me to share in the rewards of directing the Media and Culture in Ireland Summer School in Dublin each summer, and my understanding of the dynamics of ethnicity and European heritage has been furthered by working with American students studying abroad. I wish to thank Dean Warren Burggren and Kathryn Cullivan of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Texas for their help in facil- itating my leave on a Fulbright Lectureship to Poland during the last year of my work on this project. At the University of Gdansk Andrzej Ceynowa, Beata Williamson, and Cheryl Malcolm offered generous and collegial support ix