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There's often comment about how long-lasting the careers of many of the great stars of the 1930's but I was stunned in my searching box office rankings to discover just how different the lists of the top 30 female stars were in just eight years. Only six women placed among the most popular draws from each year.

Actresses in order of their ranking:

1933 (Motion Picture Herald's chart): Marie Dressler, Janet Gaynor, Jean Harlow, Mae West, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, ZaSu Pitts (!), Helen Hayes, Sally Eilers (!), Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Marion Davies, Ruby Keeler, Clara Bow, Kay Francis, Claudette Colbert, Joan Blondell, Barbara Stanwyck, Constance Bennett, Irene Dunne, Ruth Chatterton, Sylvia Sidney, Katharine Hepburn, Loretta Young, Marian Nixon, Mitzi Greene, Elissa Landi, Fay Way, Joan Bennett, Dolores Del Rio. (NOTE: MPH ranked both sexes together in the chart; Dressler was #1 overall, Dolores came in at #85).

1940 (Showman's Trade Review chart): Myrna Loy, Alice Faye, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Dorothy Lamour, Claudette Colbert, Deanna Durbin, Ann Sheridan, Ginger Rogers, Jean Arthur, Hedy Lamarr, Loretta Young, Irene Dunne, Jane WIthers, Norma Shearer, Priscilla Lane, Vivien Leigh, Shirley Temple, Rosalind Russell, Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Joan Crawford, Sonja Henie, Judy Canova, Olivia De Havilland, Marlene Dietrich, Penny Singleton, Margaret Sullavan, Eleanor Powell, Betty Grable. (STR listed female and male stars separatively, at least this year).

Claudette Colbert and Norma Shearer did the best of those who placed on both charts, #16 in 1933 and #6 in 1940 for Claudette while Norma was #5 in 1933 and #15 in 1940, something of a surprise as she's usually written off as on major decline after Thalberg's death in 1936 though this was surely her last year on popularity charts. Loretta Young, Irene Dunne, Joan Crawford, and Marlene Dietrich were also on both lists, Dietrich being a bit of a surprise given it's often claimed her box office appeal was never very strong in the US (though these were very good years for her on screen, particularly the previous years of 1932 and 1939). This seven year period enclosed the best years of Carole Lombard's career who hadn't quite made it as a draw in 1933 and her "serious" 1940 RKO dramas apparently ended her best days as a name. Of course, things are up and down for many a star - Stanwyck, Crawford, and Dunne rebounded into the MPH top 20 among all stars in the late 1940's and Claudette made the top ten as late as 1947.

I'd be curious to see comparable eras. For example, 1993 to 2000, or 1963 to 1970.

Perhaps 1933 to 1940 will prove unusually volatile in comparison to other eras. If so, it might be interpreted as a shake-out of actresses popular in 1933 because they were carryovers from the silent era and because they had voices that were particularly noteworthy in the dawn of the talkies, versus 1940 actresses who were popular for reasons other than their unique voices or their pre-existing popularity.

Intriguing topic!

Jim

I've tended to notice that the dominance of TCM over the last 25 years (and its library of MGM, WB, RKO) has somewhat slanted the perspectives of the more modern 'old movie buffs' in terms of film-star popularity. Once-prominent stars whose films reside primarily outside the TCM/Warner library, like Janet Gaynor (of Fox), Alan Ladd (of Paramount), Warner Baxter (of Fox), Deanna Durbin (of Universal), Sylvia Sidney (of Paramount), etc., sometimes seem to get a little short-changed or underestimated by the newer crop of vintage-film fans, as evidenced by blogs and whatnot. It extends to some B-players as well, who toiled primarily at these other studios.

Anyway, I think I personally gained a lot of my notions on film-star status via looking through tons of ancient movie magazines that were contemporary to their eras. That's almost all I had, when I was a teenager and budding film fan... my grandmother's stash of old Photoplays and such, dug out the attic.

Bert Greene wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:49 pm

I've tended to notice that the dominance of TCM over the last 25 years (and its library of MGM, WB, RKO) has somewhat slanted the perspectives of the more modern 'old movie buffs' in terms of film-star popularity. Once-prominent stars whose films reside primarily outside the TCM/Warner library, like Janet Gaynor (of Fox), Alan Ladd (of Paramount), Warner Baxter (of Fox), Deanna Durbin (of Universal), Sylvia Sidney (of Paramount), etc., sometimes seem to get a little short-changed or underestimated by the newer crop of vintage-film fans, as evidenced by blogs and whatnot. It extends to some B-players as well, who toiled primarily at these other studios.

Anyway, I think I personally gained a lot of my notions on film-star status via looking through tons of ancient movie magazines that were contemporary to their eras. That's almost all I had, when I was a teenager and budding film fan... my grandmother's stash of old Photoplays and such, dug out the attic.

I would say that's always been true post-1960 given MGM, WB, and RKO always seemed to have their old movies on television more often than other studios (20th Century-Fox and Columbia were equally good but not for their early films, particularly early Fox) in the pre-cable era and Universal which has owned the pre-1948 Paramount library has always been notorious for not getting their collection the exposure it deserves on tv beyond the superstars (Cooper, Fields, West, Crosby, Hope, et al as well as the Universal horror classics). On the other hand, I feel Turner/TCM has been key in getting a lot of MGM/WB/RKO stars that were all but completely ignored on local channels huge exposure ie: Wheeler and Woolsey, Kay Francis, Dennis Morgan, and the like.

Four years worth of the top 5 female stars from the MPH "Quigley" poll

1942: Betty Grable, Greer Garson, Dorothy Lamour, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan
(runners up: Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner)

1943: Betty Grable, Greer Garson, Judy Garland, Alice Faye, Bette Davis
(runners up: Dorothy Lamour, Jean Arthur, Claudette Colbert, Lana Turner)

1944: Betty Grable, Greer Garson, Bette Davis, Dorothy Lamour, Judy Garland
(runners up: Alice Faye, Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert, Irene Dunne, Margaret O'Brien, Betty Hutton, Ingrid Bergman, Deanna Durbin)

1945: Greer Garson, Betty Grable, Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien Betty Hutton
(runners up): Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Ginger Rogers)

(I haven't found the full 1946 chart yet)

1947:Betty Grable, Ingrid Bergman, Claudette Colbert, Rita Hayworth, Margaret O'Brien
(runners up: Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Esther Williams)

All names mentioned placed in the top 25 b.o. stars for the year. Names in bold were in the overall top ten (Dorothy Lamour was a near-miss twice, #11 in 1942 and #12 in 1944). In 1944 there were three ties on the chart thus making 28 stars in the "top 25" although the women only tied with men so the rankings are not tied here.)