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Actors, Who Performed In Early, Silent Motion Pictures, Were Not Given Screen ...

Actors, who performed in early, silent motion pictures, were not given screen credit or identified by name. Audiences came to see ‘the picture show', but not any particular actor on screen. Financers and movie producers had no urge to publicize the unknown people, who were readily available to perform as actors in the silent movies they were making as they had a genuine fear that publicity might lead to performers demanding additional reimbursements for their work due to a higher interest from the public. But this was not meant to be perpetual.
During the Depression, Hollywood played the critical and psychological role of distracting Americans from their problems and the economical disaster, and reinforcing values such as faith in society and in the political system. In the 1920s, when the first movie ‘celebrity' Mary Pickford emerged (Fowles, 1992: p. 14-17), her signature image of playing an innocent child woman transformed her from an unknown actress into a valuable commodity that was most sought after by movie makers due to her rising popularity among the public. At a time when women could not yet vote in the US, she was the first to convert her intellectual property rights into financial freedom and near-total control over the films she appeared in. With Hollywood's full assistance and through their appearances on screen, movie stars became celebrities, and Hollywood soon detected their commercial potential in promoting a film. Before long, Hollywood started to employ new marketing and advertising techniques based around the celebrities starring in a film, of which pairing a celebrity with a film character that may suit him in real life too is probably one of the most successful ways to sell a film.
Among the main doctrines that form the foundation of a Hollywood blockbuster are licensing, branding, and management. The Right of Publicity and Trademarks are major weapons here. Right of Publicity, in its simplest form, is the right of every individual to control how his or her name, image, likeness or other distinct aspect of identity is commercialized, if at all. In the United States, the Right of Publicity came as a legitimate sequel to the Right of Privacy. Privacy protects dignitary interests and hurt feelings. Contrarily, the Right of Publicity protects the financial interests of an individual, with particular reference to a Hollywood film as well as its copyrights and distribution. It also controls the commercial distribution of, for instance, fan merchandise but also concentrates on advertisements, lead characters' image, likeness or some other aspect of identity that could be copied or used in other forms. Trademark, conversely, owes its origins in safeguarding the consuming public, serving as an identifying source of goods or services, and in avoiding confusion and passing off. The Right of Publicity has an altogether different role to play.

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