The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck: Twenty-Six Short Essays on a Working Star

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From The Lady Eve, to The Big Valley, Barbara Stanwyck played parts that showcased her multidimensional talents but also illustrated the limits imposed on women in film and television. Catherine Russell's A to Z consideration of the iconic actress analyzes twenty-six facets of Stanwyck and the America of her times. Russell examines Stanwyck's work onscreen against the backdrop of costuming and other aspects of filmmaking. But she also views the actress's off-screen performance within the Hollywood networks that made her an industry favorite and longtime cornerstone of the entertainment community. Russell's montage approach coalesces into an engrossing portrait of a singular artist whose intelligence and savvy placed her center-stage in the production of her films and in the debates around women, femininity, and motherhood that roiled mid-century America.Original and rich, The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck is an essential and entertaining reexamination of an enduring Hollywood star.|AcknowledgmentsIntroduction to Stanwyck StudiesA All I Desire: Pastiche and PerformanceB The Barbara Stanwyck Show: Everyday MelodramaC Crimes of Passion: A Destructive CharacterD Dion the Son, and Barbara the Bad MotherE Edith Head: Clothing Makes the Woman a WomanF Forty Guns and The Furies: Angry WomenG Gambling Ladies: Playing GamesH William Holden: Making MenI Illicit: How to be UltramodernJ Jungle Films/White WomenK Kate Crawley: Cross-Dressing in the ArchiveL The Lady Eve: Performativity and MelancholiaM Fred MacMurray: Kissing and PlayingN No Man of Her Own: Double Women and the StarO Annie Oakley: A Girl and a GunP Paranoia, Abjection, and GaslightingQ The QueenR Riding, Falling, and StuntsS The Stella Dallas DebatesT Theresa Harris: Black DoubleU Union Pacific: Unmaking HistoryV Voice, Body, IdentityW Working Women and Cultural LaborX Exotica and Bitter TearsY You Belong to Me: Archives and FansZ Zeppo Marx: Comedy and Agency NotesBibliographyIndex|"Catherine Russell's The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck adds illuminating dimension to the actress's complex life story and equally vaunted career. Her meticulously researched and thoughtful analysis brings a fresh perspective to Stanwyck' s legacy, and captures the enduring power and charm of the classical Hollywood movie star." —Cineaste"The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck makes the choice to refuse to simplify Stanwyck's career. It underscores Stanwyck's importance, but it doesn't pretend like she, the films, or the era that created them are something they're not. As a result, Russell has put together an unflinching work of criticism that must be acknowledged as the definitive work on the subject. It's essential reading for anyone interested in Stanwyck or the era of film she headlined." —NewCity"Catherine Russell's inventive study of Barbara Stanwyck's long, fascinating career as a 'working star' offers a tantalizing model for other feminist histories of women's work in the film industry. Achronological and essayistic, Russell's approach weaves back and forth between Stanwyck's onscreen roles, her star persona, and her working life to document what Russell calls 'the structural misogyny of the industry.'"—Shelley Stamp, author of Lois Weber in Early Hollywood and Movie-Struck Girls|Catherine Russell...